So the Cisco will be better. I would get rid of all the Huawei switches.
While I might be inclined to agree, do you have any experience or reference(s) to support that assertion? Huawei doesn't just get to be the
second most highly revenue'd switch maker worldwide by being
that inferior... their stuff must work, on some level at least.
@businesstx - How about you find the best price on a 48-port Gigabit PoE switches than you can in your market, and list here. Additionally, I'd look into the refurb enterprise segment, if there is one; brands/models to look for (in alphabetical order): Adtran Netvanta, Brocade ICX, Cisco Catalyst, HPE 2530 (and up) and Juniper EX.
For wifi, if you go with multiple purpose-built APs, most models do allow for standalone mode (without a controller), but, especially in a business setting, having central control over standardized config across all APs is huge (SSIDs, VLANs, QoS, access control policies, etc.); a controller often ensures the most seamless roaming and load/band-balancing possible. Depending on the product, the controller could be embedded (into the APs themselves) or run discretely (locally or in the cloud); discrete installs could include an always-on PC (correct presumption), a physical server, a VM, a Raspberry Pi or a pre-built appliance.
If you're running a discrete controller, it should have full, un-firewalled access to all APs, and especially if its hosting services (ex: guest portal), should be deployed in as highly-available and low-latency a position as possible. For your network, that would mean cabled directly to your core switch (correct presumption there), ideally rack-mounted in the same closet, but if it had to be on an always-on PC in another room, that would still work. Example products here would be TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti UniFi for small biz, Aruba Mobility, Ruckus ZoneFlex or Cisco Aironet for enterprise.
If running embedded-controller APs, they don't need a discrete install of the controller, as it's literally running in the code on all APs, plus in doing so provides automatic redundancy and auto-healing of the controller instance on the network. Example products would be Aruba Instant On, Cisco WAP and Grandstream GWN for small-biz, Aruba Instant, Ruckus Unleashed and Cisco Mobility Express for enterprise.
Again for wifi, rather than us just throwing makes/models at you, I'd shop the Chinese market and see what availability you can find, and come back to us with your findings. I'd also look at Huawei's own solutions if they have any; I'm not familiar with them, but they may be good enough as well.
