802.11ac Wave 2, Ready for It?

802.11AC Wave 2, the next phase of Wi-Fi, brings wireless speeds of up to almost 7 Gigs. Wave 2 also brings multi-user MIMO to Wi-Fi, enabling dedicated bandwidth to be allocated to users. 802.11AC Wave 2 will allow businesses to create new ways of working, such as being able to do medical imaging over tablets or streaming videos to mobile devices in school systems.

802.11ac Wave 1 vs. 802.11ac Wave 2

Having wireless speeds that are that fast, though, does have some big implications on the wired network. If the air speed is anything greater than a Gig and the backhaul connection from the AP to the access switch is a Gig, then there’s an obvious problem, as the wired network becomes a choke point. Also, the Wave 2 solutions will require PoE+ (30W), and many businesses only have PoE (15W) in the access edge now. Also, with today’s switches, Cat5E has a limit of 1 Gig for speed.

Cisco founded the NBASE-T Alliance in October 2014 to promote solutions for more speed over installed Category 5e and 6 cables. Now we are introducing innovations that include NBASE-T technology and more across the entire breadth of our Cisco Catalyst portfolio–from compact switches to the backbone. These new innovations directly address the challenges we learned from customers.

Cisco Catalyst Multigigabit Technology can prepare your access switches for future innovations by delivering speeds beyond 1 Gigabit on existing Category 5e cables. This technology also supports Power over Ethernet (PoE), PoE+, and Cisco Universal PoE (UPOE) so you don’t need to install new electrical circuits to power your access points.

And, Cisco Catalyst Multigigabit Technology can protect your investments in existing Cisco Catalyst switches. For example, new Cisco Catalyst 3850 Mutigigabit models can be stacked with existing 1-Gb copper and fiber models. Cisco Catalyst Mutigigabit Technology is available on Cisco Catalyst 4500E, 3850, and 3560-CX switches. Use our new innovations to take advantage of 802.11ac Wave 2 capacity increases and start delivering even better user experiences.

New Cisco Catalyst 3560-CX and 2960-CX Compact Switches can help you increase speeds and agility, and lower costs. These switches offer Catalyst Instant Access mode, which means no more individual switch configuration. And they are flexible to support numerous networking environments and industries, including hospitality, transportation, retail, and others.

Two Times More 10-Gb Density for a Faster Backbone

Extend your existing backbone investments into the future. New, 32-port 10-Gb line cards on Cisco Catalyst 6800 and 6500-E Series Switches help you make the transition from 1 Gigabit to 10 Gigabits, and allow for twice the 10-Gb density. They also provide rich network services that you have come to expect from these platforms. And flexibility is built in so you can convert to 40-Gigabit speeds in future.

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