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Hi all-

We're looking at blanketing about 20 K-12 school buildings with 802.11n, and I'm wondering whether to go with Ruckus or Meru. I've been hearing good things about Ruckus and their beam forming tech, but one of my colleagues was wowed by Meru at a conference... anyone have a suggestion which way to go? I found a whitepaper comparing those two, HP, and one or two others but the paper itself was sponsored by Ruckus, so I'm always leery of stuff like that. :?

Thanks for any tips!

Depends. Is it outdoor? Indoor? Or both?

For indoor, I'd probably go with Aruba.

Between the two you mentioned, I'd probably stick with Ruckus.

Both solutions have unique strengths and really slick technologies. What applications are you planning to support? Are there any unique challenges to the environment or special needs for the network?

To expand on my previous question, it's just indoor coverage that we are looking at providing. The schools are planning on doing a 1:1 laptop initiative, roughly 400 laptops per building (20-30 per classroom, all active at the same time).

The traffic is mainly going to be HTTP (random browsing, streaming video, Flash games, webmail, etc.) and general file and print.

Alex,

Your project is quite a large one and the decision as to which vendor to use is not an easy one. If I'm in your position, I'd want some vendors to come in and show off their technology in your environment.

I'm not sure about your Wi-Fi experience, but if you don't have a Wi-Fi specialist on staff I'd recommend having one in during the evaluation period.

I'm always self promoting and that is something that I enjoy doing. I would come in with a bit of bias given my knowledge of these vendors and your environment.

I'd want to bake off between Aerohive, Ruckus and Meru for your application.

If you don't mind giving us your location (even just what State you are in would help) it can help us with pointing you in the right direction.

GT Hill

Alexd,

There is a list of manufacturers (Meru, Aerohive, Ruckus, Cisco, Aruba) that can all certainly do the job of providing 802.11n wifi for 20 K-12 schools. What is important is the management of such a deployment.

Any manufacturer that you are interested in, ensure that he can get you a couple references that you can speak to and even visit to ensure that if you are the one managing, deploying and troubleshooting these sites it is not a "bear". Speaking to people who have done it before and getting your questions answered by people who are in your position is a very important component to this. It will also allow you to separate fact from marketing, and give you ideas on what to look for.

I would go with Meru, especially if you don't have any RF people on staff. Meru Single Channel design works well.

I work for a VAR that sells Meru, so if you need info you can shoot me a PM.

~K

Snaglpus00 Escribi?3:

I would go with Meru, especially if you don't have any RF people on staff. Meru Single Channel design works well.

I work for a VAR that sells Meru, so if you need info you can shoot me a PM.

~K

How does an SCA help if there is no Wi-Fi techs on staff?

Proper design from the beginning is more important than the vendor. Ease of management should be strongly considered for the system. When resources are slim, fewer AP's and better management is key.

GT

You're not saying fewer APs automatically means a better solution, does it? That number is normally determined by the coverage desired, and application performance, right? And then there is security, interoperability, scalability; correct? Then there is ease of use, suitability to the task, ease of integration, easy troubleshooting and management, right?

No doubt, support resources should be considered, along with the flexibility of the solution. Will your vendor identify or fix that issue that only YOU seem to have, or are you stuck with that same system that doesn't quite work with your just-purchased 1,000 laptops for your 1:1 program? Did your vendor sell you something that he knows you will have to purchase another box in addition to fully manage?

These are some of the questions that keep users up all night and they should get detailed answers to.

I say let potential users evaluate every solution who is capable of doing the job. When vendors see that savvy users compare their complete solution with others, they are forced to add meat to their offering, instead of this or that "gee wiz" feature. In a time where wireless is becoming ubiquitous, users should take the opportunity to get the most out of it.

cjoseph Escribi?3:

You're not saying fewer APs automatically means a better solution, does it? That number is normally determined by the coverage desired, and application performance, right? And then there is security, interoperability, scalability; correct? Then there is ease of use, suitability to the task, ease of integration, easy troubleshooting and management, right?

No doubt, support resources should be considered, along with the flexibility of the solution. Will your vendor identify or fix that issue that only YOU seem to have, or are you stuck with that same system that doesn't quite work with your just-purchased 1,000 laptops for your 1:1 program? Did your vendor sell you something that he knows you will have to purchase another box in addition to fully manage?

These are some of the questions that keep users up all night and they should get detailed answers to.

I say let potential users evaluate every solution who is capable of doing the job. When vendors see that savvy users compare their complete solution with others, they are forced to add meat to their offering, instead of this or that "gee wiz" feature. In a time where wireless is becoming ubiquitous, users should take the opportunity to get the most out of it.

The OP said that it was mostly HTTP traffic so that is why I was saying that fewer AP's would be better.

I completely agree with your post. With a deployment like this, the OP should bring in vendors and have them prove what solution is best.

GT