Bruce, We here at Liberty University have just finished moving our wireless ^& NAC. Our old system used Cisco 1231 802.11b/g autonomous APs, WLSE (attempted) & Cisco Clean Access.
We evaluated & tested our options for more than a year. The major vendor offerings that we evaluated in depth were from Cisco and Aruba Networks. We chose Aruba ECS (based on Bradford Campus Manager) for NAC, Aruba's AP-125 N APs, and Aruba's Airwave product for wireless management. We are now starting to deploy their new AP-105 N APs in select locations. We did a one for one replacement in some of our dorm areas. In other areas, we deployed APs based on a survey since our old coverage was a nightmare. We primarily used simulation / planning software for the surveys. Follow-up spot checks helped verify our service. We monitor AP usage and reclaim some under used APs and augment coverage in areas with over-used APs. We now tunnel our Guest SSID to a DMZ on our network edge. This provides a firewall between guests & our internal network. This summer, we deployed multicast IPTV over wireless using Video Furnace (A press release is at http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Aruba-Networks-Inc-NASDAQ-ARUN-1069662.html). Aruba's support has been great. Due to the density of APs per controller (They handle up to 512 APS) and other issues, there have been some technical challenges, but Aruba has patched these issues very quickly. They are very customer focused. All customers have the information to directly contact their Global Director of Support, if needed. He also reads & responds to the feedback surveys after a ticket is completed. It has been a hectic year. We now have almost 12000 resident students and over 700 APs deployed. We still have a couple of pockets of our old wireless that we will eliminate as time & budget permit. Feel free to contact me off-line for further details. Bruce Osborne Network Engineer Liberty University From: Entwistle, Bruce [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 3:04 PM Subject: Upgrade to N We are currently looking at upgrading our current Cisco 1200 autonomous APs, with WLSE management to a new wireless N network. The new vendor has yet to be determined. I was looking to learn from others who have made a similar migration how the move to N changed AP deployment? Was it a simple one for one replacement where you were able to install the new APs in the same location as the previous APs, eliminating the need for additional cabling? Was a new wireless survey conducted, requiring different AP locations? Please let me know what your experience has been. Thank you Bruce Entwistle Network Manager University of Redlands ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
