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Have you seen the buzz around the Cisco 8540 wireless controller? The 8540 controller is an impressive unit, featuring Cisco DNA and SD-ACCESS wireless - but with a price to match. Most customers in your shoes do not need DNA and SD-ACCESS wireless. In some cases, buyers don’t even know what this functionality is. If this is the case for you, there are alternative devices that won’t break the bank.

I had a customer ask for pricing on a high-end router recently. The sticker shock threw them into a panic. Have you ever been here? You’re looking for reliable network hardware equipment, but the price resembles your house payment. Now is the time to take a step back and evaluate what your true needs are.

In general, there are three types of switching solutions: standalone, stacked, and chassis. As the middle child, I’m biased towards a stacked switching solution – my reasons may be skewed, but even within the stacking world there is stacking and then there is true stacking. One of the major benefits to all stacking is simplified management. Before stacking came along, you had to daisy chain multiple switches together and configure them separately by logging in with a different IP address one by one.

People in the industry have been talking, tweeting and writing about the demise of the venerable Catalyst 6500 chassis family for years. 

But don’t worry, the King is not dead.

HPE/Aruba’s 802.11AC Wave 2 access points offer extra features - multi-user MIMO and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) being some of the most notable, but also allows users to take advantage of the new IEEE 802.3bz standard for multi-gig Ethernet.

Our team had the opportunity to exhibit at last week’s Gartner IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management Summit. The summit featured a very engaged audience – everyone there was looking to improve their technology strategies in some fashion. Here are several of the major recurring themes we saw addressed at the summit.

When considering adding switches to your edge, many people often assume stackables are the only way to go. However, there is another option - a chassis solution. We take the time every day to help recommend what may be best for anyone's unique network. In the Cisco world, you may be considering a member from the 3750 or 3850 family, but don’t forget the 6509E chassis is always an option.

Star Wars is a great movie. An instant classic. Only a few short years after the release of the original, The Empire Strikes Back took something great and made it even better. This isn't always the case with movie part two's (maybe because Empire is actually Episode V), but in the world of wireless sequels, this trend continues to ring true.

For those of you that have purchased Cisco Catalyst 6500s, you know how powerful, versatile and dependable they are. But there’s yet another reason to be happy about your purchase; you don’t have to ditch an expensive chassis system when Cisco lists it as end of sale (EoS). Cisco has created a path forward to their 6807 chassis!

When you compare throughput and routing/switching capacity within the HPE switch lines, making a decision on what to buy can become less about cramming as much as possible into your shrinking budget and more about designing a better network.

Independence is not something to be taken lightly. I think of independence as the ability to do what you wish, what you feel is best for you, as opposed to what outside forces want you to do. Working for CXtec, a leading provider in secondary market networking equipment, puts me in a unique position to help customers exert their independence. We call it Technology @ Your Pace®.