1- I think it would be nice to have at first a software controller that can be deployed on any Linux, Mac, or Windows machine. After that, I would like to see hardware devices having the controller.
2- Yes
3- Not necessary, I would like to be able to rackmount it instead of wall mount (if I had a choice to make)
4- I really like the “UDM Pro ish” format but with better specs. I think that having the possibility to plug and play APs directly into the router/controller would be awesome. Also a nice 1U form factor with 10g sfp+ and maybe a 10g rg45. I know a couple of people that aren’t IT or really deep tech persons but they like to have good Internet speed. So having a device like this that can be plug and play, I think it would be a good seller.
Defiantly rackmount. Also maybe router built in not just a standalone controller. Or option for it at least. Also maybe ability to run controller software on 3rd party hardware.
@Alta-Chase for on-prem controllers it would be ideal to be able to install it on our own hardware. While Small Forum factor is slick and attractive its is honestly better to not have to worry about the controller not being able to handle the load. And easy to scale larger without the need for bigger hardware
Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply to our questions here! We greatly appreciate the feedback and will certainly be taking it all into account as we finalize our strategy and design.
I would like to see 2 different models, small appliance with AP built into it (great for residential) and a rackmount (would love a AP in it too for data rooms with no wifi close)
Small appliance and rackmount 1U
Yes
Not necessary (I try to avoid ALL wall mounting of any network hardware)
Small like the USG and 1U rackmount
Personally I REALLY like the cloud based portal and its very quick and easy to get to anywhere on any PC. I would like it to be able to maintain all Alta devices…router, switches, AP’s, hopefully some wifi bridges like airmax models. Or on premise is fine too that all my clients of 300 plus have controller running on UDM’s etc.
I REALLY look forward to you all building network hardware much better and quicker than we installers are dealing with other vendors!
Hi @Alta-Chase , you could make a small controller and offer it with a 19" enclosure. The enclosure you then can offer in different colors, like white, silver or black for example. A lot of our customers have rack enclosures in black while others are silver. Our setups are super clean so having the option of choosing a different enclosure color would be awesome, as well it helps tremendously with the versatility. Not always we have space to mount a 19" device. Just my 5 cents
If it was something that just runs the controller, then rack mounting would be a great option, however I think that I’d like the device to be small (in the event of not rack mounting it) think Raspberry Pi, NanoPi R6S etc.
For something small like that, I’d like for it to be PoE instead of having a power cable connected to it, I’d rather use a PoE Injector to get the power to it.
However if it was a router/switch/controller hybrid kind of device like a UniFi Dream Machine Special Edition, Then I’d like for it to have some PoE capacity, maybe some SFP ports and rack mounted.
Overall though, I’d probably be most happy with a software controller that I could run on bare metal, in a vm, in a docker container or in a LXC container.
As small as possible. If it has to exist in a rack, have “additional” hardware that allows it to do so. Keeps cost and manufacturing low, also allows for more flexibility IMO
Personally no, but others may feel the need.
Mounting it to a wall a must have, no; however, if you go through the effort of building an appliance couldn’t you design the box it sits in to have holes for mounting to a wall or holes for attaching hardware to make it rack mountable?
If a physical form factor is needed then grouping it with other functions like additional ports or functions like doubling as a switch or router. Having it be PoE driven could have additional value depending on the performance needed. If you build a physical device for this, allowing for HA could also have value depending on the function of the controller (logging, management, …)
Definitely would want a self-hosted option for this. Don’t want additional hardware requirements, just want to run on what I already possess which would be more than capable.
VM for me for a local controller. All of my business customers have an ESX environment and PoE switches anyway. Or a VM template or a preconfigured ISO with Letsencrypt etc. integrated.
For very small companies or private users the current cloud controller is sufficient (if it remains free).
I don’t think the Unifi way if bad by the way. I have my own Unifi controller running in Google cloud. Pretty cheap to run (there is a good setup script available on the internet). So that would also be an option to be independent from your cloud controller.
And when running it on dedicated hardware would be necessary, a Raspberry Pi would also be a possibility (can get power over PoE or USB-C). Just off-the-shelf hardware, flash an SD-card and you’re good to go.