April 1, 2010 by 32 Comments

Wireless LAN Vendors – Tiers?

Someone asked me about Wireless LAN Infrastructure Vendors and I put them in the following Tiers. It’s not some ‘Gartner Magic Quadrant’ type thing. It’s just my personal opinion of where these fall. Not a ranking by quality, or by technology… just a ‘gut feel’ from what I see out in the marketplace. They are just random inside the Tiers.

I would love to hear what you think. Did I miss any major vendor? Any of these placed in the wrong Tier?

Tier One

  • Cisco
  • Aruba
  • Motorola

Tier Two

  • Meru
  • HP
  • Enterasys/Siemens
  • Ruckus
  • Aerohive
  • Trapeze
  • Xirrus
  • Bluesocket
  • 3Com
  • LANCOM
  • Extricom
  • Proxim Wireless

Tier Three

  • Senao/Engenius
  • Ubiquiti
  • D-Link
  • Proxim
  • Belkin
  • Linksys
  • Netgear
  • Meraki
  • Fon
  • SMC
  • RealTek
  • TrendNet
  • ZyXEL

4/9/2010 – Update

I think I need to re-visit this list based on a bunch of feedback. Folks would like to see them ‘ranked’ (no, not going to do it) and add a different category for Mesh/PtP/PtMP kind of stuff. I personally don’t have a lot of experience there. Anyone want to tackle the job?

Categories : WLAN Pros
  • Aaron Ragusa

    Are these ranked highest to lowest within the tiers?

    Twitter – @wifi_ninja

    • KeithRParsons

      They are just random inside the Tiers – thanks for the comment, I've added this to the body of the post.

      • Aaron Ragusa

        Where would the new Cisco Valet: http://home.cisco.com/en-us/wireless/valet/?sou… end up? I assume no one in the community has really played with one yet, it will be interesting. My assumption would be that it is comparable to linksys, just a name change :)

        The tiers themselves look good. Personally I may re-arrange some within the tiers, but yours, as you said, do not appear in any particular order…

        Thanks again Keith, good stuff!!!

        • KeithRParsons

          Yeah, that Cisco 'Valet' is just a re-branded Linksys. Pretty videos though.

  • Aaron Ragusa

    Are these ranked highest to lowest within the tiers?

    Twitter – @wifi_ninja

    • KeithRParsons

      They are just random inside the Tiers – thanks for the comment, I've added this to the body of the post.

      • Aaron Ragusa

        Where would the new Cisco Valet: http://home.cisco.com/en-us/wireless/valet/?sou… end up? I assume no one in the community has really played with one yet, it will be interesting. My assumption would be that it is comparable to linksys, just a name change :)

        The tiers themselves look good. Personally I may re-arrange some within the tiers, but yours, as you said, do not appear in any particular order…

        Thanks again Keith, good stuff!!!

        • KeithRParsons

          Yeah, that Cisco 'Valet' is just a re-branded Linksys. Pretty videos though.

  • Marcus Burton

    Hey Keith,
    It's always tough to evaluate such a list if you don't have specific measurement criteria. I'd say it looks pretty good, though I'd divide this into 4 tiers. Tier 2 is a majorly large span… from Meru and Trapeze down to LANCOM and Extricom. I'd have to say there's two shelves of products currently in tier 2. Among other things, I'd also slide Meraki up nearer to tier 2.

    • KeithRParsons

      I have to agree with you Marcus. Part of the problem is we have too many vendors in the same small space. (the area left over after Cisco takes their chunk, then Aruba and Motorola… there's not that much ENTERPRISE opportunity left over for all the others to share)

      I'm going out on a limb here, but I think there's got to be a shake out coming in 2011 and we'll see fewer on this list next year.

      Perhaps it should have been a four tiered list.

      Plus we'd have to add a category for the Firetide/Belair mesh outdoor vendors too.

    • http://twitter.com/meraki Meraki

      Keith–

      Interesting way to break down the industry, thanks for including us on the list!

      Of course, we're aiming for that real estate in tier one ;) But, to Marcus' point, and purely for our edification, we'd love to get your feedback on why we didn't make the cut for tier two. Thoughts/comments would be very appreciated. We're a little obsessed with feedback, so please let us know!

      Also, if you haven't looked at Meraki in a while, we introduced a full line of enterprise products in June of 2009 (before that our “Pro” products were focused on the amenity access market, e.g., hotels). Our Enterprise line includes most of what you'd see in an Aruba/Cisco type product, from band steering to per-user VLAN tagging to group policies.

      –Joey Baker, Meraki

      • http://twitter.com/KeithRParsons Keith R. Parsons

        Thanks for your feedback on this simple list.

        I did order and use three little Meraki APs a while back. They were small, cute, and worked fine… but didn't seem like much more than a step above SoHo equipment at the time.

        I have seen many of your new announcements, but haven't had a chance to play with your new stuff yet.

        Thanks for the reminder! I'll have to be more diligent in the future.

