Cisco enterprise wifi, WLC or Meraki

[carl_townshend]

Hi All

We are looking out swaping our Aruba wifi with Cisco controller based, we use Cisco wifi on most of our global sites so want to aim for a standard.

We currently have around 300 ap's around a few sites that connect to 2 controllers.

Firstly can anyone tell me what are the benefits if any of moving to Cisco over Aruba?

Should we look at Meraki or controller based?

[Sandeep Choudhary · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Honestly believe me from my experience that 95% of wireless networks are not designed/deployed or configured correctly, this is the bitter truth. Putting up an AP and then plugging it in and joining a controller, then getting a connection is not "Wireless".

Again, with Cisco you can have seamless integration into your wired infrastructure. Prime Infrastructure being the core piece, from there you can get into NAD (Network Access Device) monitoring, Config Mgmt, Software Image Mgmt, Client monitoring and tracking, security monitoring and tracking (wIPS/Rogue Tracking/Centralized Logging and Alerting)

This ties into ISE, then you have NAM (Network Analysis Module) which provides response time comparison for your network (i.e., What is slow, the network or the server?), MSE (Mobility Services Engine) for CMX Analytics.

Again with these other vendors, they cannot provide a "solution" and in their attempts to come close they are partnering with other vendors to form a solution. Cisco simply cannot be beat in client identity, it's right there.

Regards

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