The Quick Q&A series features high-level conversations about why we love our partners and continue to recommend their solutions to clients.
Over the past few months, we’ve talked with technology champions and partner managers from across InterWorks to see what makes our technology partnerships so great. As a full-spectrum IT and data solutions company, we partner with all sorts of different vendors offering vastly diverse technologies. The two things each of these vendors have in common for us is that we truly believe in their technologies AND we just enjoy working with them. This blog series explains why.
InterWorks has been a Ruckus partner for years, and we’ve implemented their wireless networking technology for dozens of clients big and small. Now that they’re part of the CommScope family, the advantages we’ve come to love from Ruckus networks have only been amplified. In this post, I talk with InterWorks’ IT Lead Keith Johnson and Systems Engineer Kendall Hanson to get the details.
Enterprise Wireless Made Easy, Effective and Secure
Q: What do we at InterWorks like about Ruckus / CommScope’s technology?
Johnson: Ruckus was our very first enterprise class of Wi-Fi that we ever offered to clients – meaning something more than a home consumer-based product. Ruckus is also relatively simple to set up, secure and manage from a “single pane of glass” approach. They are also extremely partner-focused, and that has allowed us as a company to grow within their partner program to be one of the best partners in Oklahoma. Additionally, their products and solutions have provided our clients many resolutions to their needs in terms of coverage, capacity and troubleshooting ease when an issue arises.
Hanson: There are quite a few reasons we like Ruckus / CommScope:
- Ruckus started out as a niche provider who made really great wireless antennas. Their innovation with BeamFlex allowed thousands of adaptive antenna patterns from a single AP to give better performance to client devices that are in less-than-ideal places, whether caused by distance from the AP or RF noise caused by other wireless systems in the vicinity, which inspired similar functionality in WiFi5.
- Previous acquisition of Ruckus by Brocade added high-performance network switches to the portfolio. These switches can be managed by several of the different Ruckus wireless management options, providing a more unified management suite for the wired and wireless networks.
- CommScope’s acquisition of Ruckus has provided the weight of an industry giant in multiple other related technologies to our plucky wireless provider and allowed Ruckus to be very stable, while remaining true to their roots of staying nimble and focusing on their clients and partners. This really allowed them to gear up in their research and development, which is SO important, especially in the Wi-Fi industry with so many things changing so quickly.
- Ruckus has started to quickly scale out their other offerings in cloud management, client onboarding, network analytics, location/positioning and IoT, providing a large amount of functionality from a trusted partner.
- Ruckus provides nearly limitless scales of management from one to thousands of APs without forcing clients to replace APs when changing from something like Unleashed (controllerless) to SmartZone (Local Controller) to Cloud. It is all seamless.
Our Gold Standard for Clients’ Enterprise Wireless
Q: Why and when would we recommend Ruckus / CommScope to clients?
Johnson: Ruckus products are scalable from small businesses all the way up to large multi-site corporate environments. There are several options for management – whether it’s on a physical controller, virtual controller, cloud controller, controller-less or stand-alone management. They offer a variety of Indoor/Outdoor Access Points and also have data analytic solutions. Additionally, their technology provides for a strong and stable Wi-Fi connection, excellent mitigation of RF Interference, ease of installation, and they are always looking ahead to the future in terms of growth and adjusting to the ever-changing world of Wi-Fi.
Hanson: While we work with several other Wi-Fi vendors, Ruckus is our default and preferred Wi-Fi technology provider. We recommend them to all of our clients that need to upgrade or replace their existing wireless solution because we have seen how well it works for our clients over the past however many years we have been using them. Ruckus has yet to let us down or fail to live up to its billing. When a Wi-Fi solution just HAS to work, Ruckus is what we are taking beside us into battle.
Ruckus / CommScope Just Works
Q: What do our clients like about Ruckus / CommScope?
Johnson: Basically, Ruckus just works and works great! It’s stable, easy to manage and the client can manage it internally if they choose to. The warranty, support and update process is straightforward, and the licensing/renewals process is not complicated compared to other vendors in the market. They also are assured in knowing they have a local partner such as InterWorks available to help if there ever is an issue vs. relying on a large corporation to work through a support queue.
Hanson: High performance, ease/flexibility of management, stability and fair pricing.
Communication Is Key
Q: What makes our partnership with Ruckus / CommScope a good one?
Johnson: Communication between InterWorks and Ruckus proper is probably the most vital key in a good partner relationship. They are very good about notifications of updates to products, changing of processes and, probably most importantly, easy to get in touch with if we have a question on pretty much anything related to their solution and product portfolio. On top of our monthly/quarterly check-ins, they will also periodically throughout any given year come and do lunch-and-learns, as well as marketing events alongside us.
Hanson: We have direct access to multiple levels of internal, partner- and client-facing contacts at Ruckus and have regular conversations with all of them. They are hugely responsive to requests for assistance and take our recommendations seriously, forwarding them to their developers on multiple occasions.
Want to Learn More About Ruckus / CommScope?
There’s much more to be said about the great enterprise wireless solutions from Ruckus / CommScope, and our team would love to talk shop with you if you’re interested in learning more. Give us a shout!
