Upgrading our managed wireless

[talksr]

Hi there,

 

Just looking for some approximate ideas on cost,

We currently have trapeze/juniper mx-8 managed wireless solution which is over 6 years old.

 

I am looking to replace this with something more new. I know Ruckus APs seem to be pretty impressive these days.

 

Can anyone give me some ideas on what sort of costs I would be likely to pay for around 22 APs and a respective controller? I would rather buy the controller and host it here on site, but I know this could work out more.

 

We are having quite a budget slash in our next financial year, so trying to work out what sort of money I need now.

 

Many thanks.

Edited March 2, 2016 by talksr

[tinca492]

Hi

 

We installed a Ruckus system here in June 2014, comprised 18 Access points and a Zonedirector 1100 licenced for upto 25 Access Points. All provided on a supply only basis with me doing all installation and configuration.

 

Costs at the time were under £8k after taking advantage of significantly discounted education prices.

 

Cant recommend the system enough. It has been v reliable, no performance issues, and only maintenance has been when I implemented a completely new IP Schema last summer.

[talksr]

Hi

 

We installed a Ruckus system here in June 2014, comprised 18 Access points and a Zonedirector 1100 licenced for upto 25 Access Points. All provided on a supply only basis with me doing all installation and configuration.

 

Costs at the time were under £8k after taking advantage of significantly discounted education prices.

 

Cant recommend the system enough. It has been v reliable, no performance issues, and only maintenance has been when I implemented a completely new IP Schema last summer.

 

Thanks very much for your reply. I am perfectly able to replace the hardware as you have done, so that is not an issue, but how about the config? Have never configured managed wireless. Was it quite easy?

 

We already have an HP Procurve 2610-24-PWR which has POE so we literally just need new APs, controller and respective licences.

[mikkydoos]

Ruckus is great for here. You will save a lot of cash by going the Ubiquity route. Not used them personally but seen them in action and they are very good.

[tinca492]

Configuration was straightforward.

 

As with all these things planning is key, so sort out a naming convention for the APs, IP address table, Security type and password, SSID etc etc.

 

If you are not familiar with Wireless terminology then a quick google should provide you with a wealth of resource. There is also a lot of Ruckus specific info out there.

 

Zone Director user interface is fairly straightforward to use.

 

Our supplier was happy to do a site survey free and was able to provide demo kit. we actually worked out AP density by walking around the campus and seeing signal availability using laptop.

 

Having done all the planning, the configuration was a doddle. I setup Controller and access points using a poe switch at my desk, commissioned each of the APs, and then distributed them round the Campus.

 

Have you viewed other manufacturer's solutions? And also have you considered what functionality you require now and for the foreseeable future? This was a key part of our selecting Ruckus as it provided a close match for our needs. (we are a special school with 150 kids with moderate learning difficulties)

[Net-Ctrl]

Good afternoon @talksr

 

If you fancy a chat with the tech team to discuss your requirements please let me know and we can assist you with your search.

[Blue_Cookeh]

Deployed UniFi (both indoors and outdoors!) and haven't looked back Controller will run on any Windows or Linux server you have around (or they can run with it offline but it's not as feature rich), and the newer APs will run off standard PoE if I remember correctly.

 

All ordered through @Millgate;

Edited March 2, 2016 by Blue_Cookeh

[Rob_D]

+1 for unifi. Especially for smaller deployments.

[emdrum]

We have a Meru system (I'm not associated with the sponsors, and this was before the Fortinet acquisition) with over 90 APs and primary and fail-over controllers across two different sites. You can roam seamlessly across the full campus without missing a beat (and people do). We regularly have over 1,000 users on the wireless at once and it copes beautifully. Management works well, and it integrates with the rest of the network very nicely. When we have any issues (which is rare and mostly caused by something else not functioning correctly) there is uproar because our staff and students have the expectation that wireless 'just works everywhere'.

 

We also looked at Ruckus and they were our second choice. A good solution and similarly priced, with an excellent management interface, but Meru won out on the virtual cell technology and seamless roaming for tablets and laptops.

 

Hope that helps.

[timbo343]

Ruckus user here and very very happy with it - been using it for 4 years.

 

Youll find you may need a few less APs with Ruckus than other systems due to their beam forming system.

[NB9457]

Running UniFi in a few schools now, not had an issue yet, plus their switches are great and the easy guest access is pretty cool.

 

It was that cheap we stuck one in every room (and before everyone says it's overkill, it isn't, with the amount people have on sometimes, it allows faster access and eases load for us!)

[DalekSec]

Another one for UniFi, The new AC Pros, are amazing and don't cost the earth! Along with only one off payments for each AP and no fee for the controller it's win win

[wedemire]

I'm also very happy with Unifi. Switched one of my Elementary (K-Grade 7) campuses from Merkai over the summer (to avoid recurring licensing fees) and put an AC Pro in every second room. I have less stats (history) than with Meraki but for the cost savings it's well worth it. I'm planning on switching to Unifi at my other campuses over the summer.

I was also fortunate to get a Unifi Cloud Key when they first came out (can't find them anywhere now) and it's been working great too. It's a PoE mini stick computer that just runs the controller.

[Meldrew]

+1 for UniFi. A couple of years ago I replaced an awful DLink system with UniFi. About 40+ APs, a mixture of 2.4Ghz and dual band 2.4 and 5 and it cost something like £5k in total.

 

Meldrew