Business reasons to buy ESS and the Sidekick

Last week I was asked, at short notice, for a list of benefits to buying Ekahau Site Survey and Sidekicks by my management, given we already own all the software and tools needed to run our existing AirMagnet estate. We all know the Sidekick is a huge leap forward in technology, but my bosses aren’t asking if the tech is better, they’re asking if it will make us more efficient, ultimately leading to a higher ROI.

Thankfully I had been listening to a lot about the Sidekick on various podcasts so was able to pen something very rough over a 15 minute hotel breakfast before heading on site. I thought it was worth posting the reasons I came up with, but as I’m sat at an airport waiting for a flight it is going to be quick and dirty people!

As I reviewed this I realised quite a few of these reasons are focused on the ESS software rather than specifically Sidekick. I almost certainly haven’t captured every business reason possible, and this wasn’t a request for ‘why we wouldn’t buy a Sidekick’, so you won’t find the counter-side to these arguments listed here.

• It’s quick! AirMagnet’s shortest scan period per channel is 250ms (unless you’re still some how using a Cardbus adapter!). Ekahau does it in just 105ms! At first that doesn’t sound too important/impressive, but when you blow the maths up a bit it shows that you can scan almost 10 channels in 1 second compared to 4 with AirMagnet. As a result we can start to move faster during our surveys, covering more area (= $$$), instead of slowing down like we were used to when scanning 21x 5GHz channels at 250ms each. Note, this is not Sidekick exclusive, ESS does this with the 8494 adapters. Second Note, STOP BEING GREEDY PEOPLE, 8-12 channels is like freaking Christmas compared to 2.4GHz, so stop with the 21 channel plans already, it makes client roaming suck!

• MORE POWER! The sidekick comes with its own internal battery. Historically we have always used tablets that have a swap-able battery but as the range of choice in this sector shrinks we have settled on the excellent Lenovo X1 Yoga. Unfortunately the battery is not swap-able though. This means two things. 1) The battery in the tablet has to last an entire day as we cant change it out for a fully charged one – so letting the Sidekick power the WNIC’s and Spec An will save the tablet battery. 2) We save the cost of $150 per member of staff for an external tablet battery.

• Automate! Ekahau has an awesome reporting tool that lets you use your beautifully branded report Word template (if you’re using the built in AirMagnet one then shame on you!) and then use tags (e.g. {“heatmap”: {“type”: “snr”}) to insert data and pictures from the survey. Our intention is to completely automate the heat map generation process using Ekahau so it takes seconds to produce our heat maps. Some of the large sites I did last summer took me an entire 8hr day just to open and screenshot each building/floor surveyed. There is your Capital saving in just a few assessments. You can then edit the Ekahau Report like a normal Word document to add any additional data needed such as Protocol Analysis.

• Why take two bottles into the shower? The Sidekick uses a single USB connection for all data compared to 2 or 3 separate Proxim adapters. This frees up a USB socket or two for other connections, to save battery (see earlier point) and to reduce damage risk (see next point). Also, the X1 Yoga 3rd Gen has moved one of the USB-A sockets to the opposite side of the tablet. This means we are going to have to use a USB hub with no place to attach it (we hand carry the tablet while surveying) or use a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter to have both Proxim 8494’s sticking out the same side.

• De Ja Vu! The Sidekick uses a single USB connection for all data! The less things sticking out of your tablet the less chance of damage. That is another pretty easy ROI element if you’re breaking adapters or USB ports. The USB ports on our old tablets are ruined from 3 years of adapter abuse. That is partly due to cheap construction and partly due to the nature of the work (scurrying in and out tight doorways in a healthcare environment).

• SDE – Software Defined Everything! The Sidekick is firmware upgradeable and Jussi has already highlighted this as their avenue for improvement, rather than new hardware versions. So these things shouldn’t be out of date quickly and can only get better!!!

• RIP 8494. The Sidekick provides a Noise reading. Noise is a controversial subject I know, but it is one of the metrics that help us roam so having even a rough approximation is better than nothing. Sadly the much loved Proxim 8494 adapters are obsolete and all but unavailable. No current supported adapter on the market that I know of provides a Noise reading. But Sidekick does!

• Forget HD, this thing is 8K! The Spectrum Analyzer on the Sidekick is amazing. Strictly this is a “tech” reason, but I can see the increased detail you get helping to troubleshoot problems quicker or spot things you might have missed with other tools to save them biting you in the proverbial later, therefore saving time and being more efficient. Admittedly we rarely need to use Spec-An when troubleshooting 5GHz, and thankfully it is rare to see our Voice product deployed on 2.4GHz anymore.

• Show me ALL the things! We have never found the Spectrum Analyzer integration with AirMagnet Survey stable. Therefore we do not perform spectrum analysis while producing our heatmaps. Instead we perform spectrum analysis whenever we perform protocol analysis. It is highly likely that we are missing sources of interference in areas we don’t choose to run protocol analysis through. With the Sidekick we can sell our service as providing spectrum analysis data for every area heatmapped, potentially increasing the sqft we are contracted for or being the final motivator for an IT Manager to take the service.

• The future is bright… Ekahau are constantly innovating based on community feedback. Jussi, Jerry and Mikko from Ekahau are regularly contributing to the community and Ekahau even has a dedicated Twitter hashtag of #ESSRequest that allows users to submit feature requests quickly and easily. Many of the top ECSE tutors are also part of the community and will often provide clarification, recommendations or guidance when people ask questions or submit feedback. It is like having a free 24/7 help desk of Experts instead of the 1st line tedium that comprises most support offerings.

I think those are some  fairly decent arguments for Ekahau ESS and the Sidekick even if you have already committed time and money to another vendor’s products.

P.S. I totally failed to finish this at the airport. I’m just too much of a perfectionist so had to spend extra time rewording and formatting. I hope it is useful for you.