Wireless Consulting Support

Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi controllers streamline the management of wireless networks by centralizing the configuration and control of Wi-Fi APs, tuning wireless throughput by mitigating the impact of RF interference, enhancing wireless availability with rapid zero-touch failover, and improving data protection by detecting attacks and filtering content according to client type and location.

Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi controllers work with Cisco's Prime Infrastructure platform, which supports up to Wi-Fi 18,000 wireless APs and 64,000 clients. Cisco wireless controllers are available at price points and with feature sets for environments ranging from branch offices to enterprises and school campuses. Cisco 802.11ac Wi-Fi controllers and APs are engineered to provide the same level of protection, throughput and manageability that companies demand in their wired networks. Cisco Wi-Fi controller technology includes built-in mobility functions like VoIP, high-definition video, and safe access for guests. Cisco's Prime Infrastructure architecture allows you to build environments that seamlessly combine wired and wireless resources into a unified connectivity solution that produces maximum business value.

Progent's Cisco-certified wireless consultants can help you to assess the advantages of adopting Cisco Wi-Fi controllers to manage wireless networks of any size. Progent can help you to maintain and debug your current wireless network or help you plan and carry out an efficient migration from earlier generation wireless controllers to current models.

Progent's Cisco-certified Wi-Fi network consultants can provide cost-effective online consulting and troubleshooting throughout the U.S. and Canada to help you to deploy and refine Wi-Fi solutions. Progent can also provide onsite support in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. and in Toronto, Canada. In addition, Progent can provide low-cost remote and onsite wireless site surveys to assist your company to design and install a Wi-Fi environment with efficient access point clustering to match your particular workplace environment, building structure, user density, and application workloads.

Cisco Wave 2 Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Wave 2 wireless controllers enable realtime communication, configuration, control, monitoring and troubleshooting for Cisco Wi-Fi appliances and software services. Cisco offers both hardware and virtual Wi-Fi controllers for unified administration of wireless environments, but networks with many Wi-Fi APs are better served by hardware-based Wi-Fi controllers. New wireless controller appliances from Cisco offer major benefits in comparison to Wave 1 and earlier products including greater throughput, concurrent support for 1G and 10G Ethernet, enhanced application visibility and control, and hardened, integrated security.

The Cisco 3504 Wireless Controller is an entry-level appliance available in a desktop enclosure and designed for small and medium-sized businesses. You can install the 3504 in a centralized network architecture such as in lean branch and remote offices administered over the wide-area network via FlexConnect, or in bridge deployments where Ethernet cabling is sparse. The 3504 Wi-Fi controller supports up to 150 WiFi access points and 3,000 clients, delivers 4 Gbps performance, and supports 4,096 VLANs. The 3504 wireless controller features a Cisco Multigigabit port and four 1-GB Ethernet interfaces. APs can be connected directly to the controller through two Power over Ethernet ports. The 3504 Wi-Fi controller features subsecond failover for APs and clients, which provides uninterrupted availability for applications. As with other Wave 2 wireless controllers available from Cisco, the 3504 model has the integrated capability to communicate with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Cisco Mobility Services, and Cisco 5520 and 8540 WLAN controllers.

The Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller, available in a 1RU form factor, is intended for larger organizations and campus environments and can be used in centralized, distributed, and mesh architectures. The 5520 Wi-Fi controller can handle as many as 1,500 Wi-Fi access points and 20,000 users, delivers 20 Gbps performance, and supports 4,096 VLANs. The 5520 model controller includes two 10 GE ports and features SSD storage, redundant fans, optional backup power supplies, and subsecond failover for high availability.

The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller, offered in a 2 rack unit enclosure, is a top-of-the-line WiFi controller intended to support enterprises, service providers, and large campuses. The 8540 Wireless controller can be used in centralized, distributed, and mesh architectures and supports up to 6,000 wireless APs and 64,000 clients. The 8540 WiFi controller offers throughput up to 40 Gbps and supports 4,096 VLANs. The 8340 comes with four 1-GB or 10GE ports and features solid-state storage, redundant power supplies, redundant fans, and subsecond failover.

Wave 1 Cisco WiFi LAN Controllers
Cisco wireless controllers cut the effort and cost needed to deploy, manage, and troubleshoot Wi-Fi networks by offering single-point control of functions like setting up APs, enforcing single-point policies throughout converged wired and wireless LANs, supporting enterprise-wide Quality of Service for IP voice and video, tracking and optimizing network performance, activating intrusion prevention tools to guard against cyber break-ins and DDoS threats, and handling IPv6 and dual-stack clients. Cisco has designed wireless network controllers for organizations of any size and offers desktop or rackmount controllers, modular add-on wireless controllers for Cisco ISR routers and switches, and Catalyst switches with integrated wireless LAN controllers.

Cisco's Wave 1 WiFi network controllers incorporate Cisco CleanAir technology to minimize RF interference and produce self-healing and self-optimizing wireless networks for maximum 802.11n and 802.11ac performance and protection. Built-in Apple Bonjour Gateways allow discovery across the enterprise for Apple applications. For high availability, Cisco wireless LAN controllers allow AP and client stateful failover by permitting a backup high-availability controller to synch with a main controller for access point license tabulation, CAPWAP state and roaming keys, and AP CAPWAP state. If the primary controller stops working, thousands of access points and wireless clients can failover at subsecond speeds to the secondary controller.

