Aruba Wireless Reviews

Move valuable to us are the central management feature and the solution's performance. They're also easy to deploy in all our global locations.

We have about 40 offices around the world, and in every office we had a different wireless vendor. Our goal, then, was to have one standard solution for all our offices. Now, for example, when our sales team goes from Singapore to China to Belgium, they can just come into the local office and are automatically connected.

The AP's didn't automatically connect to our central office upon deployment.

We've had some deployment issues, such as the AP's didn't connect to our central office automatically.

It's a stable solution.

It's very scalable. If one of our offices wants extra AP's, we can just ship them and they just need to plug them them. That's it.

Sometime technical support goes directly through Aruba, and other times it goes through a third party.

We were using several different vendors, including Cisco and some old HP's, and we wanted to standardized in all our offices. So, we switched to Aruba and now have central management.

Initial setup was very straightforward. You just plug it in with a few settings.

We didn't look at other solutions as HP is the company standard.

You may need additional tools like ClearPass, for example, from Aruba.

For me, its security features are the most valuable, helping us to reduce a lot of complications. For example, there are security code issues we have to address when enterprise users bring their own iPads, iPhones, notebooks, or any mobile device, and they want to access our network. They may need to access our network resources, but there can be complications because they are our enterprise users or guests with unique user names, passwords, etc. Aruba is able to address those complications by providing the security for that network access. 

I work as an IT infrastructure manager. WiFi is in our scope of responsibilities, so we prepare the implementation projects for the general areas and for our enterprise users. 

We asked for tenders from Aruba, Cisco, and Meru Networks. At the end of the day we decided, or rather I decided, on Aruba because of its security features. We performed a lot of tests to reduce the number of certificates needed, the access point requirements, IPS features, spectrum analyses, etc. After that, we decided that Aruba would be best for us. 

We have been using it for two years and we are very, very satisfied with the features because there are no security problems. We continued using Aruba, not just with that project, but for different projects in other companies.

For other projects, we ask for tenders, and if HP wins, Aruba will also win because we will not buy separate WiFi solutions. We will buy solutions under the local area network site. We combine the solutions because we believe that if you are using wired and wireless networks, the one utilizing UNIX systems should be the deciding factor. At the same time we want a program with NOC solutions, BYOD, MDM, and ATM location services. We want all that to work together in our program designs.

Sometimes there's some small problems, but this is the nature of technology.

We've not had any issues with deployment.

In our two years of use, there haven't been any big problems.

We've had some scalability issues because of the way we're scaling our hardware base. For example, we started with 64 access points although our controller supports only 6 core access points. We've scaled incrementally, though, as we then went to 128 and then to 200, whereas our competitors start high.

Out of the box, we had 1000 access points licensed, but that amount depends on your own license. If you buy 120, you can support 120. There's no change to the control site up to 1000 licenses. Compared to Cisco in this regard, Arube is not as flexible.

The initial setup was not complex. There's a CLI, much like Cisco. Aruba's certification is also very similar to Cisco's, which is not very difficult.

I implemented it myself.

We were coming from a first-generation wireless network, and now I can use RF optimization for controllers. This is a major advancement for us and we're much happier for having it.

We can now see how many devices and how many users are on our network and where the usage hotspots are. Previously, we didn't have any data of this type, which now allows us to better plan our network.

I'd like more specific details of each user.

We just put it into production and in the coming weeks we will receive our new access points.

Deploying it is no problem.

We've had some issues with stability for Mac and iOS users where we've had to disconnect. There may be configuration issues, but I'm not sure.

We're planning for 300 access points, and right now we only have six. We have older HP products, but once we get our new access points, we should be able to scale without problems.

Technical support is very, very good. They've supported us with everything that we need.

The initial setup was straightforward. We have some prior experiences with various types of access-point networks, so it was not an issue.

Make sure you plan ahead of time.

The most valuable features for me are:

• Built-in firewall
• Security
• Authentication
• Remote access
• Stability

Providing wireless to our clinicians and providers allows them to be mobile within the facility and still maintain connectivity to valuable information, like our Electronic Health Record. The remote access through RAPS is a feature that simplifies access for our providers at home, and provides continuity of security. In addition we provide guest wireless to our patients and families which improves satisfaction.

The configuration is extremely detailed and can be quite complex. For a small IT staff, it is difficult to make changes without outside consulting or Aruba Support.

We've used it for two years. We're using a 3400 controller with AP105 Access Points. The software version is 6.3.1.9_44832.

There were no issues with deployment.

This product has been very stable.

No. We have added Access Points and Remote Access Points as needed. We also expanded to a redundant controller which allows High Availability.

Service has been good - 8/10.

8/10

We switched to Aruba because of the advanced security. In healthcare we have HIPAA compliance to achieve and maintain. Security is a priority.

