Bruce, Aruba likes to claim in marketing that their technologies are equivalent, only it doesn’t always hold up under testing e.g. CleanAir vs. RF Protect/spectrum analysis.
In 2008, Aruba’s band/load steering used several tricks to move clients, and clients of the say absolutely resisted. Band/load steering was terrible and on the Aruba could lead to situations where a client could become stranded with no ability to connect. We saw this problem big time in our library, where Apple Laptops (by far the largest installed base), couldn’t connect at busy times. The Aruba technology just didn’t work in a diverse client environment, and even today with better client drivers, it’s better (all vendors) but still problematic. You are correct that wireless is a small part of Cisco’s networking portfolio, yet they still sell more wireless then Aruba. You’d think a company like Aruba who depends on wireless for their existence wouldn’t be stagnant or retreating in these segments, but they seem to be. I understand that in k-12, Cisco/Meraki is eating their lunch. As for lower cost – well – that’s not accurate either. If you match Aruba and Cisco WAPs on features, you’ll find that the list prices are the same e.g. AP-334 vs 3800 series, only in the case of Cisco, you also get the XOR radio so you’re not wasting 2.4. If you compare the AP-315 to the 3800, then of course it looks like the Cisco is more expensive, however, if you look at Cisco’s entry 1830/1850, the Cisco AP costs less and has better features e.g. better radio design, higher (tested and verified) client counts. Jeff On 8/15/16, 6:15 AM, "The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv on behalf of Osborne, Bruce W (Network Services)" <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote: DBS & CleanAir sounds like Aruba's AppRF, which is a newer version of their band-steering & ARM (Adaptive Radio Management). In 2008 when Aruba had this technology, Cisco was telling us that it was impossible to steer clients toward 5GHz because the client makes the decision. Aruba depends on wireless for their existence. Wireless is just a small part of Cisco's networking portfolio. For years, we have been successfully using Aruba's DMO (Dynamic Multicast Optimization) to deliver multicast IPTV on wireless. IMHO Aruba has many leading-class technologies at a lower cost. I just thought I would mention another, ultimately less expensive option. Bruce Osborne Wireless Engineer IT Network Oprations - Wireless (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Training Champions for Christ since 1971 -----Original Message----- From: Jeffrey D. Sessler [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2016 11:01 AM Subject: Re: Wireless Mobility Really Bruce? LOL Thank you for the advice, but I for one will stick with class-leading/unique technology innovations in the Cisco stuff, like DBS (dynamic bandwidth selection), CleanAir, and FRA (Flexible Radio Assignment) just to name a few. Jeff On 8/11/16, 4:39 AM, "The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv on behalf of Osborne, Bruce W (Network Services)" <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote: Perhaps you should consider Aruba Networks / HP Enterprise. They eliminated "burned-in" licenses on controllers but if you replace one of them, they will generate licenses for your replacement, at least in our experience. We do not purchase support on most of our APs since they have a lifetime warranty anyway. For some unusual or mission-critical applications (point-to-point for instance) we purchase the hardware support to get quicker replacements. We *do* pay support the licenses (AP & other) on our controllers but central licensing helps us maximize the value of our licenses. Bruce Osborne Wireless Engineer IT Network Oprations - Wireless (434) 592-4229 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY Training Champions for Christ since 1971 -----Original Message----- From: Matthew Newton [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 5:28 AM Subject: Re: Wireless Mobility On Tue, Aug 09, 2016 at 08:46:28PM +0000, Jeffrey D. Sessler wrote: > On limiting the 8510 to 3000 WAPs, and then adding another 8510 pair. > Since the 8500 series are subject to Cisco’s new and improved RTU > licensing, instead of adding another pair of 8510’s, purchase a pair > of 8540’s and move the 8510’s 3000 AP licenses to the new 8540 along > with the additional licenses. Except that Cisco don't treat the 8510 and the 8540 as the same "family", so they won't let you move AP licences between them. We've just been through this, and I raised the same question... "they're 85xx, so we can just move our 8510 AP licences to the new 8540 hardware". Which Cisco confirmed that we couldn't. :( Why they couldn't call it the 9540 (or even the 8640) to make that clear I have no idea, but then there are 7500/5520 controllers in the same families, so it's a right mess. I *think* I worked out that the Flex7500 and 8510 are in one family, and the 5520/8540/vWLC are in another, but I'm not entirely sure. It was certainly implied that we could move the licences to some different controllers, just not the 8540. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/flex-7500-series-wireless-controllers/qa_c67-713536.html seems to also imply you can't even move from e.g. a 5520 to a 8540, only between exactly the same model. And of course you also can't move the base licences from a controller to any other controller. Only the adder licences are transferrable. So if you bought a controller with 1000 base licenses, and a couple of 1000 adder licences to get up to 3000, on the 2000 extra can be moved. Really, it would be better if Cisco stopped the AP licences nonsense completely and just added £50 to the cost of each AP. But I guess the current way makes them a lot more money... > I mention this because the zero-AP 8510 and 8540 are the exact same > list price, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get the 8510’a. Oh, > and instead of smartnet on four 8510 controllers, it’s just smartnet > on two 8540’s. Charging maintenance on controller AP licences is also dodgy IMO (or "good business practise", from Cisco's point of view), and definitely something to watch out for if you have lots of spare controller AP licences around. Matthew -- Matthew Newton, Ph.D. <[email protected]> Systems Specialist, Infrastructure Services, I.T. Services, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom For IT help contact helpdesk extn. 2253, <[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/.
