Lee Badman has nothing against cloud-managed wireless solutions like he saw from Mist Systems and Merakiat Mobility Field Day last month. But he thinks there are some barriers to wider adoption, something he calls the “Layer 2 Situation” in this post. Controller-based wireless may have over stayed it’s welcome, but it does make deployment and changes to large numbers of APs somewhat easier at this point.
Nyansa Brings a Social Aspect to Network Analytics
Lee Badman has seen quite a bit of Nyansa’s Voyance analytics platform, both at Mobility Field Day last month as well as in use over the last year. The most recent ability shown by Nyansa is the ability to share non-anonymized performance baseline data with selected parties and peer institutions. Voyance has always excelled at gathering a large amount of WLAN data and establishing performance metrics with perspectives. Providing the capability now adds a social aspect to the platform for additional context.
If Cisco Could Lower Their Marketing Hype, We Might Actually Be Able to Get to the Substance
Lee Badman wrote up about one of the major benefits of a Mobility Field Day presentation, cutting through marketing hype, and learning about the tech that matters to him as a potential customer. Lee recently had a bad experience watching recent Cisco ads, but seeing them present at Mobility Field Day earlier this year, he found their Cisco Analytics and Assurance presentation “mind-opening.”
Clarity and Confusion- Fortinet and Arista at Mobility Field Day 3
For Lee Badman, seeing Fortinet at Mobility Field Day was an eye opening experience. He’d known of the company for some time, but had them pigeon holded as a security device company. While the company bundles their solutions under security banner, Lee found their solutions offer be well rounded. This baked-in approach contrasted with Arista Networks. For Lee, their presentation on the wireless assets from their recent Mojo Networks acquisition still needed some work to tell a complete story.
Catching Up With NETSCOUT at MFD3, Big News, and “Body Fade” Explained
Lee Badman got to hear from NETSCOUT at Mobility Field Day last week. They announced a number of update to their network diagnostic tools, including updated firmware for the AirCheck G2 and LinkRunner G2, as well as a status update on the AirMagnet product line. He also goes into a deep dive about how to avoid body interference when using the AirCheck G2, which is important when you have Mr. Badman’s clearly sculpted physique.
Figuring Out What Bothers Me About Wi-Fi and “Analytics”
Lee Badman heard about a number of wireless analytics solutions at Mobility Field Day last week. But one thing stuck in his mind. Outside of the merits of any solution over another, the underlying assumption behind many was that an analytics solution was needed because the wireless network is in some way being managed poorly. For Lee, WLAN problems often come from problems in vendor code, not something an admin can really be proactive about. This isn’t to say that these analytics solutions aren’t needed, but Lee wants them put in the proper context of why WLAN problems most often arise.
Arista Networks/Mojo- It’s Waaay Early
Lee Badman was interested to hear from Arista Networks at Mobility Field Day this week. The company had recently added WLAN to their portfolio with the acquisition of Mojo Networks. The company showed off CloudVision topology running on a Mojo C-130, which offered some interesting visualizations. Lee is interested to see Arista present again, after the Mojo acquisition has completely coalesced.
Contemplating Mist Systems and Mobility Field Day 3
Ahead of heading out west to Mobility Field Day in September, Lee Badman is considering the latest updates from Mist Systems. With Artificial Intelligence being one of the signature buzzwords of 2018, Lee is curious how exactly Mist will demonstrate a meaningful implementation. He’s intrigued to learn more, but he’ll definitely have a lot of questions for their presentation.
NETSCOUT Rounds Out the G2 Line With Latest LinkRunner
Lee Badman shares his thoughts on the latest G2 lineup from NETSCOUT. This includes the AirCheck G2 which he saw at Mobility Field Day. Recently, he got to try out the LinkRunner G2 and Lee found he an invaluable tool for wiring environments and Ethernet switch networks.
Nyansa Takes Analytics Beyond the Controller
Lee Badman is currently doing a long term evaluation of Nyansa’s Voyance analytics platform. The company recently updated its User Performance Monitoring in Voyance to include an API interface to better integrate into workflows, adding a remediation engine, and much more. Lee thinks this is an interesting, and necessary, evolution of the platform.
