3. 802.11n versus 802.11ac
I’ve been seeing many districts replace 802.11n APs with the same. Although “n” APs may be slightly less cost, I fight to see the long term value in staying at “n.” I understand devices may not be running “ac” yet, or very few are, but in our environment the funding to complete a project like this comes once in many years, so to future proof our investment was my utmost concern. Not only will/do we see better performance out of our “n” clients on the “ac” APs, but we will reap the benefits as more “ac” clients come into our district. We were actually able to cut down on our overall number of APs through a better predictive study and post-deployment analysis which was enjoyable to see. These opportunities come once in many years, so it’s our duty to make sure we provide the best product for the long term value of our funding.
4. 1:1, BYOD and future proofing our environment
This ties right into future proofing your design and decisions for the unknown. We know that more and more devices will come into our buildings. That is not a question, but a fact. We don’t know what they will be in a year or two, but we do know we will be forced to support them. This is why we chose the latest AC technologies for our deployment. They will provide the capacity and growth we need in our environment for years to come.
We have just completed our districts deployment and so far we have had little to no issues and performance has been notably improved on existing g and n clients. We have little ac clients at the moment, however, they will grow after this school year. Overall, this has been one of the most pleasurable acquisitions and large scale deployments I have been a part of.
Joe Kuzo is Director of Technology at Quakertown Community School District. This article first appeared in his blog.