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Cisco wireless controllers work with Cisco's Prime Infrastructure and DNA Center management solutions and can support up to 6,000 Wi-Fi access points and 64,000 clients. Cisco's family of Wi-Fi controllers are offered at price points and with capabilities suitable for networks ranging from small offices to service provider systems, multi-site enterprises, and large campus environments. Cisco's 802.11ax and 802.11ac controllers and wireless access points are designed to provide the high level of protection, speed and robustness that users are accustomed to in their wired environments. Cisco's technology incorporates integrated mobility services such as IP voice, HD video, and secure guest access. Cisco's Prime Infrastructure and DNAC architecture make it possible for organizations to build environments that integrate wired and wireless networks into a centrally managed ecosystem that provides a consistent and productive work environment.

Progent's seasoned Wi-Fi experts can assist you to assess the business benefits of deploying Cisco Wi-Fi controllers to manage WiFi environments of any scale. Progent can assist you to manage and troubleshoot your current Cisco-based Wi-Fi solution or help you to plan and implement an efficient migration from earlier generation wireless controllers to modern models to get improved performance and security and to streamline administration.

Progent's Cisco-certified integration consultants can provide low-cost remote consulting and support services throughout the U.S. to help you to build and refine Wi-Fi networks. Progent also offers onsite consulting and troubleshooting in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. and in Toronto, Canada. In addition, Progent can provide remote predictive and onsite Wireless Site Surveys to help you to design a Wi-Fi network with access points located and configured efficiently for your specific site layout, traffic volume, and client density.

Cisco 9800 Series 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Controllers
Cisco Catalyst 9800 family of Wi-Fi 6-compatible wireless LAN controllers allow you to manage advanced Wi-Fi environments that incorporate 802.11ax access points. The 802.11ax standard, also called Wi-Fi 6, improves on prior generation 802.11ac (called Wi-Fi 5) appliances by delivering less latency and more reliable performance, allowing higher client user density, providing enhanced protection, conserving energy for battery-dependent handheld devices, and allowing more versatility for handling new types of IoT endpoints. Catalyst 9800 line Wi-Fi controllers include high availability with transparent software updates, hot patching, and the ability to connect additional access points without disruption of service. Enhanced cybersecurity features include Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), image signing, and Cisco Software-Defined Access (SD-Access). Streaming telemetry allows you to track and understand infrastructure and client health. All devices in the Catalyst 9800 line are based on Cisco's IOS XE Software and work with Cisco's DNA Center or Cisco Prime Infrastructure management tools. Cisco's Catalyst 9800 Series wireless network controllers can support Cisco Aironet 802.11ac Wave 1 and Wave 2 access points concurrently with Catalyst 9100 Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi access points.

Cisco's 9800-L Wi-Fi 6 Controller is a value-priced device with a half-width 1RU chassis that allows side-by-side installation in a standard 19-in rack. Designed for small and medium-sized businesses, the controller offers extra throughput and scale for customers with Cisco's Performance license. The 9800-L supports 250 APs and 5,000 clients (500 APs and 10,00 clients with a Performance license). The 9800-L controller offers 5 Gbps throughput (10 Gbps with a Performance license), and supports 4,096 VLANs. Deployment modes include Centralized, FlexConnect for remote office installations, and fabric. Fixed uplinks include four 2.5G/1G ports and either two 10G/Multigigabit copper (Catalyst 9800-L-C) or two 10G/Multigigabit fiber ports (Catalyst 9800-L-F). Additional ports include an RJ-45 console interface and a Micro USB console port for out-of-band management, a USB 3.0 port for plugging in external memory, an RJ-45 service interface, and an RJ-45 high-availability redundancy interface for stateful switchover.

