Wave9_Andy

Further details here: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3947235695 Established in 1999, Modern Networks is the leading specialist provider of managed IT and telecom services to the UK’s commercial & retail property sector. We are also an independent Internet Service Provider (ISP). This role sits within our Group Company, Wave 9 Managed Services Limited, which is 100% focused on Education and has established a fantastic reputation in the sector for customer service and support. You’ll be working with our school customers and liaising with our sales and technical team to help deliver Internet connectivity, safeguarding and security services from either your home or our Stafford office. It’s a relatively unique position, so we don’t necessarily expect candidates to be currently in an identical role, so training and support will be provided. Maybe you’re currently working in school administration, as a technician, in another customer service, or in a project delivery role? The key will be that you demonstrate the necessary skills and a commitment to customer service. We are open to discussing working days. The role could be full-time (37.5 Hours) or four days per week (30 Hours) with pro rata pay. Contact: [email protected]

Further details here https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3948268398 Formed in 2013, Wave 9 is a highly regarded and growing company that specialises in delivering IT solutions to the UK Education sector. These services include Internet connectivity, Internet security, Local Area (LAN), Wireless network (WLAN) solutions and telephony services. Now part of the Modern Networks group, who bring scale, capacity and further opportunity, we are now looking for an experienced and capable network and security engineer to join our team and to primarily focus on the delivery and support of our network, Internet connectivity and security managed services to our school customers. Contact: [email protected]

No problem, post amended! Thank you.

Hi all I'd like to make you aware of a couple of additional roles we have working with us here at Wave 9. Our parent company, Modern Networks, are handling the initial process, but the role sits within Wave 9 and is 100% focused on our Education customers. South East Midlands, South East based for one of the positions would be ideal. https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3834364235 Thanks Andy

Wave 9 is a young and growing company based in Staffordshire that offers its employees a secure, varied, positive and friendly working environment. The Company Wave 9 specialises in delivering IT infrastructure solutions into the UK Education sector. These services include Internet connectivity, Internet security, Local Area (LAN), Wireless network (WLAN) solutions and telephony services. The Position We are now looking for a capable and enthusiastic Technical Consultant to join the team and to primarily focus on the delivery and technical support of our network, Internet connectivity and security services. We’ve got an excellent reputation, so the successful candidate will need to demonstrate a commitment to providing fantastic customer service. Other necessary attributes are excellent interpersonal and communication skills, along with the ability to work independently and problem solve. Location We are based in Staffordshire, but the role would require a blend of home, customer site and office working. Primarily we are keen to get the right person, but the ability to cover the South and South-East where required would be preferable. So, candidates based in the South Midlands, Oxfordshire or Northamptonshire would be ideal. If you’d like to know more, please e-mail [email protected], and we’ll send you a job description. Wave 9 is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and all posts are subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. **APPROVED**

Hello All Just quick reminder that if you are looking for Meraki pricing across their range of LAN, WLAN, MDM and CCTV products than let me know. We have access to really good terms for our education customers, and if you've not looked at it for a while, there are some competitive Layer 2 access switches now available in the form of the MS120 and licensing arrangements across the range for education only that covers the useful lifetime of the equipment. We are happy to supply only or provide professional services to aid with design, installation and configuration. Cheers Andy https://www.wave9.co.uk/meraki-wifi/

Meraki recognised the challenge of the licensing model for schools and have responded. There are some specific licence pricing models for schools that are really excellent value when you look at what it covers. The management dashboard continues to be the differentiator for us. A well designed and configured network from any of the key vendors should do the job in terms of coverage and capacity in a school environment. That's why a thorough RF survey and a well though out design that also considers the underlying switching infrastructure and other network components is key. If you want to try some Free Meraki kit and have a play with the dashboard then you can do. Wi-Fi for Education | Wave 9 | Cisco Meraki Andy

