I’m building a new house, so of course the Wi-Fi was one of the first things we picked out. Since announcing on twitter the wireless manufacturer my wife selected for the new home’s Wi-Fi, I had a couple of friends ask about it. Nothing invasive, just why I picked or why I didn’t pick a Wi-Fi company (I didn’t pick, but that’s a different story). And then it occurred to me, as with all important decisions in life we should let the internet decide what we do.
So here it is. I’m going to open up my home network up for sponsorship. Starting today, if you work for a wireless/network manufacturer please reach out to me at jake@todsfromds.com. I’m going to be accepting applications regarding sponsorship of the network. The goal is to document the whole process on this blog and the youtube channel. Unboxings of equipment, configurarion of common features, initial setup of the equipment, first impressions, troubleshooting, etc.
But that’s not all. For those who don’t work at a equipment manufacturer, you have a job too. Once I have submissions by some of the vendors, you get to vote on which option gets selected. That’s right, the internet is going to select which company gets to put gear in my house. And yes, my wife has signed off on this.
The rough timeline of how things will go:
- July 19th: Deadline for Mfg Submissions
- August 1st: Deadline for negotiations with Mfgs who submitted.
- August 19th: Publish Network Diagrams, parts lists and rough description for each of the submissions, open voting
- September 6th: Voting closes
- September 18th: Announce Winner
- Gear arrival deadline is October 15th
- House Move in TBD (Estimated at Late October, Early November).
What do you get for sponsoring my network?
I’ll run this network in my house for at least a year. This will be non-exclusive, because I have a job that involves multiple vendors. I’ll blog, vlog and record the process. I’ll do at least 3 livestream events with regard to the equipment. There will be at least 5 videos over the course of the year covering the manufacturers equipment, and at least 6 blogs.
For my reviews of the equipment, the manufacturer will be given an early look. I will entertain requests for changes to blogs, but I will retain final say. If the Mfg would rather me not publish my reviews/findings, that will be honored.
Items that will be reviewed:
- Performance
- Stability
- Programmability
- Overall Experience, Features, Configuration, Etc.
- Mounting and installation
- Implementing common features on the network.
- Support
- Wife acceptance factor
Requirements:
- To provide at least 4 access points (11ax preferred, 11ac wave 2 acceptable). 3 indoor, 1 outdoor.
- Mounting hardware, J-Box mounting
- Controllers, Licensing Software, Support for 2 years, anything needed to make the system do what is desired
- Equipment should be silent or quiet enough that it could sit on your desk without being noticeable.
- There is no VM hardware in the house, so if it needs to run as a VM, you need to have a solution that meets the requirements
- Enterprise gear only. I know a lot of mfgs have a SMB/prosumer lines. That’s great but it probably won’t be interesting enough for as much content content as will be created.
- The equipment becomes mine at the completion of the 1-year mark.
Optional Components:
- Switching
- Firewall
- Location services Wayfinding, Asset Tracking
- BLE Beacons
- SD-Wan
- Wireless assurance Sensors
Here’s a list of the current hardware that will be used. You are free to have me use these, or provide your own.
Current network hardware is listed:
- Cisco 3650 24 port POE+
- Cisco 3560CX-8XPD-S
- Cisco 3560CX-12PD-S
- Cisco IE3000 Industrial switch
- Meraki MS220-8P
- Aruba 2930F-8P
- PF Sense firewall MBT-4220
Don’t have a wireless portfolio? Want to show off an integration to a firewall? Partner ups are totally ok.
Please see the video intro for Season 2 over at http://www.youtube.com/c/ToDSFromDS
Corresponding video:
ToDSFromDS 