Long-time cloud controller Meraki site, we've moved versions back and forth avoiding unstable versions. It used to be a bit of hassle involving support, but is now controlled at the customer end.
Rand Rand P. Hall Director, Network Services askIT! Merrimack College 978-837-3532 [email protected] If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes finding solutions. – Einstein On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 8:33 AM Osborne, Bruce W (Network Operations) < [email protected]> wrote: > With a cloud solution, if they mess up feature addition you are stuck with > that latest version, correct? With controller-based ot Aruba Instant type > scenarios you are in charge of when to upgrade, waiting for stable builds. > > > > > > *Bruce Osborne* > > *Senior Network Engineer* > > *Network Operations - Wireless* > > *(434) 592-4229* > > *LIBERTY UNIVERSITY* > > *Training Champions for Christ since 1971* > > > > *From:* Enfield III, Charles Albert [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, May 18, 2018 2:54 PM > *Subject:* Re: Wireless Options > > > > The other thing that’s going to change is the functionality. Jeff was on > the right track when he talked about vendors with a global presence being > better able to identify bugs, security flaws etc. and promptly diagnose and > patch them. They’re also better positioned to apply machine learning and > AI to the problems of network security and Wi-Fi optimization. *If > they’re doing things right*, the cloud product won’t be a hamstrung > version of the controller product. It will be a better version of the > controller product. > > > > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv < > [email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Jeffrey D. Sessler > *Sent:* Friday, May 18, 2018 1:30 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > One of the difficulties in comparing TCO is around staffing. Both > estimating how much time staff really spend on the current solution, but > also taking into account base salary with benefits. At many colleges, > benefits can add another 30%+ to the cost of a person. As such, the > elimination (or reallocation) of one FTE has a huge impact on on-premise vs > cloud comparisons. That single FTE could be $100K (salary + benefits) per > year, saving (or reallocating) $700K over those 7 years. > > > > In a lot of our cloud shift, those FTE’s have been re-allocated into more > important roles such as security. > > > > Jeff > > > > *From: *"[email protected]" < > [email protected]> on behalf of Thomas Carter < > [email protected]> > *Reply-To: *"[email protected]" < > [email protected]> > *Date: *Friday, May 18, 2018 at 8:43 AM > *To: *"[email protected]" < > [email protected]> > *Subject: *Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > For cloud to really take over, the costs need to drop. We just went > through a similar thing and are of a similar size (~300 APs), and the cloud > on-going OpEx costs dropped them out of the race. The simplicity of costs > budgeting is nice, but 7 year TCO is no contest. > > > > Where they currently seem to be the best option is in the >25 to <100 AP > market (<25 easily fits into Aruba Instant, Ruckus Unleashed, etc) or the > small business vendor-managed market. > > > > *Thomas Carter* > Network & Operations Manager / IT > > *Austin College* > 900 North Grand Avenue > Sherman, TX 75090 > > Phone: 903-813-2564 > www.austincollege.edu > <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.austincollege.edu%2F&data=02%7C01%7Ccae104%40psu.edu%7C7351014b86a34c8b33d008d5bce50905%7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7C0%7C636622614260515249&sdata=36TY%2FCbvPgwNG8lna1R4V%2Fz4To1CkQcj10C1N2kO2SQ%3D&reserved=0> > > > > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv < > [email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Jeffrey D. Sessler > *Sent:* Friday, May 18, 2018 10:07 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > Chuck has the right idea here. Our respective college strategic missions > don’t mention running servers or wireless controllers as strategic to the > mission of the college. Cloud/SaaS solutions free up folks from the mundane > tasks, allowing them to focus on those higher-up technology layers that can > benefit the strategic mission. I think it’s easy today to see the benefits > of moving on-premise email systems to GAFE or O365, but that comfort level > isn’t there yet with some other systems such a Wireless. > > > > From a support standpoint, a vendor like Meraki has global visibility of > how their product is operating, meaning they can correlate/see/react to > issues faster including patching. For the controller-based solutions, there > is the isolation factor, capability of the customer to gather support info, > and the vendor not knowing if other customers are having the issue. > > > > I suspect both options will be with us for years to come, but as more and > more of our respective data centers move to the cloud, I predict the > wireless cloud services will become more popular. > > > > Jeff > > *From: *"[email protected]" < > [email