Morning Not doubting any of the conclusions and as we all know in real world scenarios there are lots of other contributory factors that can and will impact on network performance. But it does appear, contrary to your initial impression, that is was a Ruckus supported test? "The author commends the Ruckus team for keeping each test vendor-neutral and fair, and, in fact, always gave the benefit-of-the-doubt, in favor of the competitor, as needed. All results herein were pulled directly from the raw data collected during the testing, without rounding or massaging in any way. The test methodology was fair to and the same for all, and the cards fell where they fell for each vendor." Perhaps Gartner gives a broader view of the WLAN and Switching Market? Who knows :-) https://files.jocke.no/b/gartner-wireless-august2016.pdf Andy

Good morning all The 10 year for 5 (+ extra 1 year free) was an Education only offer that expires at the end of Cisco's financial year (31.7.17). I am pretty certain there will be a replacement offer for schools this coming year that's attractive but not sure what that will look like yet. In practice if you are adding devices to an existing Meraki network or you are adding devices in the future and purchasing a shorter licence period then the way the licensing works, by pooling licences to always have a co terminus end date, might well mean that your actual renewal date is shortened from 11 years, and is more in line with the typical lifecycle of networking equipment. Your end date is always available to yo in the organisation section of the dashboard. As a Meraki MSP (and an Edugeek sponsor!), we would be happy to answer any questions you have on licensing or Meraki products in general, but there's some good info here https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Licensing/Licensing_FAQ Cheers Andy

Happy to put some pricing together for you JJames. Also put you in touch with some reference customers. Let me know if we can help. (We'll be at the conference next week too if you are attending) Andy

Good morning Happy to provide some budgetary pricing based on a Meraki solution, you can register for a Meraki Webinar here Wi-Fi for Education | Wave 9 | Cisco Meraki and get an AP. We would be happy to do a webinar and show you some live deployments "in action" and some of the tools the dashboard offers. I think you might be surprised when you consider whole life costs how competitive it is. I am certain all the enterprise vendors have hardware capable of performance that will meet your requirements. Design, deployment and integration will make the biggest difference to the initial success of the project for your users. Following that, the tools and you have at your disposal to monitor, manage and maintain the network over its lifetime, will help you ensure that it continues to work well and management is low overhead and simple from your perspective.If you would like to PM me I can send you document on vendor choice and deployment considerations. Regards Andy

Happy to provide costs to you both for Sophos. If you would like to PM me there are a couple of bits of info I require..... Cheers Andy

Hi Tom I think there was a Chrome update in late June. We have subsequently seen an issue on a customer network with Chromebooks. We see very high levels of channel utilisation across the 5GHz spectrum when the Chromebook requests a web page. This doesn’t happen with laptops (2.4 or5GHz) or with the chromebooks at 2.4GHz (20MHz channels). We have an open support call with the WLAN vendor. Might be worth restricting to 2.4Ghz only ad see how you go. Andy

Thanks for that - amended! If you have purchased Meraki switches previously then you might not qualify. If you are not currently a Meraki customer or have have previously purchased other Meraki kit (Wireless/Security/Systems manager) then you should. Nothing written in stone though as there will be different customers with different circumstances so happy to explore what options are available to you.

Hi All A couple of interesting Meraki opportunities worth highlighting. As an IT professional if you attend a Introduction to Cloud Managed Switching Webinar then you will receive a free Meraki MS220 8 Port POE switch with a 3 year licence. New Meraki switching customers who place orders before the end of July (Mid July in practice) will also benefit from a licence promotion that provides 5 years for the list price of a 1 year licence. The licence cover feature and firmware upgrades for the full 5 years as well as next business day hardware replacement maintenance service. All in all a very cost effective proposition when you look at TCO over 5 years. If you are an existing Meraki Wireless. Systems Manager or Security customer then you will still qualify. Add in to this our Education discounts and there are some really interesting opportunities for this looking at summer network projects. If you would like any further info then just drop me a PM. Cheers Andy

Hi Chris You do have to be careful because some are PST or some other timezone but it's shown as 10AM GMT. Introduction to Cloud Networking Webinar

