CDW PARTNER REVIEW GUIDE WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE

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WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE

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DIRECTION

OF THE WIRELESS

MARKET AND THE INFRASTRUCTURE

THAT SUPPORTS IT

As mobile devices become more common in the workplace, IT managers must

prepare their infrastructures for wireless access and networking. According to

a Forrester survey, an overwhelming majority (80 percent) of small and midsize

organizations have already implemented some form of wireless networking.

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And 35 percent of North American and European enterprises have made developing

a comprehensive corporate mobility strategy a top mobile priority in the coming year.

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A key part of their strategies will have to address network performance, which is critical for providing a wireless user experience that is as good as a wired one. Consequently, many IT managers are upgrading their infrastructures to better support mobile devices and provide ubiquitous connectivity. For a next-generation implementation, Forrester identified three characteristics of wireless infrastructures that can contribute to a positive user experience:

• Flexibility — Wireless infrastructures must offer scalability, so infrastructure and operations managers can create the best wireless user experience. As the organization changes, outer edge wireless ports can easily be added to or subtracted from a flexible wireless infrastructure without a rippling effect throughout. • Cost effectiveness — They must leverage distributed computing power to adjust to new user loads.

A cost-effective infrastructure will allow IT to deploy more access points instead of more or redundant controllers. • Simplicity — They must be in tune with the evolution of the local area network (LAN). A simplified wireless

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CONSIDERATIONS

FOR YOUR RIGHT-FIT

WIRELESS SOLUTION AND PARTNER

When it comes to making your wireless infrastructure more flexible, cost-effective and simple, it’s important to have a partner dedicated to helping you navigate your many options and identify a right-fit solution for your unique needs.

Based on decades of experience, CDW has identified various considerations that can influence wireless infrastructure requirements:

• Layout — The number of locations, the layout of the buildings and the users are all important factors in the design of a wireless architecture.

• Environment — Understanding the environment is important to the architecture of a wireless infrastructure. Vibrations, as well as dust and other particulates, might require a different configuration in order to achieve optimum performance.

• Applications — It’s critical to know which applications need transmission. Voice, video and data applications have different demands, so identifying the applications will help determine the required bandwidth.

• Management — Wireless network management software can report valuable usage statistics, detect rogue access points and more. The right management software will depend on the monitoring wants and requirements of the organization.

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SELECTING

THE VENDORS

THAT MEET YOUR WIRELESS

INFRASTRUCTURE NEED

CDW has partnerships with several wireless

infrastructure providers that can deliver the

components to build a solid infrastructure.

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Aruba’s AirWave is designed to be a powerful, easy-to-use network operations solution built to manage the Mobile Virtual Enterprise portfolio of wireless LAN (WLAN) and remote access solutions. This solution helps enable IT staff effectively manage enterprise mobility — including real-time monitoring, proactive alerts, historical reporting and fast, efficient troubleshooting — through a centralized, intuitive user interface. AirWave can also help organizations easily migrate from legacy Wi-Fi to the latest Aruba 802.11n wireless networking solutions with multi-infrastructure and multivendor support for leading traditional “fat” access points.

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Cisco has an extensive and robust line of leading wireless infrastructure offerings that include the Cisco Prime portfolio, which is designed to enable IT organizations to more effectively and simply manage networks and the services those networks deliver. This set of offerings provides users with immediate access to key management data, providing critical network insights and speeding time to value. It also offers a detailed assessment of network readiness to improve planning for upgrades and enhancements.

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MOVING FORWARD

WITH

CONFIDENCE AND CDW

With technologies constantly changing and evolving, it is important to select a partner that has a pulse on the industry. CDW has account managers ready to assist you and experienced solution architects with the latest industry trainings and partner certifications, including with Aruba, Cisco and HP. Our architects will help you select the best products for your infrastructure needs and IT environment — whether they are from one vendor or many — so you have a solution made of the best the industry has to offer.

Beyond product selection, our wireless infrastructure specialists are prepared to support you through planning, implementation and maintenance and to answer your questions along the way. Let our decades of experience and thousands of implementations guide your solution selection and implementation so you can move forward with confidence.

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1_{“Demand Insights: The Network and Telecommunications Market For SMB Customers,” Forrester, February 2012.}

2_{“Address Complexity with Mobile Security And Operations,” Forrester, May 2012.}

3_{“How I&O Can Create a Wireless User Experience Network,” Forrester, August 2011.}

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