So you wanna try Mist? Here’s how

At Carolina Advanced Digital, we’ve been designing and deploying enterprise Wi-Fi solutions for 20 years, so it’s hard to get us excited about “yet another Wi-Fi product” — but here we are!

Our clients are really loving the Mist AI platform for networking, and we’d love the opportunity to show you the Mist platform for Wi-Fi and/or edge switching. We have several ways to get you started on your Mist journey today.

Depending on your interest and timeline, we’ll connect for a customized demo, a basic proof of concept (PoC), or an advanced proof of concept (PoC). Demos are a great way to get started. Basic PoCs are perfect if you want to kick the tires using 1-3 APs and see basic use cases, and the Advanced PoC is designed for organizations with specific testing criteria and solution bake-offs.

Custom Demo:

With custom demos, we’ll schedule a 30- to 90-minute video web session. We describe the Mist platform as having about four levels of depth, from at-a-glance views to packet-level captures and in-depth analysis. Your account manager and an engineer will select an appropriate agenda based on your preferred time slot and any specific requests your team has. You can request a demo or PoC online.

Basic PoC:

During a Basic PoC, your organization should have 1-3 Mist APs to test with. Hint, ask us how to get a free AP when you request a demo or PoC. You’ll be scheduled with at least two one-hour sessions and an optional follow up like this:

• PoC Session #1: You’ll be driving while an engineer navigates you through creating your account, setting up the org and sites, adopting AP(s) and creating WLANs. During the first session we also walk you through the Mist UI to get you familiar with navigating. You’ll use your new PoC SSIDs as much as possible with various endpoints to create data to analyze in your next session.
• PoC Session #2: Scheduled about 1 week later, you’ll drive while an engineer helps you discover how to use the Mist Service Level Expectations (SLEs), Insights and Marvis for troubleshooting and quick root cause analysis. Your guide will help you explore more ways to interact with the Mist UI, with a brief overview of alerts, reports, and analytics.
• PoC Session #3 and later: If your organization wants to explore more of the Mist UI, or you want a follow-up overview session with a larger internal audience or executive team, we’ll host a third session to address any lingering questions and/or help you showcase the solution to your team.

Advanced PoC:

As noted above, Advanced PoCs are the appropriate course of action for organizations that want to see Mist location services or contact tracing, have a detailed set of testing criteria, or are holding a solution bake-off to compare different platforms for usability or performance. Here’s what this type of PoC looks like:

• PoC Planning Call: Our team will work with key stakeholders and/or designated technical teams to understand the PoC objectives, testing criteria, and definition of success. We’ll create a Wi-Fi design for the designated testing area and assist in requesting or procuring the correct products/licenses required.
• PoC Sessions: PoC sessions and duration are customized but typically run 2-10 sessions, in two- to eight-hour increments depending on the size and complexity of the project. During the PoC sessions, our team and possibly the manufacturer team may work with your team to work through the defined testing scope and document the outcomes.
• PoC Summary and Close-out: At the conclusion of the PoC, deliverables and reports are created and reviewed with the project stakeholders and the project is formally closed out.

Advanced PoCs are typically paid engagements but may be offered as a courtesy depending on requirements. Our Advanced PoCs can be offered with multiple product solution sets, individually or in parallel for bake-offs.

Our engineering team loves Mist, and we’d love to show you why. Click over to our Mist solution page and scroll down to request your demo or PoC today!

Can’t wait? Watch our recent Tech Talk covering Mist on-demand or watch our Tech Talk “What’s New in Wi-Fi”.

Carolina Advanced Digital is a Juniper and Mist partner, and fully certified for Mist Wi-Fi and Location Services deployment.