Hi there - Busby mentioned Meraki. We think it is a great product and would be happy to talk to you about it if you wish to evaluate a few options. We are a certified Meraki MSP with a specialism in education!!! (and a proud Edugeek forum sponsor!) You can find out a little more from our site including a couple of case studies here A good first step would be to join a Meraki webinar and receive a free AP. The next introduction to cloud networking demo is next Tuesday at 10AM. They do tend to focus on the tools relating to managing multi sites which may or may not be applicable to you but it does show the intuitiveness of the dashboard. You also have the opportunity to ask them questions about stuff thats more pertinent to you. Eg. Layer 7 application control, MDM etc... Let me know if we can be of any help. Cheers Andy

I know, and such a public display of incompetence! [email protected] Cheers Andy

Hi there - your wired forum sponsor here.... clearly not doing a great job of letting the EduGeek community know that we are a certified Meraki MSP with a specialism in education!!! We would be happy to look at this with you. We can put you in touch with customers who are 100% Meraki through Switching and Wireless or get one of our technical guys to have a chat with you / show you round the dashboard etc. You can find out a little more and look at a couple of case studies here You can also register to join a Meraki webinar via our site and receive a free AP. The next introduction to cloud networking demo is next Tuesday at 10AM. Happy to have an initial discussion with an EduGeek members if you are interested in finding out more. Cheers Andy

A few things to consider after asking my technical colleagues.... In no particular order 1. has it ever been surveyed to see what’s happening with AP placement, channel allocation and surrounding Wi-Fi interference? 2. check with tools such as WiSpy to see what is happening on the RF spectrum – non Wi-Fi interference 3. what models are the cisco / unfi AP’s and what standards are they running -802.11 a/b/g/n/ac? 4. how many clients are associated to a particular AP at any one time? 5. are clients rate limited? 6. what applications are being used is there any commonality when issues are experienced? 7. check the controller configuration parameters and logs – are AP’s disconnecting? 8. understand and check network infrastructure – what is doing the routing and is there latency and loss to it. i.e. use a tool like ping plotter to ping the AP from the normal vlan. Does any packet loss coincide with issues seen on the WLAN? 9. Are there any points of contention in the network – i.e. internet connection? Andy

Yep agreed. We would use Ekahau too. Whilst probably not applicable to the OP in his scenario, a proper survey could end up saving quite a chunk of money in the long run. We have just replaced a 70 AP deployment with 43 AP in a secondary school and vastly improved performance and stability for users. We have another customer where the cost of the survey was saved 20 times over by proper RF planning reducing the estimated AP's requirement. Don't forget a post install survey is good practice too and we usually complete one of those for the customer to produce an 'as deployed' report. Theres a lot going on in a modern secondary.....

Agree with what Joe has said about being objective not vendor led and getting a real understanding of your requirements and plans. Our technical team have lots of experience in design and delivery of high capacity wireless having designed and deployed everything from Schools WLAN through to Wireless WAN for Scottish Highlands and Islands and City Wide Wireless. We could offer a Meraki option. Click the link for more info including a couple of education case studies at the bottom. WaveConnect Wireless & Network for Education Reference call can be arranged if you would like to speak to a customer we have worked with. Hope that helps. PM me if you would like to find out more. Thanks Andy

Drop me a note - we have a short white paper on considering investment in network that's generic in terms of vendor but may help you build your case with the SLT. Happy to e-mail it to you. Regards Andy

Here at Wave 9 we are a Sophos Partner specialising in Education. Our background was Cisco but we really rate the Sophos UTM product from a cost / function / feature / manageability perspective. It's a key part of our overall Education ISP service but we are also seeing customers with existing LA / RBC internet connections, that are not yet able to cancel, move to a Sophos UTM as a first step in readiness to procuring a direct internet connection. If anyone would like any info or example pricing then please do let me know. Andy

If you think you may have a potential requirement you can sign up via our link here: Wave 9 | Cisco Meraki