By using iBwave Wi-Fi® for their Wi-Fi network design software, ARRIS has benefited from significant time and cost savings while working on their Wi-Fi network design projects. This case study tells the story of why ARRIS uses iBwave Wi-Fi® and the time & cost savings they see as a result.

ARRIS is a global leader in entertainment, communications and networking technology. Beyond just implementing technology, ARRIS uses it’s years of experience and experience to provide service providers and enterprise clients with a broad range of services, including Wi-Fi network designs. With thousands of projects completed successfully each year for their clients, ARRIS is a market leader in what they do.

QUICK FACTS

THE STORY

For many years, ARRIS has used iBwave to design and deploy indoor DAS solutions for their many customers. So naturally they became curious how iBwave Wi-Fi®, our Wi-Fi only design software, compared to their existing Wi-Fi design software. In particular, they wanted to see how iBwave Wi-Fi® could help them optimize their Wi-Fi network design business and potentially streamline their entire wireless network design business by having one standard software to design all wireless network projects, enabling collaboration and efficiency across teams.

There were some key challenges with the Wi-Fi design software they were using and were interested in seeing how iBwave Wi-Fi® could help resolve them.

In this case study we look at the example of ARRIS using iBwave Wi-Fi® to design a school, and the time and cost savings they realized as a result.

THE CHALLENGES

1. CREATING A NETWORK DESIGN PLAN
A lot of time was being spent manually creating and updating design plans in Visio. Every time an AP was added or changed, the network plan had to be manually updated in Visio.

2. CREATING A BILL OF MATERIALS
Because the Bill of Materials had to be done manually, it took a lot of time to generate, and was prone to human error. This would sometimes result in customer quotes missing key items, which meant ARRIS absorbing the cost themselves.

3. REPORTING
Being able to quickly generate reports to share key information with customers is extremely important to ARRIS – they were looking for a quicker way to do so.

THE SOLUTION

iBWAVE Wi-Fi® SUITE

• iBwave Wi-Fi® (for PC)
• iBwave Wi-Fi® Mobile

THE RESULTS

NETWORK DESIGN AUTOMATION

Previously, any change done to a design had to be manually updated in a separate Visio file where the Network Diagram was documented. With iBwave Wi-Fi the design plan is automatically generated as you design/update the network.

THE RESULT? With iBwave Wi-Fi®, ARRIS was able to save 7 HOURS of time compared to their previous design software.

BILL OF MATERIALS

iBwave Wi-Fi® resolved one of the biggest challenges faced by ARRIS – accurate BOMs. The ability to generate detailed and accurate BOM’s with all network components, including accurate cabling length estimates, eliminated any chance of human error when creating a BOM. No missing items meant the customer would get an accurate quote every time.

THE RESULT? With iBwave Wi-Fi®, ARRIS was able to save close to 8 HOURS of time creating a BOM.

REPORTING

At the end of a project, ARRIS produces a PowerPoint presentation for the client consisting of the design and heatmap predictions. Because iBwave Wi-Fi® has an option to output reports in PowerPoint format, it cut the time they usually spend putting the presentation together in half.

THE RESULT? With iBwave Wi-Fi® ARRIS is able to save 1 HOUR of time creating the final PowerPoint presentation.

Overall, by adopting iBwave Wi-Fi® ARRIS is able to save significant time and money on their Wi-Fi network design projects while gaining more accuracy in prediction results. For the school project used in this story, ARRIS was able to reduce the total time spent from 26 HOURS with their previous Wi-Fi design software to just 8 HOURS with iBwave Wi-Fi®, for a total time savings of 69%.