WHAT CISCO DOESNT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT SMARTNET ON LWAPP/CAPWAP WILL SAVE YOU THOUSANDS!
Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 8:41PM 
In the days of old we would have smartnet on each and every autonomous access point in our enterprise. Frankly, you needed it. If you weren’t familiar with the CLI or if you ran into problems smartnet was a call away. You would get on a call with Cisco TAC they would ask for your access point serial number and you were on your way.
Fast forward to today. The wireless LWAPP/CAPWAP architecture is centrally managed. When you have issues you call TAC and you give them your controller serial number and your off and running.
So that raises the question, do you need smartnet on LWAPP/CAPWAP access points? The answer is NOPE! Save your money.
Lets run the math –
You have 300 access points. You spend $45 dollars annually (reoccurring I mind you) for each access point.
300 x $45.00 = $13,500 every year!
Lets assume you have 3,000 access points in your enterprise.
3,000 x $45.00 = $135,000 every year!
Now ask yourself. What really is the value of smartnet on Cisco centrally managed access points? If one dies you can get it replaced, but at what cost!?
I see the light going off in your head. At $13,500 you can buy yourself 30 spare access points (10%) of your deployment !! And remember this is an annual expense each year. In these economic times penny pinching is a must.
Reader Comments (2)
Hey George,
The and was a knee-jerk reaction to HP's program aimed at poaching Cisco clients.
Not all Cisco products have this so it pays if you read the Data Sheet. For the wireless, 1130, 1240 and 1250 is not valid. Some models of the 1140, based on the manufacturing date is not valid. 1260, 3500 i/e/p and the 3600 will have Cisco Limited Lifetime Hardware Warranty Terms. Not sure about the outdoor WAPs. For routers and switches, Cisco Enhanced Limited Lifetime Hardware Warranty Terms is valid for the ISR G2 and the 3560X, 3750X and the 2960S. Don't know about the rest.
Remember that with this program some of your equipment can be replaced after a "grace period" of ten (10) days. Another thing to consider is that these two programs DO NOT include IOS software download or configuration support or bug support.
If you need IOS software download configuration support or bug support then get any of the SmartNet but don't get them for every routers and switches. Choose wisely. For example, I'd get SmartNet for 10% of my 2960S but I'd get SmartNet for my 3750X running IP Services and above.
Im not specifically talking about the "limited lifetime warranty". I am talking about the holistic approach. Why spend 135,000 when you can buy 30 aps as replacements at a significant cost savings.