Cisco, Network Equipment Resource: wireless LAN controller

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Help Wireless Customers Select the Right Cisco Wireless Solutions

Today we believe that every company relies on wireless technology to operate its business. So to meet customers’ diverse needs, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, Cisco can provide a broad portfolio of wireless solutions.

How to help wireless customers select the right wireless solutions? In the following part there are three approaches for a range of customers.

Three Approaches for a Range of Customers

It is easier when you offer appliance-free, appliance-based, and cloud-based solutions.

On Premises and Appliance-Free

With these solutions, the access points handle the wireless management. So no additional hardware is necessary. They are easy to use, affordable, and work well in environments with up to 25 access points.

Off Premise and Cloud Based

These Cisco® Meraki® cloud-managed solutions are ideal for deployments with access points in multiple remote locations. They are highly scalable, are license based, and require little or no IT staff on site.

On Premises and Appliance-Based

When a company needs 25 to 250 access points in one location, these are the solutions to sell. Network administrators manage the numerous access points with a centralized, wireless LAN controller.

Three Common Network Models

Most customers have small wireless networks, distributed branch locations, or large campuses.

Small Business Local Networks

These customers generally have one location with 25 access points or fewer. They need wireless solutions that are easy to install, easier to manage, and completely reliable. And they want competitive features and performance for an affordable price.

Branch Office Networks

This category of customers requires 25 or more access points in distributed locations. They want wireless solutions that can be licensed, secured, and managed by remote staff, and that will scale up or down quickly to meet changing demand.

Central Campus Networks

This enterprise customer group uses up to 250 access points in a centralized complex. They need broader services, premium performance, bulletproof security, greater network traffic visibility, and simple, centralized control of the many access points.

Cisco Wireless Solutions
	Small Campus or Branch (Number of Access Points)					Large Campus (Number of Access Points)
Deployment Model	Cisco Product Portfolio	1 to 10 Access Points	1 to 25 Access Points	25 to 50 Access Points	50 to 500 Access Points	500 to 1000 Access Points	More Than 1000 Access Points
Off-premises	Cisco Meraki cloudbased portfolio	Cisco Meraki MR18	Cisco Meraki MR32 and MR34	MR32 and MR34	MR32 and MR34	MR32 and MR34	MR32 and MR34
On-premises	Purpose-built, non Cisco IOS® Software	Cisco WAP131 and WAP551/WAP561 Access Points	Cisco WAP371 Access Point	–	–	–	–
On-premises	• Classic Cisco IOS Software solutions	• Cisco Mobility Express Applianceless Controller, • Cisco Aironet® 1850/1830 Series Access Points	• Cisco Mobility Express Applianceless Controller, • 1850/1830 Series Access Points	• Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controllers • Cisco Catalyst® 3850/3650 Series Switches • 1850/1830 Series Access Points • Cisco Aironet 3700/2700/1700 Series Access Points	• Cisco 5520 Series Wireless Controller • Cisco 5760 Wireless LAN Controller, Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Supervisor Engine • 1850/1830 Series Access Points • 3700/2700/1700 Series Access Points	• 5520 Series Wireless Controller, Cisco Wireless Services Module 2 • 5760 wireless LAN Controller, 4500-E Supervisor • 1850/1830 Series Access Points • 3700/2700/1700 Series Access Points	• Cisco 8540 Series Wireless Controllers • 5760 wireless LAN Controller, 4500- E-supervisor • 1850/1830 Series Access Points • 3700/2700/1700 Series Access Points

A Solution for Every Situation

Whether your customer maintains a small office, several branches, or a bustling campus, Cisco has just the right wireless solution. Cisco’s appliance-free, appliance-based, and Cisco Meraki cloud-based offerings help you present more solutions to more customers than ever before. Refer to the table above for specific examples.

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

What You Should Know about the Cisco Mobility Express Solution

Briefly, the Cisco Mobility Express wireless network solution provides a virtual wireless LAN controller functionality bundled into, currently, the Cisco Aironet 1850 and 1830 series access points. This functionality provides a simplified WiFi architecture with enterprise-level WLAN capability to small and medium deployments.

In the Cisco Mobility Express wireless network solution, one access point (AP), running the Cisco Mobility Express wireless controller, is designated as the master AP. Other access points, referred to as subordinate APs, associate to this master AP.

The master AP operates as a wireless LAN controller, to manage and control the subordinate APs, and also operates as an access point to serve clients. The subordinate APs behave as normal lightweight access points to serve clients.

For the list of supported access points, see Supported Cisco Aironet Access Points.

The Mobility Express solution provides most features of a wireless LAN controller and has the capability to interface with the following:

Cisco Prime Infrastructure—for simplified network management and managing the AP group.

Cisco Identity Services Engine—for advanced policy enforcement.

Cisco Mobility Services Engine—for providing presence level data as well as advanced spectrum solution.

Supported Cisco Aironet Access Points

In this release of Mobility Express, the following APs are supported.

APs supported as masters (support integrated wireless controller capability)	APs supported as subordinates
Cisco Aironet 1850 Series Cisco Aironet 1830 Series	In addition to the following, all APs that are supported as master APs are also supported as subordinate APs. Cisco Aironet 700i Series Cisco Aironet 700w Series Cisco Aironet 1600 Series Cisco Aironet 1700 Series Cisco Aironet 2600 Series Cisco Aironet 2700 Series Cisco Aironet 3500 Series Cisco Aironet 3600 Series Cisco Aironet 3700 Series

Supported Software Images

AP models supported as masters can be ordered with either of the following as the default factory-shipped software:

A Mobility Express software image. These models have model numbers (or Product IDs) ending in C.

A lightweight AP software image, based on the CAPWAP (Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points) protocol, for joining a wireless controller. You can manually convert these models to have a Mobility Express software image, on site.

For information on this conversion, see Converting from CAPWAP Lightweight AP 15.3.3-JBB5 Software to Mobility Express Software.

AP models which are supported only as subordinates will need to have CAPWAP-based lightweight AP software image.

The Mobility Express software for your AP model can be downloaded from the AP's Download Software page on Cisco.com. The common URL to the Download Software page is https://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html.

On the Download Software page, browse to your AP model and then select 'Mobility Express Software' to view a list of currently available software, with the latest the top. The software releases are labeled as follows to help you determine which release to download:

Early Deployment (ED)—These software releases provide new features, new hardware platform support, and bug fixes.

Maintenance Deployment (MD)—These software releases provide bug fixes and ongoing software maintenance.

Deferred (DF)—These software releases have been deferred. We recommend that you migrate to an upgraded release.

Cisco Mobility Express software for Cisco Wireless Release 8.1.122.1, is as follows:

Software Type and Purpose	For AP 1850	For AP 1830
Mobility Express Network Software Bundle (for Mobility Express controller and network software update)	AIR-AP1850-K9-ME-8-1-122-0.zip	AIR-AP1830-K9-ME-8-1-122-0.zip
Mobility Express Controller-capable AP Software (for conversion from CAPWAP Lightweight AP type to Mobility Express)	AIR-AP1850-K9-8.1.122.0.tar	AIR-AP1830-K9-8.1.122.0.tar