Gartner Quadrant for Wireless and Wired Networks 2016


    At the beginning of the month, Gartner released its annual wireless networking report. It is completely called Magic Quadrant for the Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure , that is, by design, it should also touch the wired LAN. But most people watch this report (or at least the quadrant) precisely in the context of the wireless enterprise solutions market.

    Like any marketing research, this is a fairly subjective thing. However, many vendors mention the Gartner quadrant in their presentations, regardless of the position in the quadrant, that is, in any case, this is a good indicator. In addition, the study takes into account not only the functionality of the equipment, the presence of a particular service from the vendor, but also feedback from the customer, which is also good. In this article we would like to present the most interesting and important of the report, perhaps add something from ourselves and remove moments that are irrelevant for our realities (really, well, where we will meet the same Aerohive or Meraki). The result was a kind of free interpretation.

    Selection criteria


    In order to get into the Gartner quadrant, in addition to the corresponding financial indicators, the manufacturer must have a wide range of solutions for corporate infrastructure - connecting and servicing wired and wireless users.

    For instance:

    • Hardware - switches, controllers, access points;
    • Guest access
    • Network management system;
    • AAA;
    • Network access control (profiling \ device verification, contextual access);
    • Intrusion Detection / Prevention System;
    • Location determination;
    • Analysis \ management of used applications on the network (application visibility);
    • Network Performance Management.

    “Corporate solutions” is primarily understood as office solutions, but solutions for retail, healthcare, and education are also taken into account. Provider solutions, street Wi-Fi, stadiums, the public sector are not taken into account.

    Sometimes it happens that some popular and good equipment manufacturers (for example, Ubiquiti, Netgear) do not get into the report. This is due to the fact that they meet the requirements only partially.

    Trends


    Over the past year, indoor location services and Wi-Fi analytics have been developed. Vendors have more high-performance devices designed to work with the standard 802.11ac Wave 2. More access points and switches with support for the pre-standard NBASE-T (IEEE 802.3bz), which allows transferring up to 5 GB / s over a standard twisted-pair cable. However, customers are in no hurry to switch to 802.11ac. Many customers are not only concerned about network performance (wired, wireless). Often more relevant is serving a large number of clients and network security (especially when connecting Internet of Things (IoT) devices). According to Gartner, the average user is usually enough bandwidth of not more than 5 Mbps.

    Observation
    Indeed, often with a detailed analysis of the planned corporate wireless network (coverage, density, application analysis, client devices), it turns out that high performance is not needed, if the devices are correctly distributed in ranges, balancing mechanisms between access points, disconnect low-speed clients, block unnecessary traffic etc. Therefore, maybe in terms of performance, new technologies are not so relevant, but when designing a new network, you need to consider them. Indeed, over time, there will be more devices with support for the new standard and the network capacity will increase.

    A special place is given to Internet of Things. By 2020, Gartner expects 21 billion IoT devices, that is, more than all other types of wireless devices. New devices pose new challenges for manufacturers, require additional functions for processing / analyzing traffic, security, etc. For example, virtual device segmentation: separation of different types of devices according to the types of applications they use and their segmentation within one WLAN.

    Quadrant


    Compare last year and the current quadrant and describe briefly the features of each vendor.


    HPE Aruba


    The situation in the quadrant has not changed, HPE Aruba remains in the lead. This year, HPE separated some of the switches into its Aruba series, which included some of the current line of access switches. Aruba has a full range of products for management, monitoring, security in a wireless network. There are options for both a small network (Instant) and a cluster of controllers for several thousand points. Many of the products have been developing successfully for a long time (there is a positive feedback from customers using ClearPass, a service for access policies to the network). It is also encouraging that many HPE Aruba products (ClearPass, AirWave) support third-party equipment (such as Cisco).

    Brocade (Ruckus Wireless)


    The vendor has moved from niche players to the category of "visionaries." The merger of Ruckus and Brocade (or rather the purchase of the first - the second), completed in 2016, allows you to get a complete set of wired (Brocade ICX) and wireless (Ruckus) services. Brocade-Ruckus also has more expensive high-performance solutions, as well as simpler solutions, such as cheap Unleashed access points with a cloud controller. For guest services and BYOD, it is proposed to use the solution of the acquired Cloudpath company. Ruckus also continues to develop its relatively recent positioning and analytics system, SpoT. From experience, Ruckus solutions often leave a good impression. And the lack of this vendor in previous quadrants has always upset. True, it is worth noting that sometimes it is difficult to solve technical issues.

    Cisco


    As you can see, in the quadrant of this year, Cisco recovered its lost positions in 2015. Indeed, over the past time there have been many updates. This is a complete upgrade of a series of access points to 802.11ac wave2, development of the CMX positioning and analytics system (there are already solutions with the Hyperlocation module in Russia), and network access systems (Cisco ISE). For small networks, it is suggested to use Mobility Express with a controller on the access point. Of the small nuances - Cisco is now developing two different product lines: classic, with a dedicated controller and convergent, with a single software on the switch, which sometimes confuses customers (what to choose, which is better?). In addition, there is not always a parity for functions.

    Fortinet


    Fortinet first hit the quadrant after acquiring wireless solutions company Meru last year. And right away he was not in the worst company of experienced "seers." He even entered the top five. Fortinet, as the leader in UTM solutions, is primarily planning to strengthen wireless features in its FortiGate solution. The report emphasizes that wireless features are available for free (unlike major competitors).

    Huawei


    The Chinese company is very popular in the local market, but is increasing its presence in the wireless network market in Europe. Among the strengths are mentioned inexpensive switches (including those with an integrated controller), software for controlling access to the network (BYOD, guest services) - Agile Controller and an eSight monitoring system that supports third-party equipment. On our own, we add that the company's equipment is increasingly found in the corporate sector as a more budgetary alternative to the main players, although before it mainly supplied solutions for the state. companies.

    Extreme Networks + Zebra Technologies


    Both companies are in the lower right sector. Zebra Technologies is a market leader in solutions for retail, transport and logistics industries. Proven WiNG since Motorola, the MPact positioning system are Zebra's strengths. However, Zebra solutions are not very common in office environments. Already after the release of the report, news appeared that Extreme Networks had acquired the wireless division from Zebra Technologies. What will come of this will be seen in the next report.

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