protected]> on behalf of "Enfield III, Charles > Albert" <[email protected]> > *Reply-To: *"[email protected]" < > [email protected]> > *Date: *Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 1:38 PM > *To: *"[email protected]" < > [email protected]> > *Subject: *Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > I don’t want to put words in John’s mouth, but operating controllers > requires time and effort beyond what’s required to manage configurations. > Scaling, security, software upgrades, etc., all require resources but > contribute nothing to the user experience. For us the benefits of hosting > our own controllers is worth it, but I understand that isn’t true for > everybody. I’m not even sure it will always be true for us. When the > benefits of controllers as traffic aggregators can be easily replaced with > SD fabrics, I’ll probably want cloud controllers too. The details will > matter, but it’s where I think we’re going. > > > > Chuck Enfield > Manager, Wireless Engineering > Enterprise Networking & Communication Services > The Pennsylvania State University > 119L, USB2, UP, PA 16802 > ph: 814.863.8715 > fx: 814.865.3988 > > > > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv < > [email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Peter P Morrissey > *Sent:* Thursday, May 17, 2018 4:30 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > Same here. I was also curious as to why it would be limited to cloud based > solutions. I would drill down a layer into the perceived benefits of cloud > based, and define it that way. Easier management requiring less staff time > and thus lower TCO and more ability to accomplish other activities? Etc. > Maybe. > > > > One of the disadvantages of cloud based solutions besides losing some > control and visibility is the ongoing costs. We love Meraki as much as > anyone, but the annual recurring licensing costs are rather steep and > should be carefully weighed against the benefits. > > > > Pete Morrissey > > > > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [ > mailto:[email protected] > <[email protected]>] *On Behalf Of *Jake Snyder > *Sent:* Thursday, May 17, 2018 2:26 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > I’m curious about the requirement that controllers be “cloud based” and > what business requirement that maps to. > > > > Trying to understand what a cloud based controller give your business that > an on-premises controller does not. How that translates to better > experience, happier students or faster connectivity. > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > On May 17, 2018, at 12:13 PM, Norton, Thomas (Network Operations) < > [email protected]> wrote: > > I highly recommend looking at Aruba as well. > > > > *T.J. Norton* > > *Wireless Network Architect* > *Network Operations* > > *Office: (434) 592-6552 * > > > > [image: Image removed by sender. > http://www.liberty.edu/media/1616/40themail/wordmark-for-email.jpg] > > *Liberty University | Training Champions for Christ since 1971* > > > > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [ > mailto:[email protected] > <[email protected]>] *On Behalf Of *Trenton Hurt > *Sent:* Thursday, May 17, 2018 2:11 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Options > > > > https://www.mist.com/ > <https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mist.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Ctnorton7%40liberty.edu%7Cc75bdb0477514218a00c08d5bc21c019%7Cbaf8218eb3024465a9934a39c97251b2%7C0%7C0%7C636621775498942781&sdata=LxLmDpwl3h17su4HEiv9evWnHBODxMCN0tmzXxYir0w%3D&reserved=0> > > > > On Thu, May 17, 2018 at 2:10 PM John Rodkey <[email protected]> wrote: > > Our college - about 40 buildings, 1200 students, 3500 wireless clients per > day, currently 310 WAPs - is considering a major upgrade in WAPs, replacing > a number that are 9 years old and no longer supported. > > > > We could replace with the latest model of our existing vendor, but want to > consider all the feasible alternatives. We have a hard requirement that > the controller be cloud-based, the system deal well with Mac clients, > understand VLANs and an enterprise quality network, and have a rich set of > configuration, logging, monitoring, and troubleshooting tools for dealing > both with clients and access points. Responsive support is also required, > and unsurprisingly total system cost is a significant issue. > > > > 3 vendors come to mind: Meraki, Ubiquiti, and Aerohive. > > > > Questions: > > 1) do other vendors come to mind that play well in this space? > > 2) what are your positive experiences with any of the above? > > 3) what are your negative experiences? > > 4) have you recently gone through this analysis, and if so, what were > your conclusions? > > 5) what issues have you experienced with PoE capacity requirements with > these devices? > > > > John Rodkey > > Director of Servers and Networks > > Westmont College > > ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE > Constituent Group discussion list can be found at > http://www.educause.edu/discuss > 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