Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points vs. Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Aruba Networks offers the Instant On AP series of wireless access points, with models designed for indoor and outdoor access points.N/A
Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
The Cisco 5520 Series Wireless LAN Controller is a highly scalable, service-rich, resilient, and flexible platform that is ideal for medium-sized to large enterprise and campus deployments.N/A
Pricing
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access PointsCisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access PointsCisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access PointsCisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons
Best Alternatives
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access PointsCisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Small Businesses
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.2 out of 10
Ubiquiti WLAN
Ubiquiti WLAN
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers
Score 9.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access PointsCisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(1 ratings)
7.8
(13 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.2
(7 ratings)
User Testimonials
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access PointsCisco 5520 Wireless Controller
Likelihood to Recommend
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points are well suited for a small to mid-size setup (i.e., from 20 users to 500 devices that need to connect to WiFi). Aruba provides access points for both indoors and outdoors (e.g., commercial spaces and offices, and manufacturing units as well). Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points can also support controller-based architecture, and I would recommend going for that when the AP devices are more than 30.
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Cisco
I consider that its implementation is recommended for configurations where the amount of access points exceeds 50 devices and the performance exceeds 4 Gbps. In environments where the access point density is less than 10 units, we can use the option of Express Mobility.
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Pros
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Controllerless solution
  • Users connect to different APs seamlessly (soft handoff) when moving from one region to another
  • Stable--we have never faced any downtime with any APs
  • Different SSID to segregate internal and guest networks
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Cisco
  • It has the ability to manage all Cisco access points that we have, regardless of the model. The limit is 1500 pieces of equipment.
  • The WLC enables roaming functionality in the localities, this helps with collections, wireless IP phones, and access with notebooks.
  • The WLC manages the quality of the "air" and "signal" of the 2.4ghz frequency, avoiding noise and interference.
  • The WLC has an interesting feature of visibility of the traffic of the internal network.
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Cons
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points miss having OTP generation--this is must, for guest users at least
  • Pricing is high
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Cisco
  • We have had some issues with access points losing their configurations and going offline. This is not a common issue and we are not entirely certain if it is a fault of the controller or the individual APs. That said, the controller does not appear to retain the knowledge of the offline AP which can be a management headache.
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Likelihood to Renew
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
No answers on this topic
Cisco
It works great and [we] will definitely renew.
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Support Rating
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
No answers on this topic
Cisco
Cisco is always available if we need support. If they are unable to solve the problem right away, they will reach back to us in a timely manner and advise what we need to do. Their team provides additional guidance as well if we hit any stumbling blocks. Their service has been great.
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Alternatives Considered
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
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Cisco
Cisco is the most stable company in switching parts including wireless, and it has the most powerful support team with a lot of online documents, community, and market share so when you get stuck, you can find support from anywhere. And usually, you won't need it as its product is very stable and reliable.
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Return on Investment
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Our users' productivity has increased, as they can now connect wirelessly
  • We are now centrally controlling users' traffic from firewall and blocking or limiting use of unwanted web apps
  • Has helped us in improving monitoring of user traffic
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Cisco
  • [It provides] centralized management.
  • Implementing the [Cisco] 5520 [Wireless] Controllers offered us a huge improvement in administrative time over our previous Cisco 3850 deployment. Being able to see all of our APs on a single controller as well as centrally manage them is a great benefit. This also removed the need to deploy specific equipment in different IDFs throughout our Industrial locations and instead only requiring switches with Power Over Ethernet (POE) capability.
  • Wireless performance has improved with the deployment of our 5520s, which allows our plant operators to do their jobs more efficiently while on the move.
  • Having three Cisco 5520 Wireless Controllers provides tertiary redundancy for our wireless networks. The solution is elegantly simple. Preventing downtime is, obviously, a profound part of our supply chain capabilities.
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