  • Marcus Burton

    Hey Keith,
    It's always tough to evaluate such a list if you don't have specific measurement criteria. I'd say it looks pretty good, though I'd divide this into 4 tiers. Tier 2 is a majorly large span… from Meru and Trapeze down to LANCOM and Extricom. I'd have to say there's two shelves of products currently in tier 2. Among other things, I'd also slide Meraki up nearer to tier 2.

    • KeithRParsons

      I have to agree with you Marcus. Part of the problem is we have too many vendors in the same small space. (the area left over after Cisco takes their chunk, then Aruba and Motorola… there's not that much ENTERPRISE opportunity left over for all the others to share)

      I'm going out on a limb here, but I think there's got to be a shake out coming in 2011 and we'll see fewer on this list next year.

      Perhaps it should have been a four tiered list.

      Plus we'd have to add a category for the Firetide/Belair mesh outdoor vendors too.

    • http://twitter.com/meraki Meraki

      Keith–

      Interesting way to break down the industry, thanks for including us on the list!

      Of course, we're aiming for that real estate in tier one ;) But, to Marcus' point, and purely for our edification, we'd love to get your feedback on why we didn't make the cut for tier two. Thoughts/comments would be very appreciated. We're a little obsessed with feedback, so please let us know!

      Also, if you haven't looked at Meraki in a while, we introduced a full line of enterprise products in June of 2009 (before that our “Pro” products were focused on the amenity access market, e.g., hotels). Our Enterprise line includes most of what you'd see in an Aruba/Cisco type product, from band steering to per-user VLAN tagging to group policies.

      –Joey Baker, Meraki

      • http://twitter.com/KeithRParsons Keith R. Parsons

        Thanks for your feedback on this simple list.

        I did order and use three little Meraki APs a while back. They were small, cute, and worked fine… but didn't seem like much more than a step above SoHo equipment at the time.

        I have seen many of your new announcements, but haven't had a chance to play with your new stuff yet.

        Thanks for the reminder! I'll have to be more diligent in the future.

  • http://www.tacack.com/ TacACK

    Hey Keith,

    Great post. I just printed this out for reference :)

    Cheers,
    TacACK

    • KeithRParsons

      Remember, this isn't ranked, just grouped.

      Thanks

  • http://www.tacack.com/ TacACK

    Hey Keith,

    Great post. I just printed this out for reference :)

    Cheers,
    TacACK

    • KeithRParsons

      Remember, this isn't ranked, just grouped.

      Thanks

  • http://www.proxim.com/ Reese Williams

    Hi Keith,
    I must say I am a bit surprised to see Proxim Wireless is not even mentioned here.
    What I do recognize is the strong showing of switch based solutions on the top, which of course have made huge strides in the last few years in the vertical markets.
    Check out the dual radio 11n AP-8000, which can support 2 11n radios on existing .3af POE – For some folks, the stand alone AP is still a better option with the range and performance increases of 11n.
    Kind Regards,
    Reese Williams

    • http://twitter.com/KeithRParsons Keith R. Parsons

      Sorry about that Proxim. It's just been many years since I worked on an site that used Proxim equipment. A total mistake on my part. And I apologize. I'll update the list accordingly.

      And, I'll go check out your .11n APs as well. Thanks for the reminder.

  • http://www.proxim.com/ Reese Williams

    Hi Keith,
    I must say I am a bit surprised to see Proxim Wireless is not even mentioned here.
    What I do recognize is the strong showing of switch based solutions on the top, which of course have made huge strides in the last few years in the vertical markets.
    Check out the dual radio 11n AP-8000, which can support 2 11n radios on existing .3af POE – For some folks, the stand alone AP is still a better option with the range and performance increases of 11n.
    Kind Regards,
    Reese Williams

    • http://twitter.com/KeithRParsons Keith R. Parsons

      Sorry about that Proxim. It's just been many years since I worked on an site that used Proxim equipment. A total mistake on my part. And I apologize. I'll update the list accordingly.

      And, I'll go check out your .11n APs as well. Thanks for the reminder.

  • Guest

    Xirrus should be in Tier 1. Nobody does density like Xirrus can.

    • Anonymous

      Xirrus does do high density well – in the right shape and size of space. But based on their niche market, and amount of sales they can stay right where they are in the tiers. ;-)

  • Guest

    Xirrus should be in Tier 1. Nobody does density like Xirrus can.

    • Anonymous

      Xirrus does do high density well – in the right shape and size of space. But based on their niche market, and amount of sales they can stay right where they are in the tiers. ;-)

  • Oyvind

    Where would you place BelAir Networks in this list?

    • Anonymous

      BelAir is an outdoor only play – so not really involved in the Enterprise WiFi space. Tropos, Firetide, Motorola Canopy, and others also exist primarily in that space.

  • Oyvind

    Where would you place BelAir Networks in this list?

    • Anonymous

      BelAir is an outdoor only play – so not really involved in the Enterprise WiFi space. Tropos, Firetide, Motorola Canopy, and others also exist primarily in that space.