Meraki vs Ruckus

[Wes]

No company would ever release a case study that didn't end up with the customer choosing said companies product so thats just smoke and mirrors.

Ben

I think you're getting smoke and mirrors confused with differences of opinion. Your phrase (to me at least) implies some sort of trickery or untruthfulness. Clearly there is a case to be made for each vendors solution, otherwise they just wouldn't be in business too long. Each solution has it's merits and the intention of a case study is to highlight those merits. Think of it more like an advert, which is exactly what it is. However in this case it's backed up by a real life customer, which is more than you get on TV!

[Chris_Cook]

Your phrase (to me at least) implies some sort of trickery or untruthfulness.

Because no ones ever lied whilst trying to sell something have they? Given the number of adverts these days which have small print, I take manufacturers adverts with a large pinch of salt. Especially when someone says that a competitors product is "feature poor", and then lists a load of "missing features" that our school is, at least as far as I'm aware, actually using on that very same product.

[gshaw]

and then lists a load of "missing features" that our school is, at least as far as I'm aware, actually using on that very same product.

I did get that feeling reading some of the posts on this thread actually!

[nicko17]

yes i gathered that aswell after reading this thread in my lunch break today lol........

One thing I would say is that I recently had a wireless system implemented at the school which I work for. I was initially looking at Meru, Xirrus and Meraki, and out of those three prefered Meraki due to its ease of deployment. A few weeks further i was contacted by someone at aerohive and was explained their approach to WLAN. Which tbh sound too good to be true to begin with. After meeting one of there representatives and reading some indepth information on their solution i found that it was in fact even better than i previously thought.

One main issue with all school at the moment is budget, Aerohive assured me that their solution provided scalability with no hidden costs....... They have no costly central controller that has a stepping costing structure. I initially purchased 6 ap and their management tool, which is simply software.... not to be confused with CONTROLLERS...

In recent months we have had more budget free up and have now lit up another 3 areas of the school adding more access points. It was as simple as plugging them into the switches and pushing the congigeration and we was off. One thing i would say regarding Meraki, after spending time reading countless whitepapers is that they still have a controller, its just cheaper as it is a cloud based version, so really no different in basic architecture to other vendors.

As someone has said before I would recommend looking into the technical abilities of each vendor and their solution and finiding the best solution that fits best for you. No one solution is the definitive one to have. For me yes it was Aerohive, for others maybe not. One thing i would recommend is perhaps going on there website and looking at one of their white papers, particully the economics and architechture wp!!! Definatly worth looking at the whole market.

Hope this is informative for you, defo look at Meraki and Aerohive though, im sure you will be impressed

[gshaw]

What's the ongoing cost with Aerohive? Any yearly maintence for software updates etc?

How did the price come out compared to Ruckus \ Meraki?

[nicko17]

One of the things i was very impressed with was the simplicity of pricing its a very easy concept with no hidden costs that pop up later.......

I am using their cloub based management tool which suits me due to its cost benefits with the quantity of AP's i have deployed. I literally purchased the access points and then the annual cost of 65 pounds to use the Aerohive hosted management tool in the cloud. This 65 also includes support aswell, i was informed that there were discounts for multiple year buys i beleive around 130 for three years... but i must check on this. This is all I pay. All updates are free and is done through the HiveManager. There are also other options available for your hive manager a VM version and a 1 u and 2 u appliance, these become more cost effective when deploying larger networks. If this is your chosen platform you also have to pay a one off cost per ap as a liscence to speak to the management tool, not much, around 50 i think. Lastly with the vm or appliance you have to have support which is around 40 i beleive but once again im not too sure as i dont have this, but i do remember being told that discounts are available for buying in multiple years........

One thing that I liked about aerohive was that i knew what my costs would be as knew that when i wanted to add more i knew exactly how much it would cost. In terms of comparisons with others meraki and aerohive are of a simular level but meraki has a contoller and is not very strong with its features. With ruckus you need to alsobuy a controller which is further outlay, but ap cost is simular to that of aerohives plus feature liscences for meshing roaming voip etc.....

i would say one thing have a look at the case studies on aerohives website they been doing great things with education both sides of the pond and maybe have a look at there demo's there worth a look, free planning tool with a topology report, give you an idea of what coverage you will get


sorry if it seems like a story does this help lol?

[plexer]

What is the cost of the aerohive ap's?

Ben

[nicko17]

i bought the hive 120's and paid around 550 pounds this is a 2x2 mimo dual radio .a/b/g/n. Also each AP has its own Radius server, Firewall, Dynamic Meshing and QoS capabilities, and theres no feature liscences everything comes in it.....

you can get a 3x3 mimo dual radio called the 320 i think.... but i didnt need this one all depends on your needs and requirements... do you have a WLAN then plexer, if so who are you using?

[MrJon]

I take a slightly different view on this – I feel that most of the technology is very similar and total cost is the main driver here. Be it Meraki, Aerohive, Ruckas, HP, Cisco, etc, etc a high proportion of cost will be the management. Clearly you guys have far too much time…. A simple to deploy, simple to manage solution is the way forward.
After all it all be obsolete in 3 years…. Buy the cheapest TCO platform… And take your time into consideration.
Incidentally, as the Education World rightly moves to the cloud, why are you trying to create a private network?

[nicko17]

I take a slightly different view on this – I feel that most of the technology is very similar and total cost is the main driver here. Be it Meraki, Aerohive, Ruckas, HP, Cisco, etc, etc a high proportion of cost will be the management. Clearly you guys have far too much time…. A simple to deploy, simple to manage solution is the way forward.
After all it all be obsolete in 3 years…. Buy the cheapest TCO platform… And take your time into consideration.
Incidentally, as the Education World rightly moves to the cloud, why are you trying to create a private network?

Well perhaps you havent looked at the technology in depth Aerohives is completely different, i previously had other system vendors who have a centra controller, aerohive do not have a controller, there access points are high end peices of technology with each ap having the processing capabilities and functionaility you would expenct from a controller. The APs i previously has were as good as paper weights when i had controller problems, the bloody thing didnt work. I just let my network run now all the intellegance is done in the AP no need for me to do anything happy days!!!!!

I have 30 laptops all log on at the same time with no issues what so ever!

I would say if your going to make statements suppport them with actual knowledge of the technology or some previous usage of it..... Aerohive wouldnt be where they are on the Gartner Magic quadrant if they were simular to other vendors

[localzuk]

Incidentally, as the Education World rightly moves to the cloud, why are you trying to create a private network?

Because 'the cloud' in education is many years off. Internet connectivity in schools is in no shape to move to cloud reliance. 1 lesson of lost ICT connectivity can mean the loss of an entire section of the curriculum in some subjects. That's time you can't get back.

I agree about TCO as the driver. Which is one of the reasons I chose Ruckus. The TCO is good and low.

[CyberNerd]

Because 'the cloud' in education is many years off.

It's working here, now.

[localzuk]

It's working here, now.

So you have all of your services hosted offsite? If so, well done, but you are not the norm.

[CyberNerd]

So you have all of your services hosted offsite? If so, well done, but you are not the norm.

well not everything, but its a fast growing area.

[localzuk]

well not everything, but its a fast growing area.

So you have 100% internet connectivity? I know most of us don't...