The Cisco Catalyst 9800-40 Wi-Fi 6 Controller, offered in a 1 rack unit (RU) form factor, is intended to support midsize campus environments. The 9800-40 supports 2,000 access points and 32,000 client users. The 9800-40 delivers 40 Gbps throughput and supports 4,096 VLANs. Deployment scenarios include Centralized, Cisco FlexConnect, and Fabric Wireless (SD-Access). Fixed ports include four GE SFP/10 GE SFP+ or SFP ports and an SFP Gigabit Ethernet redundancy port. Other fixed interfaces include RJ-45 and USB 3.0 console interfaces, an RJ-45 service port, an RJ-45 redundancy interface for SSO, and two USB 3.0 ports for plugging in external RAM memory.

The Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 802.11ax Wireless Controller, available in a 2 rack unit (RU) form factor, is a modular, top-of-the-line wireless controller intended to manage large campus and service provider environments. The 9800-80 supports 60,00 Wi-Fi access points and 64,000 users. The controller offers a maximum of 80 Gbps data rates and supports 4,096 VLANs. Deployment modes include Centralized, FlexConnect, and Fabric Wireless. Fixed uplink interfaces include eight 10G SFP+ interfaces or six 10G interfaces and two 1G interfaces. Available hot swappable uplink modules can add 18 1GE ports, 10 10GE interfaces, a 40GE port, two 40GE ports, or one 100GE interface. Other integrated interfaces include RJ-45 and USB 3.0 console interfaces, an RJ-45 service interface, an SFP Gigabit Ethernet redundancy interface for stateful switchover (SSO), an RJ-45 redundancy interface for stateful switchover (SSO), and two USB 3.0 interfaces for adding external RAM memory.

Cisco Wave 2 Wi-Fi 5 Wireless LAN Controllers
Cisco Wave 2 Wi-Fi 5 wireless controllers allow realtime data exchange, provisioning, control, analysis and troubleshooting for Cisco Wi-Fi appliances and services. Cisco offers both hardware and software-based wireless controllers for unified management of WiFi networks, but systems with a large number of wireless APs are better served by physical Wi-Fi controllers. Wave 2 wireless controller appliances from Cisco offer significant benefits over Wave 1 and older products including greater throughput, simultaneous support for both 1G and 10G Ethernet, improved application visibility and control (AVC), and advanced, integrated security.

The Cisco 3504 Wireless Controller is a value-priced appliance available in a desktop form factor and designed for smaller businesses. You can install the 3504 in a centralized WLAN architecture such as in small branch and home-based offices administered over the wide-area network via FlexConnect, or in bridge deployments where wiring is limited. The 3504 wireless controller supports as many as 150 wireless APs and 3,000 clients, delivers 4 Gbps throughput, and supports 4,096 VLANs. The 3504 wireless controller includes a multi-gigabit Ethernet interface (up to 5 Gigabit Ethernet) and four 1-Gigabit Ethernet connections. APs can be connected directly to the WiFi controller through two PoE ports. The 3504 Wi-Fi controller features subsecond failover for access points and clients, which allows nonstop availability for applications. Like other Wave 2 Wi-Fi controllers from Cisco, the 3504 device has the integrated capability to work with Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Cisco Mobility Services Engine, and Cisco 5520 and 8540 WLAN controllers.

The Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller, available in a 1RU form factor, is designed to support larger organizations and campus environments and can be run in centralized, distributed, and mesh deployments. The 5520 wireless controller can handle up to 1,500 access points and 20,000 client users, delivers 20 Gbps throughput, and supports up to 4,096 VLANs. The 5520 WiFi controller features 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, available in a 2RU package, is a top-of-the-line wireless controller intended to support large enterprises, service providers, and large campuses. The 8540 WiFi controller can be run in centralized, distributed, and mesh deployments and can handle up to 6,000 access points and 64,000 clients. The 8540 Wireless 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, backup power supplies, redundant fans, and rapid failover.

