The other piece to consider here is the life-cycle of an AP against the life-cycle of a switched port. In most cases, an AP will be replaced at around the 5 year mark, mostly to advance to newer technology, but also because of more aggressive EOL on the vendor side.
Contrast this with a switch, where you may get 10+ years out of them and vendors have very long EOL cycles. As an example, my cost for a gigabit port is about $92, and we've seen our switch life-cycle exceed 10 years. That's about $9 per year to connect a device. A high-end AP, including the back-end controller/management license is probably $1000, or about $200 per year with a 5-year life-cycle. Add in the cost for the port, and for your 5 desktops, you're at about $60 per device/per year. The AP comes out a bit less, but at what cost? If you do any sort of desktop management where you image systems and/or then push out applications, the speed over wireless will be significantly slower than wired. You're migrating the savings in delivering a device a network connection for lost productivity in other areas such as your system management area. Said another way, if my user support person spends two hours preparing a system that took only 15 mins on wired, all of the savings on the network side just evaporated. Jeff -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Osborne, Bruce W (Network Services) Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 5:03 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] WiFi Service Level Agreement A large cost of a wired connection is the actual switch port. When we reduced the wired connections in our dorms a few years ago, we pulled out $1 million worth of switches which have been redeployed elsewhere. Bruce Osborne Wireless Engineer IT Infrastructure & Media Solutions (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Training Champions for Christ since 1971 -----Original Message----- From: Hinson, Matthew P [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 10:00 AM Subject: Re: WiFi Service Level Agreement Mike: It is true that a few quality APs and wireless adapters for the clients can replace wired ports most of the time. I've admin'ed a few sites where this was done, but if you've already got the Ethernet runs done, why work towards the reduction of bespoke ports? Or are you referring to only new construction or room repurposing? Chuck: It was just a brainstorming idea. I wasn't saying that this should be implemented as official policy. I view Wi-Fi as an extension of our wired network that has massive convenience and cost benefits, but at the end of the day, if given the option, I'll take an Ethernet connection 10 times out of 10. -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Cunningham Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 9:43 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] WiFi Service Level Agreement We have just approved a campus strategic plan that calls for a reduction in wired outlets in favor of wireless. Mostly targeted at office desktops where usage is very predictable and not classrooms or other student spaces where it is not. Bandwidth use to our typical office desktop is very low and a cluster of 5-6 desktop users could easily share a single high bandwidth access point instead of 5-6 wired connections. -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck Enfield Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 9:22 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] WiFi Service Level Agreement "Wi-Fi is not intended to replace the wired network, but is a convenient, supplemental method for accessing the campus network. Mission-critical applications should NOT rely upon Wi-Fi." While I think it's completely appropriate to recommend wired connections for certain functions, if anybody who worked for me suggested something this broad I would affect an extreme attitude adjustment. Chuck Enfield Manager, Wireless Systems & Engineering Telecommunications & Networking Services The Pennsylvania State University 110H, USB2, UP, PA 16802 ph: 814.863.8715 fx: 814.865.3988 -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Hinson, Matthew P Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 8:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] WiFi Service Level Agreement We looked into doing this for awhile but could never clearly define what acceptable quality of service is. 99.999% uptime in all areas? 99%? 90? 75? Here are a few excerpts of things we had in our draft that never went live. Wi-Fi is not intended to replace the wired network, but is a convenient, supplemental method for accessing the campus network. Mission-critical applications should NOT rely upon Wi-Fi. Due to the uniqueness of each wireless installation and the shared spectrum nature of current wireless technology, the theoretical maximum throughput will not be available everywhere coverage is provided. Further, the available bandwidth will depend directly on the number of Wi-Fi users and upon their respective bandwidth usage in any given coverage area. All 802.11 technologies (a, b, g, n, and ac) utilize frequencies unlicensed by the FCC. Therefore, other devices utilizing wireless technology that are operating within the same frequency ranges may interfere with Wi-Fi. IT will try to solve any interference issues that arise, but IT may not be able to affect the removal of such interfering devices. Construction materials used in many buildings significantly impair the propagation of wireless radio signals. As such, not all devices will be able to consistently connect in all areas of the campus' buildings. Consistent coverage, especially for devices with small antennae (such as smartphones), cannot be guaranteed. While we never ended up making it live, I think it might get you started. :) -Matthew -----Original Message----- From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mervyn Christoffels Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 1:45 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] WiFi Service Level Agreement Greetings Colleagues I have been tasked with the process of setting up a service level agreement for a wifi tender Has anyone developed a user experience sla for wifi ? Or a services description for the wifi solution Best regards, mervyn Mervyn Christoffels, Elec Eng (CPUT), MBA (UCT), Mcomm InfSYS (UCT) University of the Western Cape, Modderdam Road, Bellville, 7535, South Africa T +27 21 9592304 E [email protected] ********** 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/. ********** 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/. ********** 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/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
