mshill Posted January 30, 2015 Posted January 30, 2015 Hi All We are currently becoming a multi academy trust with up to 20-30 schools. One of the Academies that have just joined us is having a new build and we are hoping to put the WiFi solution in that we will eventually roll out across all the academies. We need a solution that can be managed centrally so are looking at: Meraki Aerohive Ruckus (Heard they now offer a cloud solution?) Has anyone used the Ruckus cloud solution? If so how easy is it to manage and what is the performance like? What are peoples opinions on Meraki and Aerohive is there anyone successfully using these systems across multiple sites. How do these solutions handle large numbers of laptops/tablets connected to the domain and how do they perform with a 1to1 solution. It seems like Ruckus points handle larger number of devices better but not sure about the cloud management? If anyone can get back to me regarding their experiences with any of these systems that would be great. Regards
Harry_Small_ Posted January 30, 2015 Posted January 30, 2015 We're having a webinar with Ruckus today, sounds quite good! Will update you and let you know what we think.
john Posted January 30, 2015 Posted January 30, 2015 I would suggest talking to @Net-Ctrl about the Ruckus Cloud controller, we are looking at it for a world wide deployment of Ruckus for the company I work for with them 1
jamesreedersmith Posted January 30, 2015 Posted January 30, 2015 Look at unifi - brilliant bang for buck and controller supports multiple sites if centrally hosted.
Oaktech Posted January 30, 2015 Posted January 30, 2015 For a deployment that size I would start by looking at the Dell wireless offering - it seems very popular and very feature rich across multiple sites. I'm not 100% on how well the likes of Ruckus and Ubiqiti scale to 20-30 sites
Net-Ctrl Posted February 2, 2015 Posted February 2, 2015 Hello @mshill, if you would like to talk about the Ruckus cloud offering then do let me know and I can put you in touch with one of the sales/tech guys that will know all about it. We've had quite a bit of interest in this solution so far. You would be able to manage your entire deployment through the Ruckus vSCG appliance. We can also give you access to a demo account on our vSCG box so you could get a feel of the platform and what you're able to see/do etc
foofighterjim Posted February 2, 2015 Posted February 2, 2015 I would say that Aerohive would be a good fit to your specification. Only used it on a single site but the company we have our support with do so by having access to multiple sites.
rpettit Posted February 2, 2015 Posted February 2, 2015 Aerohive - with Hive manager online (HMOL) allows you to manage multi-sites using via the web. We have a 1:1 scheme and we currently have 645 concurrent devices on our single site.
jamesfed Posted February 2, 2015 Posted February 2, 2015 Sounds like a great project; can't comment on the WiFi solution (only ever used HP and Aerohive in single sites) however how cool would it be if you could get a 'eduroam' style network setup with your Academies where one user can roam to other sites and use the same WiFi credentials
mattysmith80 Posted February 2, 2015 Posted February 2, 2015 Multi Academy Trust of 3 secondary and 7 primary here, use Meraki across the full lot and to be honest, it just looks after itself, very hands off
antlear Posted February 2, 2015 Posted February 2, 2015 Can I ask why not just have independent setups in each academy.?surely that would be easier.
FN-GM Posted February 3, 2015 Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) Can I ask why not just have independent setups in each academy.?surely that would be easier. I am an IT Manager for a Multi Academy Trust. Its not easier to be honest. Imagine having to setup radius time after time, in this case 20! It would take far to long. It will also be more cost-effective to have 1 system. The time and costs of maintaining separate systems with firmware updates. You will get discount for buying in bulk. Every site doesn't need a controller. TYou don't need a support package for every site. For monitoring you don't have 20+ separate interfaces. Also for users who roam between sites, the WIFI will just work for them. Edited February 3, 2015 by FN-GM
localzuk Posted February 3, 2015 Posted February 3, 2015 Can I ask why not just have independent setups in each academy.?surely that would be easier. That sounds a little odd. Think about it this way - 1 device to manage, or 30? We're likely moving to become a part of a MAT here soon, and IT from the other schools will be put on my desk. I certainly won't want 3 more wireless controllers to manage. No, I'll be trying to add them to what we've got already - so we have a single wireless setup across the board. Due to the size of the schools and the fact we're all on a single WAN, for me it'll be as simple as adding more APs to our existing controller (and renaming our existing ones). For a larger setup, with more schools, I would look at a different setup though.
antlear Posted February 3, 2015 Posted February 3, 2015 I guess it all depends on your setup. A MAT site wide wireless system would be rather handy. A major question i have would be what are the current systems like in the current schools. Although it maybe a pain if they already have a decent wireless setup then It might be easier to leave them from a cost perspective. Ultimately I guess it all depends on how many sites you have and how good the existing systems are. For MAT with primary schools this would be really helpful as generally primary schools from my knowledge do not have an IT tech where as secondary schools generally do. From a system point of view I would say go and try a few, and see how good they are at handling multi site setups and delpolyment. Sounds like a fun project.
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