Don’t overpay for your Gigabit Wi-Fi

最近我买了一个whiteboard在线具有美丽的图像，并声称具有出色的功能。凭借其吸引人的标价，我毫不犹豫地将其扔进了购物车。在长时间等待发货之后，包裹终于以一卷塑料状的白色床单到达 - 所谓的whiteboard.为了使其正常工作，需要一个支持板。现在，拥有功能性白板的总成本已被抬起，更不用说我经历的意外惊喜和麻烦了。在无线行业中，在寻找高性能和具有成本效益的WLAN解决方案时，具有成本敏感的企业可能具有相同或相似的经验。

平均而言，企业每5年升级其无线网络，以在管理成本的同时获得最新技术的好处。预算有限，并希望为员工建立数字工作场所，因此企业希望最大限度地利用网络投资 - 支付更少，增加更多和更长的工作！没什么可责备的……这就是为什么whiteboardstory often happens because of the misleading information out there. This raises a furious price battle among the wireless vendors. Many vendors use the low unit price strategy to attract enterprises. It often works at the beginning until many factors are disclosed and shown that thelow unit price不等于总拥有成本较低（TCO）。实际的TCO经常超过原来的引用price due to the poor product performance that may increase the number of components required – the reflection of the white-board story. However, this low-cost trap can be avoided if enterprises have had evaluated their overall network performance and user experience in addition to the unit price when they make the purchase decision - as noted by Mike Carlin, CIO and vice chancellor for IT at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), after picking Aruba over Cisco in a Wave 2 access point test:

"Even with Cisco coming in cheaper per access point at double the count, why would I go there?"（（TechTarget）

卡林先生通过在UNCC校园进行了一系列广泛的POC测试，在仔细评估了Aruba和Cisco访问点后，与Aruba做出了购买决定。为了进一步增强卡林先生的声明，并为正在寻找具有真正低TCO的高性能无线解决方案的企业提供了实用的参考指南，我们进行了许多performance vs costtests among different WLAN vendors. The goal of the tests was to identify each AP's performance in a high device density environment. Then, with the published list price of each tested AP from their vendor, the cost per Mbps can be calculated. Vendor discounts are not considered in the calculation. Below are the details of the test between Aruba and Cisco:

测试：性能与成本

该测试是在办公楼内的多客户环境中进行的。将10-40个2S（80％）和3SS（20％）的客户设备放置在距离接入点15-25英尺的距离处。所有客户均连接到5 GHz 802.11ac频段。每个供应商都使用了适当的控制器。请参阅办公楼中的测试床设置（图1）和测试环境（图2）：

图1：多客户环境测试的测试床设置

Figure 2: Test environment in an office building

Access Points:Wave 1 and Wave 2 APs from Aruba and Cisco

• Aruba AP-325，波2、3SS
• Aruba AP-215，Wave 1，3SS
• Aruba AP-205，Wave 1，2SS
• 思科1852i，波2，3SS
• 思科3700，波1、3SS

客户端设备：2SS和3SS客户。1SS客户端因其对多客户环境中总体吞吐量的影响而被故意排除在测试之外，因此所有供应商都是如此。

• MacBook Pro, 3SS 11ac Client
• MacBook Air，2SS 11AC客户

测试结果

From the chart below (Figure 3), the Aruba Wave 1 and Wave 2 APs outperformed both Cisco Wave 1 and Wave 2 APs from 10 clients to 40 clients.

Figure 3: Wave 1 and Wave 2 AP performance in a multi-client environment

• Cisco Wave 2 AP - 1850的起始数据速率相对较低，有10个客户率为400Mbps，与Aruba 2SS Wave 1 AP - 205的起始率相同AP-1850的客户数量增加。拥有40个客户，其数据率降至260Mbps或35％的下降。

• The Cisco 3SS Wave 1 AP-3700 is positioned for the high-density environment. However, its starting data rate with 10 clients is as low as 275Mbps. We also observed a flat data rate from 10 to 40 clients during the test. Although the performance didn't drop obviously with more clients added, the 3SS AP- 3700 is the poorest performer, all the way from 10 clients to 40 clients.

• Aruba Wave 2 AP - 325是所有测试AP中表现最好的人。由于10个客户的数据速率最高为485Mbps，因此在40个客户的第二个客户中也拥有稳定的第二个职位，略低于Aruba AP - 215，这是高密度环境中最可持续的表现。如图3所示，AP-215的性能在10个客户后逐渐下降，并以30个客户弹回来，并不断上升。在测试期间，Aruba AP-215是唯一达到400Mbps的数据速率的测试AP。

• The Aruba Wave 1 2SS AP-205 is the entry-level Wave 1 AP that was positioned to serve the low-medium density environment. During the test, its performance went from 400 Mbps with 10 clients to 335Mbps with 40 clients, showing a total 16% performance drop. However, after 30 clients, we saw an almost straight performance line – the data rate stays the same even with more clients added.

现在，我们拥有10-40个客户端的每个AP的最大数据速度。通过Aruba和Cisco的固定名单价格，可以使用公式可以轻松地计算出绩效成本：

Performance Cost ($/Mbps) = List price ($) / data rate (Mbps)

If the data rate or performance is higher, the AP's performance cost will be lower, and vice versa. For example, The Aruba AP-205's list price is $695 and its data rate @40 clients is 335Mbps, then:

AP-205 Performance Cost ($/Mbps) = $695/335Mbps = $2.07/Mbps

Figure 4 below shows the price per Mbps at 40 clients for each tested AP. The Aruba entry-level AP-205 is the most cost-effective AP with a performance cost of around $2/Mbps; While the Cisco high-end 3SS AP-3700 represented the opposite with a performance cost close to $6/Mbps. While Cisco positioned its AP-1850 as the entry-level Wave 2 AP with a low unit price, its performance cost is as high as $3.8/Mbps, only second to the highest AP-3700.

图4：性能与成本（每Mbps $）

Conclusion

Aruba Wave 1和Wave 2 AP为企业提供了最具成本效益的性能，尤其是在高设备密度环境中。入门级，中端和高端AP的价格适当并定位，以满足所有级别的企业要求。与其他专注于其硬件开发的供应商不同，Aruba致力于提供由软件驱动的移动优先网络体系结构，以帮助企业在创建数字工作场所时简化其程序。

Learn more about technologies and Aruba 802.11ac products here:

• 11ac Wave 1 AP-205
• 11ac Wave 1 AP-215
• 11ac Wave 2 AP-325
• Enhanced ClientMatch