Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points vs. Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

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.

Incentivized

The cisco 9800 wireless lan controller is well suited for large enterprise environments that require centralized management and security for their wireless network. For example a large university campus or a global enterprise. The WLC will allow administrators to manage and secure all APs. It might be not suitable for a small business network or for home use where a simpler wireless router could cover the needs.

Incentivized

• 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

Incentivized

• Easily manages a large number of APs.
• It can push out settings or a new OS to a large group of APs at once.
• The GUI is very intuitive, and follows the model Cisco has created for many of their products.
• It integrates well with our ISE environment for handling RADIUS requests.

Incentivized

• Aruba Instant On AP Series Access Points miss having OTP generation--this is must, for guest users at least
• Pricing is high

Incentivized

• add more sub-genres to the main menu
• make the product easier for people to use, that aren't working with it all day
• make the initial setup menu, where policies can be attached to Tags etc. more accessible
• When selecting APs from the Landing Page, make it possible to rename them immediately without having to switch to "Configuration" -> "Access Points"

Incentivized

The system has full uptime availability, no issues with slowness or outages. The system is well tested for 7x24 use and has been running without any issues. If HA is required, the solution fully supports a backup solution set to ease any concerns of having a WiFi controller out of service.

Incentivized

We have not had any issues with the Wireless controller. Our last system had consistent down time and intermittent dropout. The controllers ability to handle all of our traffic is impressive and a welcome improvement over our previous system. Our initial investment has already been recovered in reliable service and improved company wide throughput.

Incentivized

Great contact to Wireless Innovate Program Team and TAC to solve our problems.

Incentivized

Incentivized

Compared to older Cisco WLC, Catalyst 9800s are easier to manage and SSO HA is more reliable. Compared to Aruba IAP, the number of features is greater. Meraki is easier to set up but having a central controller gives greater control.

Incentivized

• 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

Incentivized

• We did replace several WLCs in our site with a redundant [Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller] and saved the cost
• [Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller] with IOS-XE enable us to manage APs in our branches easily, easier than AireOS
• ISSU enable us to do firmware upgrade with minimum downtime, a site with 24/7 activity will not be interrupted anymore

Incentivized