Gartner Quadrant for Wireless and Wired Networks 2016

Earlier this month, Gartner released an annual report on wireless networks. Completely called Magic Quadrant for the Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure , that is, according to the plan, should apply to wired LAN. But most people watch this report (or at least a quadrant) precisely in the context of the wireless corporate solutions market.

Like any marketing research, this is quite a subjective thing. However, the Gartner quadrant mentions in their presentations many vendors regardless of their 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 availability of one or another service from the vendor, but also feedback from the customer, which is also not bad. In this article, we would like to present the most interesting and important things from the report, perhaps add something from ourselves and remove irrelevant moments for our realities (indeed, well, where we will meet the same Aerohive or Meraki). It turned out some kind of freestyle interpretation.

Selection criteria

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

• The hardware - switches, controllers, access points;
• Guest Access;
• Network management system;
• AAA;
• Network access control (profiling \ device check, context access);
• Intrusion Detection / Prevention System;
• Positioning;
• Analysis / management of used applications in the network (application visibility);
• Network Performance Management.

“Corporate solutions” are primarily understood as office solutions, however, 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 fall into the report. This is due to the fact that they only partially meet the requirements.

Trends

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


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

Quadrant

Let's compare last year and current quadrant and briefly describe the features of each vendor.

HPE Aruba

Position in the quadrant has not changed, HPE Aruba remains in the lead. This year, HPE has separated part of the switches in its series under the brand Aruba, which includes some current lines of access switches. Aruba has a full range of products for managing, 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 for a long time and successfully (there is a positive feedback from customers using ClearPass, a service of access policy to the network). I am also pleased that many HPE Aruba products (ClearPass, AirWave) support work with third-party equipment (for example, 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 full set of wired (Brocade ICX) and wireless (Ruckus) services. Brocade-Ruckus also has more expensive high-performance solutions, and simpler solutions, like cheap Unleashed access points with a cloud controller. For guest services and BYOD it is proposed to use the solution of the acquired company Cloudpath. Ruckus also continues to develop the relatively recent positioning and analytics system, SpoT. From experience, Ruckus solutions most often leave a pleasant impression. And the absence of this vendor in the previous quadrants has always upset. However, it is worth noting that sometimes it is difficult to solve technical issues.

Cisco

As can be seen, in the quadrant of this year, Cisco restored its positions lost in 2015. Indeed, since then there have been many updates. This is a complete upgrade of the series of access points to 802.11ac wave2, development of the positioning system and CMX analytics (solutions with the Hyperlocation module are already in Russia), 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 currently 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 parity in function.

Fortinet

Fortinet first hit the quadrant, after acquiring wireless solutions company Meru last year. And immediately got into the worst company experienced "visionaries." He even entered the top five. Fortinet, as the leader of UTM solutions, primarily plans to enhance the wireless functions in its FortiGate solution. The report emphasizes that wireless features are available for free (as opposed to major competitors).

Huawei

The Chinese company is very popular in the local market, but it is increasing its presence in the wireless networking market in Europe. The strengths include low-cost switches (including an integrated controller), network access control software (BYOD, guest services) —Agile Controller, and an eSight monitoring system that supports third-party equipment. From our side, we add that the company's equipment is more and more common in the corporate sector as a more budgetary alternative to the main players, although earlier it mainly supplied solutions for the state sector. companies.

Extreme Networks + Zebra Technologies

Both companies are in the lower right sector. Zebra Technologies is a market leader in solutions for retailers, transport and logistics, and manufacturing. Proven since the days of Motorola, the WiNG platform, 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, there was news that Extreme Networks acquired a wireless division from Zebra Technologies. We will see what comes out of this in the next report.