You should know by now that I'm not a big fan of kool-aid...you know, the marketing propaganda from various vendors that spin everything in their favor.  That's why I'm happy to point out a new whitepaper by Aruba called, "The End of the Wire: Rightsizing the Enterprise LAN."  This is the most kool-aid free whitepaper I've ever seen from any vendor.  What's more astounding is that it's ARUBA...who is second only to Cisco in mass-scale kool-aid production.  I get at least 2 (sometimes more) press releases from Aruba each week (thanks Mike) that unashamedly bashes other vendors (especially Meru) while hawking the benefits of their own products.  Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the need for strategic  and sometimes aggressive  marketing, but these guys have it down to a unique art form. :-)  Back to my original topic: this really cool whitepaper.

Peter Thornycroft and Chris Harget have done their homework.  They give us real numbers taken directly from their customer base.  They have covered just about every angle I could come up with in order to answer the question, "how does Wi-Fi save me money compared to Ethernet?"  Super sweet.  I must congratulate these guys on a job very well done and Aruba for not inserting any sneaky kool-aid.  What makes no sense to me is why it took this long for someone to write such a whitepaper.  Every Wi-Fi vendor should be proliferating this message to their customer base, and the Wi-Fi Alliance should be screaming this to the industry.

Here are some of the highlights pointed out by this whitepaper:

* A phased migration strategy that allows the WLAN to be funded out of the reduced operational costs of the LAN
* Most LAN installations are overbuilt and include many unused Ethernet ports
* Two methods of auditing and documenting unused edge ports
* Realizing maintenance contract, network management, and power savings from Ethernet port and switch consolidation
* User expectations, such as guest access and mobility, and the provisioning of non Wi-Fi enabled devices
* The cost-effectiveness of higher sustained data rates on APs that can easily support many users in an area
* Comparing Wi-Fi deployment with sunk Ethernet switch costs with that of greenfield "All Wireless Office" sites
* Wiring closet size and requirement comparisons between wired and wireless deployments
* Going beyond Ethernet's 100 meter limit with Wi-Fi
* A comparison of WLAN and LAN management

EVERYONE needs to read this whitepaper.  The topic is just that important.  Read it today, here.

Follow me at www.twitter.com/DevinAkin

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