Cisco Cisco Aironet 3500p Access Point White Paper

Farpoint Group White Paper – April 2010 

 

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Both CIM examples assume 1000 total APs deployed, and one spectrally-related incident 
per 100 APs per month. All pricing is based on Cisco’s list prices. 
 
Note that this model does not quantify any maintenance costs, and also does not consider 
the opportunity costs noted elsewhere in this document. We believe the former is of little 
consequence, and the latter so potentially significant as to demand the installation of a 
spectral-assurance solution regardless. 
 
 
Conclusions 
 
There is no doubt in our mind, based on years of experience in planning, installing, and 
troubleshooting wireless LAN installations, that spectral assurance is a required element 
in any enterprise-class installation. The potential costs associated with a lack of visibility 
into Layer 1 and resulting from a failure here can be enormous. And, similarly, there is 
little doubt, based on our cost analysis above as well as the other benefits we noted 
(particularly global, continuous monitoring), that the centralized/infrastructure model is 
the preferred strategy. The conversion of OpEx into CapEx and the improved reliability 
and performance should easily result in a positive return on investment in a relatively 
short timeframe. Again, it’s ultimately best to think of spectral assurance as an insurance 
policy covering both productivity and liability. The benefits in terms of WLAN 
optimization, security, policy enforcement, and troubleshooting are undeniable. The 
availability of this capability in WLAN infrastructure is clearly a huge leap forward for 
the industry and its customers, and one that believe will become standard and indeed 
common over the next few years.