RedwayNetworks_Michael

Cambium Networks

There is a few 3rd party options, none i would say are budget friendly. I find the issue with 3rd party ones is they all aimed at Hospitality and retail which i think puts the costs up. One we have looked at before who was keen to help schools was Ucopia but im sure there are other alternatives too.

If they use Xirrus already then upgrading that to Cambium might be a good option. No stacking unfortunately but would tick pretty much all other boxes and can have switches with the wireless on one dashboard. Let me know if want me to speak to Cambium to get you onto the ancient Xirrus platform happy to introduce you to someone there that should be able to help you get access again. I believe the Xirrus platform is coming to an end in May (dont hold me to this date but im sure its May)

Well thats the next question as its per user licence with a minimum number required to just get started licencing it below is an idea for a VM and a 500 end point licence, this is based on list price so with an Aruba partner you could probably take maybe 40% off this and that should give a good idea of costs. There is so many versions and licences though so anyone interested i would advise to speak with Aruba to confirm licences are correct, Part Number Description Unit Price Quantity Sub Total JZ401AAE HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass Access License 500 Concurrent Endpoints E-LTU £10,109.00 1 £10,109.00 H9XB2E Aruba 1Y FC SW CP NL AC 500 CE E-LTU SVC [for JZ401AAE] £809.00 1 £809.00 JZ399AAE HPE Aruba Networking ClearPass NAC Cx000V VM-Based Appliance License E-LTU £3,110.00 1 £3,110.00 H9WX2E Aruba 1Y FC SW CP Cx000V VM Appl E-LTU SVC [for JZ399AAE] £250.00 1 £250.00

Yep its a decent product but its very complex, they do so many types of licences its confusing for alot to just get a quote. When comes to schools thye mainly just want the guest features which often isnt enough to justify the costs. Im just trying to get a ball park idea for us all but already ive been given 1000 questions in regards to getting a rough cost haha whatever happened to just getting a price haha

Not really a Newbie post but wasn't sure where to put this but just wanted to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and happy new year. Hopefully most of us have some time off over the Christmas break and we can wind down relax and just eat lots of food. Hopefully ive been of some use over the last year to some members and thanks to everyone that's tagged me and recommended me over the last year. It is very much appreciated. I still have Monday morning to go till I'm officially off but hoping wont be too much happening and then its time with family. Keep safe during the holidays and look forward to catching you all in 2026

Fluke Networks is what im usually asked for

Unfortunately yes i am haha we have light at the end of the tunnel though. For some reason the football industry works a lot different to any other industry. Consequences can cause a whole community to suffer yet nothing can be done about bad owners.

Right at the end after most people left the call it was asked if CTC was planned for more rollouts after this ones ends and the response from them was there are no plans currently to do further CTC. Unless we getting confused as the RISE schools as you say could be different. Trust me as a supplier that's not what i want to hear but at the same time it would be wrong for me to give false promise. As i say the vendors and everyone still seem confident but what i heard at the end of the call and what some of my schools have been told is no plans to do more after it ends in Feb. It is government though so anything can happen 😄

Yes unfortunately alot of suppliers live in hope and get told all sorts by the vendors too. I too have heard from multiple sources they expect more CTC but then when i go on the webinar with DFE they was very clear to say there wasnt plans for any more in future this was the webinar with them just a few weeks ago. Still the vendors and others seem to think otherwise but im just going on what DfE have said themselves rather than Vendor talk, we all know vendors love to overhype things 😄

On the last call with DfE they said there would be no more CTC moving forward, we all know how these things can change but ive not heard or seen anything from DFE that would suggest a new CTC scheme currently at this point and they did say there was no plans for further. I hope this helps apologies if i misunderstood the question

Thankyou, really appreciate this, just goes to show all the hard work does get recognised 😁

Appreciate this, always happy to help anyone.

Less is better, some solutions now allow you to have multiple passwords for one SSID which can help keep them down. Its easy to get carried away and have lots of SSIDs but simple is best

Id agree with this. ive found on the more recent waves its been alot more challenging to get within specs and budget and in some cases having to adjust the solutions slightly. i know they are pushing to get all current projects finished for Feb and have a feeling it will be ready to release more around April time (ready for a summer rush availability) Be interesting to see what gets said on the webinar and if the suppliers one is any different from the schools ones

I stand corrected i can see its now something they do offer as an extra. Be interesting to hear how people have found the support.

Cambium is a good solution, Cloud managed but with full vendor support. Thats the one part of Unify i cant justify when comes to education or business, No vendor support is risky.

