Friday, February 6, 2015

Cloud Based Wireless Vendor Comparison Matrix

As an System Engineer for a Value Added Reseller doing a lot of time responding to the latest changes in the FCC's erate proposal. In order to give a better solution to the customer, I created a spreadsheet looking at the various features of the following competitive solutions.

Extreme Networks (which we sell and I install)
Aruba
Meraki
Aerohive

Some notes and disclaimers. This matrix was created by using the test or evaluations available for and for some examples like Aruba clearpass youtube videos and datasheets. Due to the way technology works, this is a point in time snapshot of features around the time of first of the year 2015. I am sure there are features that each vendor will argue about and disagree and see their solution is better, but this was as agnostic of an approach as I could take because its purpose was to help our sales people know when to and when not to chase business based on customer pain points.

For a brief synopsis of the various solutions.

Meraki - Excellent at small, multiple location deployments and staff with very little experience. Larger lifetime costs because of license model. ( Well and also probably because it carries the Cisco name and people pay more just for that.)

Aerohive - Basic AP settings, will work for multiple location deployment but limited feature set

Extreme Networks - Excels in high dense, highly complex environments with a great deal of flexibility. Initial install is more complicated than Meraki, but easy to use thereafter.

Aruba - similar to extreme networks particularly when including clearpass.

So now for the Wireless Vendor comparison matrix.

Extreme Cloud Hosted - With Identity and Access Extreme On Premise Hosted - With Identity Extreme Cloud Based - No Nac (priced as partner) Extreme Networks - On Prem no NAC (Purchased as normal) Meraki Aerohive Arbua Instant
Management Features
Accessible from anywhere via Web Yes No Yes No Yes Yes yes
Browser based management yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
Annaul AP License required Yes Yes Yes No YEs Yes yes
Usable if license expires if migrated local yes if migrated local yes no no yes
Fully Redudant Design Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes yes
Zero touch AP Provisioning yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
Automatic firmware updates yes if managed but can be scheduled yes if managed, but can be scheduled yes if managed but can be scheduled no yes yes yes
802.11ac only requires PoE not POE+ yes yes yes yes no runs in low performance mode yes
Layer 3 roaming yes yes yes yes yes with limitations no yes
Guest/ Captive Portal Features
Guest Portal Support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes yes
Guest portal registration Yes Yes No No some yes no
Guest verification by SMS yes yes no no yes no no
Captive Portal registration Yes Yes No No no yes yes
Guest Portal Sponsorship yes yes no no no no not sure
Guest portal billable no no no no yes no no
Application and Integration Features
Layer 7 Application firewall no no no no yes no yes
URL filter no no no no yes no no
Integrates with Palo Alto yes yes no no no no yes
Integrates with Iboss yes yes no no no no no
Integrates with lightspeed yes yes no no no no no
Radio/Band Features
AP support 100+ Simulentanous clients Yes YES Yes Yes no no no
Per SSID bandwidth Limit per AP No No No NO Yes no yes
2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band steering yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
Load Balance clients in high density areas yes yes yes yes no no yes
Automatic RF Optimization yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
User/ Device Features
AD/LDAP user login Yes Yes Yes with external radius yes with external radius yes yes yes
AD user to group policy decisions yes yes no no no no yes
Mobile Device registration Yes Yes No No allow and deny only no without airwatch yes with clearpass
Allow or Deny access by Device type Yes Yes No No Yes no yes with clear pass
Dynamically change policy by device type Yes Yes no no no no yes with policy enforcement firewall
User based reporting and lookup Yes Yes No No some no yes with clear pass
Per User bandwidth Limit Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes no yes
multiple VLANs, device typein  1 SSID yes yes yes yes no no yes


Finally when looking at costs of these various solutions, I worked up a couple of models to best approximate some costs based on realistic numbers not list price. These are NOT set it stone as vendors can adjust margins/discounts but it should give you an approximation.

So the following is for 100 3x3:3 access points from each vendor. The Extreme Networks price includes installation the other vendors do not.


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