Rightsize Your Budget by Rightsizing Your Network

Thursday 30th May, 2013

A KHIPU Networks Approach with Wireless

Having deployed Wireless networks into our customers for the past 7 years, we have been able to prove and demonstrate Return on Investment by lowering the costs required to provide network connectivity for users without reducing quality of service. Our customers including leading organisations are forecasting that 30%-60% of their users could be equally or better served via wireless access in the next 2 years, at half the ongoing annual cost of traditional wired access. Many of these are facing budget cuts of up to 20% or more this year, yet they must still address the users’ growing demand for better performance and more connectivity. The only way for IT to free up funds to enhance their network infrastructure is to significantly reduce costs elsewhere in the network access layer. The wired network has been the source of some of the most excessive spending on infrastructure. Until recently, it was common to install 2 to 4 wired ports for every user, backed up by large multi-port switches and miles of cabling. For an organization with 1,000 users that was 4,000 ports, 4,000 cable drops, huge amounts of switches and never ending maintenance fees. While spending on wired connectivity is inherently inefficient, IT departments have lacked credible alternatives.

Until now! Working with Khipu and Aruba, our adaptive ‘802.11n’ Wi-Fi technology turns this model on its head. A single Aruba ‘802.11n’ access point can support more than 100 simultaneous users, and yet costs 1/8th as much as a typical 48-port switch at list price. Fewer ports mean fewer switches and lower operating and annual maintenance fees. Add, move and change costs evaporate. In fact, our wireless solution may cost just 10% of a comparable wired build-out and can reduce recurring costs by more than £2,000 per switch, per year. On top of this, we enable users to become more productive, roam freely, and collaborate more easily. We have even taken the guess work out of estimated savings by creating a “rightsizing calculator” that will show projected savings from rightsizing your network. The calculator models the cost savings associated with migrating users to wireless as their primary form of network access. Since 20% to 60% of users in most organisations rely on laptops, netbooks, smart PDAs, or some other form of Wi-Fi enabled mobile computer, the transition to wireless access will deliver instant savings.

Network Rightsizing – Request for Custom ROI Analysis

Let Khipu’s Network Rightsizing experts help you. All we require are a few facts about your current infrastructure and we’ll provide you with a detailed custom ROI analysis.

Windows of Opportunity For Network Rightsizing – When is the optimal time to rightsize your network?

  • Closet or IDF refresh – this presents an opportunity to audit port utilization, shift all mobile computer users to Wi-Fi to further reduce ports, and closet hardware;
  • Department moves/adds/changes – these are accomplished faster and most economically when a Wi-Fi network is the primary access method, which has the added benefit of minimizing port activation, deactivation and troubleshooting;
  • “Greenfield” deployment – bringing up a new building presents an opportunity to optimize the mix of wired and wireless ports from the outset, resulting in smaller closet switches, lower power consumption, and reduced cabling;
  • Network expansion – newer segments can be designed according to actual usage requirements, avoiding the higher costs of an overdesigned wired network in favour of a more economical wireless deployment;

Can our Access Points bear the load?

The greatest savings come from shifting a large percentage of users to wireless network access. For this to work, wireless must deliver the same performance as wires, or better. Can our Wireless technology bear the load? In a word: yes! Aruba’s unique Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) 2.0 technology delivers wire-like Quality of Service (QOS) over-the-air at speeds exceeding 100BaseT Ethernet. ARM 2.0 delivers a significantly better reliability than the base 802.11n protocol, by monitoring the RF-environment, automatically optimizing session quality and minimizing the impact of interference. ARM 2.0 reduces Help Desk calls. Independent testing validated that ARM 2.0 can deliver a 212% increase in overall 802.11n throughput. To protect the integrity of the network, Aruba integrates security features throughout the system architecture. A certified stateful firewall protects every wireless session, while military-grade encryption offers client-to-core protection. Apply granular access and QOS performance priorities based on the identity of the user, device, application, time of day, and location. Integrated security is one reason why Aruba is used at high security government facilities worldwide, and is the only wireless LAN to be certified FIPS, Common Criteria, and DoD compliant.

Enterprises Worldwide Save Money Buying Aruba Products

More than 6,500 of the largest global organizations have chosen Aruba for their wireless LAN solution. Many were spending heavily on wired LAN infrastructure until they discovered the performance and cost benefits of an Aruba wireless solution. Now they can do more with less. Click here to read how KPMG Right Sized their network with wireless “KPMG estimates that network rightsizing with Aruba helped reduce recurring networking costs by more than $760,000 per year. Annual savings should increase as a greater percentage of users migrate to wireless LAN for data access.”