hullsmostwanted Posted April 13, 2011 Posted April 13, 2011 Hi, Was wondering if anyone would like to share their experience of using Xirrus equipment. We have had mixed experience so far and was wondering how others were getting on? Will be happy to discuss over telephone or PM if folks would prefer. Rob Hodgins Waddesdon CE School 01296 651382
rbance Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 Having had this put in recently and seeing them in action elsewhere....I cannot go past them as a solution for schools...these are very good!!!! On one XN4 array I had 70+ devices working really well last week and there was no sign of them letting up... 1
featured_spectre Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 Xirrus Arrays are very powerful for what they are, but the AP's are HUGE, and the management console isnt the best, and they could not stand up to roaming as well as Ruckus or Meru. Perhaps look at the solutions like Meru or Ruckus (Speak with Mark Power from Net-Ctrl or Chris/Mark/Joe from CP-Ltd about either solution - I believe they both resell them). 2
MarkPower Posted April 19, 2011 Posted April 19, 2011 Xirrus Arrays are very powerful for what they are, but the AP's are HUGE, and the management console isnt the best, and they could not stand up to roaming as well as Ruckus or Meru. Perhaps look at the solutions like Meru or Ruckus (Speak with Mark Power from Net-Ctrl or Chris/Mark/Joe from CP-Ltd about either solution - I believe they both resell them). Thanks for the intro, we very much re-sell Ruckus, this is the only Wireless solution we specialise in as we feel that provides the client with the confidence knowing that we are focusing on supporing one solution only, if we lose out to competiton then that is just part of the sales game and down to the clients choice. If Ruckus is of interest then please give me a call or PM and I will be happy to help you I think you will be surprised especially with the competative offers runnings at the moment. Hope to hear from you Kind Regards Mark Power Enterprise Security Solutions | Network Security Consultants 01473 281211 07525 785 278
seanzer Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 Hi Rob Here's our experience with Xirrus. Our school originally had 80+ HP APs through the school. This caused us a nightmare as you can imagine and they were'nt very stable. We discovered Xirrus and got them in to have a look. 2 Years down the line I have to say i am so so glad we switched . The arrays (only 24 now instead of 80) cover our huge site with ease. We have in excesss of 600 wireless devices (and growing) on our network. The Xirrus arrays are broadcasting 2 SSIDs. One for teaching laptops and the other for student laptops (which is locked down and heavily filtered). They seem to have no problem dealing with this. I can only tell you my own personal experience but I think Xirrus are excellent and (fingers crossed) I have yet to have an array go down or give me grieve in any way. We have had very little reason to get in touch with Xirrus over the years, but when we have done, they have been excellent. Hope this helps and good look with it. Mr S. Daly ICT Manager The Hundred of Hoo School 1
haylehairband Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 (edited) Hi, Had Xirrus here at Holy Trinity for around about 2 years now. Does exactly what it says on the tin really. Set it up and have barely had to touch it since. 24 points scattered about the school and we have no trouble with large numbers on the same AP. We run 2 SSIDs with one for teachers and school laptops, while the other is VLANed off for the students with their own laptops (and iPhones :-(). Install wise we ran the cables (and I'd even started configuring the array before the technician got here. New tech kit. Couldn't leave it alone.) and then we just had to put them up and turn them on. Before we'd even finished the deployment of the arrays we had teachers delighted with the new wireless. One was even in a different section and had picked up a new array from elsewhere. Only time we ever see the kit down is when there's a power cut. I reckon it's the best investment we've made here in my short time. Hope that's informative. Chris Hughes Network Manager, The Holy Trinity C of E Secondary School Crawley Edited April 20, 2011 by haylehairband add name
DeanSES Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 Hi Rob We have a 52 Acre site, all our buildings have Xirrus coverage from 27 arrays. We have had no trouble and are really impressed by their service and support both pre and after sales. Dean Williams ICT Manager Stanbridge Earls School 1