Future-Proofing Networks with Fabric-Attached Wi-Fi: Q&A with Extreme Networks’ Director of Wireless Product Management & Strategy
Lee Badman has seen Extreme Networks at a few Tech Field Day events over the years. He recently posted an interview with their Director of Wireless Product Management & Strategy Mike Leibovitz.
Cape Networks Sees Into the WLAN- and Deeper
Lee Badman takes some inspiration from They Might Be Giants to look at what he saw from Cape Networks at Mobility Field Day this past July. Their wireless monitoring solution uses a variety of tests to give visibility into WLAN/LAN/ISP functionality. Lee’s impressed by how Cape has refined their offerings, consistently providing new features with updates and improving the granularity of their dashboard.
Extreme Networks Has Good Footing to Lead Network Fabric Evolution from Hype to Reality | wirednot
Lee Badman is fairly bullish on Extreme Networks’ approach to network fabric architecture. Their approach starts with a whitepaper that actually outlines what such an architecture can actually be used for in an organization. Combined with their recent acquisition on Avaya, which Lee saw in detail at Wireless Field Day back in 2014, he thinks Extreme Networks makes the best case for a network fabric approach. They have a the track record, vision, and technical resources that are rarely found in competitors.
More Gee Whiz for the Netscout AirCheck G2
For Lee Badman, it’s less of question of if a wireless professional would want a NETSCOUT AirCheck G2, but whether they have one yet. With their V2 firmware update for the device, NETSCOUT added a number of useful features, including native packet capture, detecting and characterizing interferers, and iPerf testing. Lee is looking forward to getting a hands-on review sometime soon.
Catching Up With Netscout on Their Flagship WLAN Support Tool
Lee Badman reviews NETSCOUT’s Mobility Field Day presentation focussed on their new AirCheck G2. Lee is a fan of the AirCheck’s versatility and portability and considers it one of the best tools for any WLAN pro. This time around, he was impressed by Chris Hinsz presentation and the NETSCOUT offices, as well as the tips and tricks that Chris Hinsz showed for the AirCheck.
Ubuiquiti is On Fire, I Tellya
Lee Badman tells the story of Ubuiquiti, a company he believes is progressing consistently in both technology and market share without being bogged down by one-up competition with other vendors and buzzword filled campaigns. The lure of Ubiquiti, as Lee states, is that “they seem to sell a respectable balance performance and reliability (an area where not all vendors shine) at ridiculously low prices.” Lee knows that Ubiquiti is a networking company worth watching and looks forward to what they have in store for the future.
Mist Systems is the Cloud WLAN Vendor With a (not so) Secret Weapon
Lee Badman says there is more than meets the eyes from Mist Systems after their Mobility Field Day presentation. Here he is referring to their Virtual Bluetooth Beacons (vBLE), which “open up endless possibilities once you realize the limitless business cases.” Lee is unsure about Mist’s future in general, but he is sure that their vBLE is a really interesting and unique technology that does have a future.
Mojo Networks Touts Lower Networking Costs, No More Vendor Lock-In at Mobility Field Day 2
Lee Badman highlights Mojo Network’s CEO Rick Wilmer’s presentation at Mobility Field Day. He says, “Wilmer paints a vision of commodity-priced access points being cloud managed in an open source framework where innovation is driven by the greater technical community instead of any single vendor’s skewed view of the feature world.” Lee applauds Mojo for taking a truly interesting and unique path and hopes they will find the allies they need to continue this vision.
Mist Systems Polishes Their Message at Mobility Field Day 2
Lee Badman compares the positives and negatives he saw from Mist System’s Mobility Field Day presentation. He compliments Mist as the “real deal” when it comes to AI and Machine Learning, says they have mastered the UI, and is very excited for their virtual BLE beacon. On the other side, however, he worries that Mist is a bit late to the WLAN party and is up against some very established players.
Mobility Field 2 Shows Evolving Nature of WLAN Industry
Lee Badman says that the upcoming Mobility Field Day shows the evolution of the WLAN industry saying ” MFD2 is more about performance measurement and alternatives to the WLAN same-old.” He also notes that the market is changing with several big players relegating their WLAN parts to non-headline status, as well as Extreme Networks buying up the other players and reducing the number of competitors.
