My organization currently uses a Cisco based wireless system with one controller and about 50 APs. Both the controller and the APs have been end of lifed through Cisco and we are looking at replacing the whole setup. We use HP/Aruba switches and routers so I thought Aruba wireless would be a good option if the pricing was lower than Cisco and the performance was just as good if not better. Here are some things that may be relevant to good advice.
Environment is completely indoors. Fifty APs are spread out over five buildings which are linked with at least 1 gig single mode fiber (Most are 10 gig single mode). The majority of the APs are located in a large City Hall Built in the 30s so there is much concrete and brick to contend with. We got the original controller and APs secondhand from another City Department that was upgrading. I managed to get it to work with our HP POE+ switches. I have two ssids, one kiosk based that uses ACLs in the controller to keep outside users off my network and only using the internet connection. The other ssid is secure using WPA2/PSK that allows users into my network. I can elaborate further if you want.
Users
Kiosk - My dhcp server says 236 leases with a four hour lifetime
Secure - 91 leases with a 7 day lifetime
Density of Network
Since I am sure the APs (although I have never proved this ) mostly cannot cover each other because of the physical environment and AP placement it is hard to tell. I am going to guess the lions share of users is in public areas of City Hall where the public pick up leases.
Position of APs
This is a mix of ceiling mounts and data cabs and sidewalls. Some of the ceiling mounts are about 15 feet off the ground. I dont look forward to replacing those ones :)
Types of Switches
We use HP/Aruba POE+ switches exclusively
So that is my environment. Can anyone give me some advice on what Controller model number/ AP model number to maybe replicate with some future growth included so I can get some pricing?
Thanks