m25man Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 Interestingly many of the schools that have the Xirrus system here on EduGeek all seem to be particularly well positioned geographically! They seem to be in leafy suburban environments that would not be subject to some of the more challenging installations of the inner city. How does a Xirruss system contend with over 200 badly configured 2.4Ghz domestic installations within 20 meters of your adjoining northern flank! Add to the Mix a couple of Police Portable Airwaves Tetra Repeaters, a couple of Sky Trucks with 2Kw of 12Ghz Sat Uplinks, half a dozen Microwave steadycams and an O2 Hi Density Mobile 3G Array! I have to have 50 roaming handhelds connected to 17 strategically placed Cisco's and 40 Laptops/Phones/Others hooked into a couple of DualBand DualRadio Zyxel 3550's and so far I have not had a problem. I am convinced that half of the wireless problems we hear on this forum are the self induced nightmare of "Not Fit for Purpose" where people expect Wireless to replace a dedicated 100Mb Full Duplex wired link per person with a shared 35Mpbs wifi with each kids profile the size of War and Peace needed at the start of every lesson! Are there any Inner City Xirrus users out there with a reasonable review to add? From what I see from Google earth we all have very different challenges with our wifi. 1
DeanSES Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) I to have tested all the alternatives and found Xirrus to have one of the easiest management systems i have seen and this system works well in both industry and education. Edited April 21, 2011 by witch 1
SYNACK Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 From being to one of there presentations their gear seemed sound and impressive in the fact that it had truely fast and capible backplanes that could be upgraded with new wireless technology as it came out. The nature of the system did seem to lend itself well to really high density wifi. I was actually considering their gear for one of my schools but they never got back to me regarding my email requesting details of a supplier. I think all of the different gear has different strenghs and weaknesses and it depends on your budget and your situation as to which is best for you. 1
hullsmostwanted Posted April 21, 2011 Author Posted April 21, 2011 Hi All, thanks to those who replied both here and via telephone. It would seem that I maybe didn't explain myself sufficiently, in that we already have Xirrus and I was wanting to share some experience of using the equipment on a day to day basis and in dealing with the Xirrus company. It was not my intention to start a Xirrus bashing thread and I would definitely agree with the majority of the posts that the equipment is fantastic and has exceeded all our expectations. Thanks Again Rob
rbance Posted June 7, 2011 Posted June 7, 2011 Interestingly many of the schools that have the Xirrus system here on EduGeek all seem to be particularly well positioned geographically! They seem to be in leafy suburban environments that would not be subject to some of the more challenging installations of the inner city. How does a Xirruss system contend with over 200 badly configured 2.4Ghz domestic installations within 20 meters of your adjoining northern flank! Add to the Mix a couple of Police Portable Airwaves Tetra Repeaters, a couple of Sky Trucks with 2Kw of 12Ghz Sat Uplinks, half a dozen Microwave steadycams and an O2 Hi Density Mobile 3G Array! I have to have 50 roaming handhelds connected to 17 strategically placed Cisco's and 40 Laptops/Phones/Others hooked into a couple of DualBand DualRadio Zyxel 3550's and so far I have not had a problem. I am convinced that half of the wireless problems we hear on this forum are the self induced nightmare of "Not Fit for Purpose" where people expect Wireless to replace a dedicated 100Mb Full Duplex wired link per person with a shared 35Mpbs wifi with each kids profile the size of War and Peace needed at the start of every lesson! Are there any Inner City Xirrus users out there with a reasonable review to add? From what I see from Google earth we all have very different challenges with our wifi. Actually..you can shape the signal and actually "block" those other AP's, but that is not really a nice thing to do
rbance Posted June 7, 2011 Posted June 7, 2011 about to install 6 more in one of my campus sites... the key is to get a site survey done and see what works best for your site given your specific requirements....
rbance Posted August 31, 2011 Posted August 31, 2011 hmmmm....roaming is not a problem....not sure of what you have experienced here.....
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