Wave 1 Cisco Wireless Network Controllers
Cisco wireless network controllers reduce the time and cost needed to deploy, manage, and troubleshoot wireless networks by centralizing control of critical functions like setting up access points, enforcing single-point policies throughout converged LANs, supporting enterprise-wide Quality of Service for IP voice and HD video, tracking and troubleshooting network performance, activating wireless intrusion prevention system (wIPS) tools to defend against unauthorized access and Distributed Denial of Service threats, and managing IPv6 and dual-stack clients. Cisco has developed wireless network controllers for organizations of all sizes and offers standalone desktop appliances, modular add-on controllers for Cisco ISR routers and switches, and switches with built-in wireless controllers.

Cisco's Wave 1 WiFi LAN controllers incorporate Cisco CleanAir technology to avoid RF interference and create self-healing wireless LANs for top 802.11n and 802.11ac throughput and protection. Integrated Bonjour Gateways allow discovery, advertisement and policy throughout the enterprise for Apple applications. For high availability (HA), Cisco wireless network controllers support access point and client stateful switchover by enabling a backup HA wireless controller to synchronize with a main controller for access point license count, CAPWAP state and roaming keys, and AP CAPWAP state. If the main controller goes down, thousands of access points and wireless clients can failover at subsecond speeds to the backup wireless LAN controller.

Cisco's Wireless Controller Module for ISR G2 Routers with UCS-E offers basic 802.11n and 802.11ac support for Cisco 2900 and 3900 routers used by smaller organizations and branches. This affordable and scalable module can support from five to 200 APs and up to 6000 wireless clients. (To learn concerning Progent's online and on-premises consulting and troubleshooting services for Cisco routers, see Cisco router deployment and management support.)

Cisco Legacy Wireless Network Controllers
Catalyst 3650 Series are 1RU form-factor switches intended for small to mid-size businesses and satellite offices and come with an integrated wireless LAN controller with the capability to handle up to 40 Gb of wireless capacity for each switch and up to 25 APs and 1000 wireless clients on each switch or stack. Catalyst 3850 Series are 1RU switches designed for mid-size businesses and large enterprises and include an integrated wireless LAN controller with 40 Gb of wireless throughput on each switch and the ability to handle up to 50 wireless access points and up to 2000 wireless clients. The WiSM2 is an add-in blade for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switches with a built-in wireless controller designed for mid-to-large size businesses and capable of 20 Gbps throughput and with support for up to 1000 APs and up to 15,000 wireless clients. (For information about Progent's consulting services for Catalyst switches, see Cisco switches configuration and troubleshooting support.)

Cisco 2500 Wireless Controllers are value-priced desktop devices that streamline the deployment and operation of Wi-Fi networks for SMBs and branches. The Cisco 2500 Series wireless network controller supports from five to 75 APs and up to 1000 wireless clients and offers sustained performance of 1 Gbps.

Cisco's 5500 Series Wireless Controller is a scalable 1RU unit designed for mid-to-large sized organizations and campus environments and can support 500 access points and 7,000 clients while delivering 8 Gbps throughput. Cisco's 5760 Series Wireless Controller is a 1RU device intended for mid-to-large campus environments with the ability to manage 1000 APs and 12,000 wireless clients and offering throughput of 60 Gbps to handle high wireless client densities and high amounts of media-rich mobile applications.

Cisco's Flex 7500 Wireless Controller is intended to enable centralized management of massive collections of wireless remote sites from a single datacenter, eliminating the requirement for a wireless controller at each branch. The 1RU rackmount Flex 7500 lets you establish a private cloud to configure, track, maintain, and troubleshoot up to 6000 wireless access points and up to 64,000 wireless clients while handling 1 Gbps throughput. Cisco's 8500 Wireless Controller is a 1RU appliance engineered to monitor and control wireless networks for large campuses or service providers and can be expanded to support up to 6000 access points and up to 64,000 wireless clients while delivering 10 Gbps performance.

Contact Progent for Consulting Support for Cisco Wi-Fi Controllers
To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Cisco wireless controllers, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.

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