Aruba, Cisco and HP top 2013 Gartner Wired and Wireless LAN Magic Quadrant
The Aruba Networks' Instant access point family allows enterprises to make a choice between legacy controller-based architectures and newer controllerless ones and scales to over 8,000 access points.
"Clients tell Gartner through client inquiries that ClearPass is providing significant leadership with its wired and wireless, multivendor client onboarding, security and guest access suite of applications to address corporate-owned as well as BYOD client devices.
"Combined with its Instant wireless LAN, and the breadth of its additional wireless components and wired switches, the vendor is a one-stop shop that has the ability to compete in any enterprise access layer opportunity. The vendor also continues to invest in technology to improve the access layer experience, including ClientMatch, AppRF and its upcoming Aruba Central*.
*Note: Aruba briefed Gartner under NDA about this and it has not yet been publicly announced.
Aruba Central — and the whole of Aruba's Cloud Wi-Fi solution will be announced October 1, 2013.
"Aruba Network's target verticals include education (higher education and K-12), healthcare, financial services, federal government, service providers, retail and hospitality. The rightsizing message implemented with its Move architecture makes Aruba an appropriate choice for any enterprise opportunity, especially where security, multivendor management or teleworking are high-priority criteria.
Strengths
"Aruba Networks maintains one of the largest portfolios of access layer components, in terms of access points and switches, appealing to nearly all network design types and price points.
"Enterprises looking to extend unified communications and collaboration to mobile devices should consider the vendor because it provides the only wireless LAN qualified for Microsoft Lync.
Aruba Network's ClearPass policy enforcement and AirWave network management provide a suite of single policy applications for wired and wireless multivendor enterprises. ClearPass continues to be a strong differentiator for the access layer as competitive products continue to challenge its leadership position.
The vendor's Instant access point family allows enterprises to make a choice between legacy controller-based architectures and newer controllerless ones, which have been well received in the small or midsize business (SMB) market, but also able to scale to over 8,000 access points.
More than 40 global service providers now use Aruba Networks as part of their managed service offering, giving enterprises the ability to outsource the edge of the network either with on-premises network service applications or in the cloud.
Cisco continues to be the largest vendor and market share leader in the enterprise wired and wireless infrastructure market. The acquisition of Meraki, the release of the Catalyst 3850 and the modularity of the AP3600 series continue to put a wind into the sails of Cisco's One Policy, One Management and One Network messaging. A strong channel combined with a global presence means that Cisco continues to be on the shortlist for all access layer opportunities.
"Cisco's Prime Infrastructure and Identity Services Engine (ISE) applications provide management, security and policy network service application functionality for both wired and wireless. Additionally, the vendor has enabled location-based services as part of its Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX), which enables new applications based on network analytics to create business relevance in targeted vertical markets. Cisco focuses on the public sector, healthcare, education, and retail markets, including hospitality. Cisco should be considered for any large enterprise or midmarket opportunity.
Strengths
"The modularity of the AP3600 series provides Cisco with the ability to deliver 802.11n now, and provides an 802.11ac module for upgraded performance.
"The new Catalyst 3850 is Cisco's first IOS-based wireless controller, providing a switching architecture that integrates wireless functionality. The 3850 comes at no incremental cost, compared with the equivalent 3750-X, with an increase in stacking speed and wireless resiliency.
"To address the midmarket Cisco has expanded its solution portfolio and acquired Meraki. Cisco Meraki's cloud-based architecture provides industry-leading device profiling as well as subscription-based cloud applications that include traffic shaping, WAN optimization and content filtering. This solution should be considered for any location that is appropriate for cloud-based management.
"Cisco's CMX allows venues to detect, connect, engage and offer contextual location-based services to their mobile users. CMX provides better location accuracy through the Qualcomm/Cisco relationship, and a dashboard that delivers flow analytics (from the ThinkSmart Technologies acquisition), as well as URL, device and user analytics."
"HP Networking has established itself as a global access layer vendor with its unified wired and wireless FlexCampus solution. HP's integrated security, policy enforcement and network management application provides a comprehensive solution across wired and wireless components. Its Intelligent Management Center (IMC) also has the ability to provide a single pane of glass for wired and wireless solutions.
"HP Networking has a large global sales force that focuses on the education, hospitality and government markets, but should be considered for all opportunities in which the entire access layer (wired and wireless connectivity) is being replaced. Every organization should at least consider and competitively include HP in all network evaluations of any size; we mainly see HP considered for SMB opportunities.
Strengths
HP provides multivendor wired and wireless management of over 6,000 devices from over 220 third-party vendors, which provides end-to-end access layer management from a single managed application.
HP's sales channel, as well as its service/support, provides global reach and access to opportunities that only a few vendors can match.
HP provides a breadth of services, including managed network services, application services, security services and cloud services.
The lifetime warranty offered on many of the HP access points and switches is an important element when calculating the overall TCO of any access layer solution.
Cisco continues to be the largest vendor and market share leader in the enterprise wired and wireless infrastructure market. The acquisition of Meraki, the release of the Catalyst 3850 and the modularity of the AP3600 series continue to put a wind into the sails of Cisco's One Policy, One Management and One Network messaging. A strong channel combined with a global presence means that Cisco continues to be on the shortlist for all access layer opportunities.
"HP Networking has established itself as a global access layer vendor with its unified wired and wireless FlexCampus solution. HP's integrated security, policy enforcement and network management application provides a comprehensive solution across wired and wireless components. Its Intelligent Management Center (IMC) also has the ability to provide a single pane of glass for wired and wireless solutions.