Setting up the controller is complex. The SSIDs, Authentication methodology, Access, is all quite complex to set up. Not for a novice.

We used a vendor team to implement. We used a third party consulting firm to assist with setting up the redundant controller. Both were very good.

This product is considered infrastructure. It is a cost of doing business. It allows our business to be more flexible and mobile. But there is no direct ROI.

Aruba has made changes to their licensing to make it more cost effective. Work with a partner that is familiar with all of the features in this product so that you get the licensing you need. Not all features are available with basic licensing. You need to determine the feature set you want, and then look at pricing for that feature set.

HP and Cisco. HP was not secure enough. We had HP in house already. We looked at Cisco but did not do a demo or work with a partner. We do not have any Cisco in house. From my own research, Cisco was too expensive and did not have a solution that was a single appliance that could do all of the things that Aruba can do. Their solution required firewalls, controllers, and routers to accomplish the same thing. This may no longer be the case.

Get a good partner. Not just the local IT shop that has wireless experience. Not all wireless vendors are created equal. To get the real bang for the buck, you need an expert to help you decide what you want and to implement it.

Integrated firewall, integrated WIDS/WIPS on the controllers and the ability to tunnel LAN traffic from the switches through the controllers to set consistent 802.1x and access controls that are consistent across both wired and wireless LANs.

It improves security by helping us to centralize access controls and dot1x and set common policy across both wired and wireless LANs without having to install additional components.

The controllers used to include heat map functionality. This was removed in a recent release. To get this functionality now, you need to be using Airwave (AWMS), which adds additional cost. On the other hand, Airwave can be used to manage a multi-vendor environment, so there may be some other benefits to having it deployed, but it would be nice to have the heat map back in the controller.

I've been using it for five years.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

It's excellent.

It's excellent.

Default settings are sufficient to get a functioning wireless network up and running fairly easily. Complexity increases add vLANs, security policy, dot1x, redundancy, etc.

At my previous employer we had a relatively large wireless installation so we worked with a vendor team. The network at my current employer is small enough that I could handle it myself.

Licensing has improved. In the past all redundant controllers required licenses for all the access points. They've not implemented a centralized licensing model so that you only need to license your access points once.

We evaluated Cisco. Cisco's solution, at the time, required additional components to provide the same functionality. For example you'd need external firewalls, IDS/IPS, and authentication servers. Aruba controllers had all this built in. I haven't looked at Cisco's current offerings, so this may not still be the case.

I'd recommend you do the training.

The most valuable aspects are its security and analytical capabilities.

I think when it comes to wireless the industry has changed a lot. When it comes to wireless, the industry has changed a lot and with connectivity everyone uses the same chips and really the same hardware so the quality of radio is very similar for every vendor.

Aruba have put a lot of emphasis on manageability and security, and I think their Airwave and Clearpath products are head and shoulders the best in the industry. They let their customers deploy a wireless network and manage and secure it better than you can do with all other solutions.

The next step is to create better unified story with HP switching. They're part of the same competitor, and their main competitor, Cisco, has a great unified wired/wireless story, and Aruba need to focus on this. They have great management tools and security capabilities, and they need to extend that to the wireless network.
Also, they need to enable the data they collect to be used by more companies. If you think of where wireless is big - schools, hospitals, retail environments - it would be good to capture that data and share it with third-parties so they can enhance their customers' experience.

It's amongst the best in the industry. It's used by lots of small companies but also by some of the largest companies in the world, and there's only a couple of vendors who can be multi-thousand user wireless deployments, and Aruba's one of them. They have a rock solid solution.

It's highly scalable, and I like the way they have orientated their portfolio. They have a configuration called 'Instant' where you don't actually need a controller, you can just start with a couple of access points and get it at relatively low cost. As you scale it out, you can add more access points, and one or two controllers, and manage it through the cloud. So almost any configuration the customer wants they can do, and as it gets larger, you can bring in the management tools. It's not like some solutions where you have to rip it out to go larger.

I think it's great. I've never heard a customer complain and they get you on the phone with an engineer quickly. Obviously it's very focused on wireless so you're not going to be calling them for a wide range of problems. For the solution, they're very good.

It's easy to get going. You can take an access point out of the box and have it running in minutes.

It's been the tech leader in the wireless market for a long time, which is why HP paid so much for them. Using the product is very simple, and there are lots of features unique to them. If you're going to purchase it - and you will pay a premium so it will cost more - take advantage of the security features, management tools, and analytical features.

This solution has been in place for close to 9 years.

Even as the current system we are using is old and the AP's being used are AP-61's, it is still working well.

We have 64 AP's around the site and with more and more students bringing in their wireless devices, we are only now starting to see some cracks. These cracks are to be expected due to the age of the system, and I'm sure it wasn't designed to have more than 1,000-plus devices accessing the network at the same time.

So if the current and future Aruba systems are as good as the old, we should all be fine.