looked
at Aruba, Meru, Xirrus, and HP (since we have HP switches). We went =
with
Meru because they depicted their N solution as ready, and because their
single-channel architecture seemed to be the best fit with our needs for =
an
extremely dense environment. All of the engineers at Meru with whom I =
have
worked have been fantastic, and they have gone the extra mile to get =
their
system to work here at Norwood. That said, their N solution didn't =
work, and
even their single-channel B/G solution ran into trouble with the huge =
amount
of broadcast traffic we have as a result of our networked projectors =
(don't
get me started). After months of suffering, we had them remove it and
installed an Aruba system on a trial basis. Aruba has worked extremely =
well
pretty much out of the box. I have not set up captive portal or used =
the
more advanced features yet, but the basic functionality is the most
trouble-free I've seen so far. I considered Xirrus, but it was too new =
of a
player for me, compared with Aruba and Meru, and I wasn't persuaded that =
I
gained a lot from taking a chance on them. The HP solution was too =
expensive
and not as feature-rich as the other vendors. Happy to talk more about =
it
offline. I've spent a lot of time on wireless over the past year, sad =
to
say.
David
David Rossell
Administrator of Network Services and Planning
Norwood School
8821 River Rd.
Bethesda, MD 20817
(301) 841-2178
drossell@norwoodschool.org
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Dickenson, Steven
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 3:50 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: Thoughts on Xirrus?
I have heard other schools with this same complaint, and it's really a =
shame.
It seems Meru's sales and marketing channel are pushing their N =
products,
while engineers and insiders readily admit that their N products are not =
up
to the same standards as their G products. Meru's single channel =
virtual
cell products do some amazing things with standard 802.11 a/b/g, and I =
hope
that once they can bring that technology to their N line that reputation =
will
return. However, I have to agree with Jomar, if you need N right now =
Meru is
not a good bet.
S
---
Steven Dickenson <sdickenson@keyschool.org>
Computer Network Manager
The Key School, Annapolis Maryland
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for independent school educators [mailto:ISED-
> L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Jomar McDonald
> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 10:00 AM
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: Thoughts on Xirrus?
>=20
> I hate to bad mouth Meru.. but I'm gonna do it anyway. I purchased =
Meru
AP300
> series 802.11n access points and controllers for both my campuses and =
it
> turned out to be an absolute nightmare. It all started with the sales =
team
> neglecting to mention virtual cell/single channel not being available =
at
this
> time on their 802.11n equipment. They also switched me to a 3 channel
> configuration, one for each floor but I have to ask.. If I have to =
manually
> configure my channel and power arrangements, then what is the point of
their
> controller!? I had RF problems, clients bouncing around, AP's =
rebooting
> randomly with 802.11n enabled and 65% of my notebooks had major issues
> connecting to their AP's. Their engineers were out here numerous =
times
trying
> to figure it out and they passed the blame over to Microsoft. It just
didn't
> make any sense that ordinary wifi chipsets (intel 3945) couldn't make =
or
> maintain a connection on their equipment.
>=20
> This went on for 4 months till this week I installed Aruba AP125 AP's =
and
> controllers and it's been like night and day. I've only been in =
production
1
> day so far and yesterday's results look really promising. All I can =
say is
be
> very careful with Meru if you're looking for 802.11n AND single =
channel
NOW.
> You won't get it and for the life of me I have no idea how their =
successful
> clients are getting by. I know for a fact we're not the only ones.
>=20
> Thanks
>=20
> Jomar McDonald
> Director of Technology
> The Frances Xavier Warde School
> 751 N. State St.
> Chicago, IL=A0 60610
> W:=A0 312-798-4064
> F:=A0=A0=A0312-337-7180
>=20
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