Playground Battles

For those who closely follow 802.11n this is probably obvious, but each of the 802.11n vendors who has product in the field has chosen a school as their first public customer win. Aruba shared details about their win with Carnegie Mellon University. This school has more than 10,000 students and 4,000 faculty and staff.

Cisco didn't lose Duke University's trust over the Apple iPhone debacle. That win covers 12,000 students and over 2,600 faculty.

The first vendor to announce any 802.11n customer was Meru Networks and that was with Morrisville State College. Located 30 miles southeast of Syracuse, they have 3,300 students and around 130 full-time faculty and for a long time were known as an "aggie school" (agricultural school).

It takes only a little reflection to figure out which of the wins have the greater prestige.