Option 1 for you hehe In regards to the car i luckily had no problems with tyres etc, i was a little concerned with Hungary as had been told by people they had punctures there but i had nothing, i can confirm they have some bumpy roads though. In regards to costs for fuel I'm still working that out properly but id say £500 likely covers it. We stayed at my partners parents for 3 nights which saved some money and i tried to budget £100 a night on hotels. I had a couple just under £100 and i upgraded most and paid up to £150 a night but that was for superior suites etc, if i was doing with friends not the Mrs i would have used budget hotels. The drive sounds long but honestly the 4-5hrs of driving goes by fast, not sure if its due to been somewhere new all the time. The 17hrs did include the ferry and also breakfast with a sim racing friend in Belgium. I also had dinner with a friend in Switzerland on way home. I purchased Vignettes for each country required and i avoided any additional Toll roads. I did prep the car before leaving too with 4 brand new tyres, Full Service and a fresh MOT too (was due when going away) overall super happy with the car. We topped up once with oil (1Ltr) this was after the mountains of Romania and it never came on again. Absolutely loved it, trip of a lifetime and memories forever.

So i finally decided to take 2 weeks off annual leave. Ive not taken two weeks off at once for years before now. My partner needed to go see some family over in Romania and asked if i would go this year. So i said yes but lets drive. For those that don't know me already I'm a big car enthusiast and love driving or anything car related. (Even sim racing and RC cars are hobbies of mine) Anyhow my girlfriend is not so much a car enthusiast but much to my surprise she said yes to the idea of driving to Romania. I told her id take care of everything so she had nothing to worry about. I jumped onto google maps and put directions from Milton Keynes to Turnu Maguella, South Romania. I picked out some spots along the route that i thought we would be able to drive to within the day and also spend some time at each place, i also pre booked hotels so end of each day my partner at least knew she had a nice bed to sleep in. Anyhow long story short i made the plan and ive just returned last week from executing that plan. We spent 13 nights, travelled 3922miles with an average of 44MPG (BMW 640D) We passed via France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Switzerland. We even managed to squeeze in some places such as the Transfagarasan Highway (Romania) Lake Baloton (Hungary) and Lake Garda (Italy) We also visited cities such as Venice, Milan and Vienna. Longest day driving was 17hrs Despite the hours driving it went by so fast, we had no aches or pains after been in the car for many hours at a time and my Mrs is already up for another road adventure next year. Our favourite place we visited - Opatija, Croatia Most disappointing - Venice and Italy in general Most surprising - Slovenia - We will be going back to Slovenia and spending more time its beautiful, North Romania also very impressive. Worst drivers - Italy I also documented the trip and sharing on my youtube (im not an expert so apologies in advance) Below some pictures for anyone interested Has anyone done a big Road trip before or plans on any in future

Welcome aboard

Aerohive was a great product, i cant help but feel its all gone abit backwards since Extreme took them over. The free licence platform Aerohive did was great. I know alot now looking to replace it as they now have to pay to licence and cant make any changes until they do and alot just not too happy. Meraki if got budget its just simple Aruba/Cambium Meraki/Cambium Cambium edge with a Meraki or Aruba Core i find a good option that seems to tick alot of boxes in education as budgets usually the biggest blocker so this mix seems to work well. If you havent used Cambium before let me know, i can usually get hold of free APs to send out for Cambium for people to try, i wonder how many of my schools IT managers have cambium APs at home due to this haha Fortinet - i do like the firewalls and they have been on me alot to try push more of there switching and Wireless. The USP they was giving me was no licences required if have a firewall, however by time you added up product costs and the support you must take it felt like licences would have been easier. I do think this may change as i know Fortinet are really wanting to attack the network area.

In regards to how many APs per classroom its all in the design. It depends on many factors such as wall types, how many users in the room, interference etc. Design is so important, I see on almost a daily basis people that flood with APs thinking it will make things better and often we have to tell them to take some down. (warehouses seem to love overspending on APs then spending more money to get specialist to tell them to take down those APs) Its a fine line with Wifi and to get 100% is very hard but you can get about 98% with a good design.

we have done a fair few now, cost matrix we have found usually same day if done in a morning or next day. really fast compared to last time. We havent had any take more than just a couple of days so far.

yes, we have come across this too. Ive done some schools where budget was too much and didnt use it all but a few others where budgets are just not enough for what requirements are and having to now look at alternatives as a backup if reject the original proposals.

Im pushing them hard on this, almost daily, I need a good few of the 24 port ones already for some installs coming up. The 48 port one is delayed and wont be until next year now and i think they may even give up on releasing that one as they concentrate on some new APs they looking to release too 4x4 AP im been told so nothing dramatic but those 24 port multigig switches i think should be a great fit into the switching portfolio.