Cisco's Wireless Module for ISR G2 Routers with UCS-E offers entry-level 802.11n and 802.11ac capability for Cisco 2900 and 3900 Series routers used by smaller businesses and branch offices. This value-priced and scalable solution can support from five to 200 wireless access points and as many as 6000 wireless clients. (To find out about Progent's remote and onsite consulting support for Cisco routers, refer to Cisco router deployment and troubleshooting consulting.)

Cisco Catalyst 3650 Series are 1RU switches intended for small to mid-size businesses and satellite offices and come with an integrated wireless network controller with the capability to support 40 Gb of wireless throughput per switch and 25 access points and 1000 wireless clients per switch. Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series are 1RU switches intended for mid-size and large organizations and feature an integrated wireless network controller supporting 40 Gb of wireless throughput per switch and the ability to handle 50 access points and 2000 wireless clients. The Wireless Services Module2 is an add-in blade for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switches with a built-in wireless network controller designed for mid-to-large size enterprises and able to deliver 20 Gbps performance and with support for up to 1000 wireless access points and 15,000 wireless clients. (To find out about Progent's support for Catalyst switches, refer to Cisco Catalyst switches configuration and troubleshooting support.)

Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controllers are economical desktop devices that simplify the deployment and operation of wireless networks for SMBs and branches. The Cisco 2500 wireless network controller supports 5 to 75 APs and 1000 clients and offers sustained data rates of 1 Gbps.

The Cisco 5500 Wireless Controller is an expandable 1RU unit designed for medium-sized to large businesses and campuses and can manage 500 access points and 7,000 clients while delivering 8 Gbps throughput. The Cisco 5760 Series Wireless Controller is a 1RU device designed for mid-to-large campuses with support for up to 1000 wireless access points and 12,000 wireless clients and delivering throughput of 60 Gbps to handle high client densities and high usage of media-rich mobile applications.

The Cisco Flex 7500 Series Wireless Controller is designed to enable centralized management of massive collections of wireless remote sites from one datacenter, eliminating the need for a Wi-Fi controller at every remote site. The 1RU rackmount Flex 7500 appliance lets you establish a private cloud to configure, monitor, manage, and troubleshoot up to 6000 APs and 64,000 wireless clients while handling 1 Gbps throughput. Cisco's 8500 Series Wireless Controller is a 1RU appliance designed to monitor and control wireless networks for large campuses or for service providers and can be expanded to support 6000 access points and up to 64,000 wireless clients while offering 10 Gbps throughput.

Legacy Cisco Wireless Controllers
Cisco Wireless Controllers centralize the management of wireless LANs by simplifying the handling of common technologies such as integrated IPS, fast RF management, zero touch configuration, and full N+1 redundancy. These controllers work with small access points to offer superior throughput and high-end management functions.

Cisco WLAN Controllers (WLCs) offer the control, expandability, security, and reliability that network managers require to create secure, enterprise-scale wireless solutions, from satellite offices to small companies to main campuses. Cisco's legacy WLCs can be clustered to offer support for up to 2400 access points per roaming domain.

Cisco's WLCM or WLCM-E Controller Module for IS Routers offers small-to mid-size businesses and enterprises an affordable way to deploy and control protected WLANs at satellite offices. These devices supervise up to twelve Cisco wireless access points and are supported on 2800/3800 Series Integrated Services Routers and 3700 Integrated Services Routers. (For information concerning Progent's remote and onsite consulting support for Cisco routers, see Cisco router deployment and troubleshooting consulting.)

How Progent's Consultants Can Assist You with Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi Controllers
Progent can provide access to a Cisco-certified expert to help your business to design, deploy, manage and troubleshoot a converged wired and wireless infrastructure integrating a wide array of wireless devices that offer the same security, scalability, and ease of management you expect from your wired network. Progent can assist you to maintain early-generation Wi-Fi solutions from Cisco or migrate seamlessly to the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology. Progent's CISM and CISSP security specialists can show you how to design protection into your WLAN and into your company's operations. Progent's disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity consultants can show you how to set up the high availability technology built into Cisco's wired/wireless products so your converged infrastructure provides significant return on investment.

Progent's Wireless Site Survey assists you to design and deploy a state-of-the-art WLAN optimized for your facilities, providing a wireless ecosystem that delivers comprehensive coverage, high speed and capacity, QoS to accommodate IP video, advanced security, and easy management. Progent's Wi-Fi Site Survey can be performed remotely to cut time and costs, or on premises to deal with more complex environments.

For a further discussion of Progent's wireless integration services, visit Progent's Wireless LAN Support.

For more information about Progent's consulting expertise for additional Cisco network infrastructure products, select a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Engineering Services
• Fast and Affordable Remote Help from a Cisco CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Series Firewalls: Integration and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Firewall with Cisco Firepower: Configuration and Management Expertise
• ASA 5500 Firewalls Consulting Help
• PIX 500 Series Firewall Management Expertise
• Cisco Routers Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco Wireless Consulting Support
• Cisco Aironet Wireless Access Points Consulting Support
• Cisco Small Business WiFi APs System Design Support
• Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless Access Points Planning, Deployment and Debugging Support
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Support Services
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Points Engineering Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and CallManager Configuration and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Phones and IP Video Phones Expertise and Wireless VoIP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber Migration and Support Services
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Meraki MS Switches Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Security and VPN Setup and Troubleshooting Assistance
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and CUBE Integration Expertise
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Telecommuters
• Design Expertise for Cisco-based Data Centers
• Data Center Optimization Consulting for Internet Service Providers
• Centralized Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Strategies for Cisco Infrastructure
• NetApp and Cisco FlexPod Cloud Platform Consulting