Overview of Cisco's Aironet Line of Wave 2 Wi-Fi Access Points
Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified Wi-Fi experts offer online or on-premises consulting and technical support services to help businesses of any size to plan, configure, upgrade, tune, manage and troubleshoot Aironet indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi access point systems for any network architecture or site. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network infrastructure consultants and Cisco wireless controller consultants can also assist you to integrate your Wi-Fi environment seamlessly with your local wired network and your cloud infrastructure to build a unified ecosystem with centralized management and practically unlimited expandability. Progent can also provide economical WiFi site surveys to assist you to plan an efficient deployment of Wi-Fi access points that includes the selection of appropriate Aironet AP devices and their optimal placement based on your site's physical layout and RF environment as well as your anticipated application loads and client density.
Cisco Aironet Wave 2 Indoor Wi-Fi Access Points
Aironet Wave 2 wireless APs offer significant improvements compared to earlier Wave 1 802.11ac access points. Enhancements include almost double the performance in the 5 GHz band, MU-MIMO technology for transmitting data to multiple clients simultaneously, higher density and scale, greater resilience, and utilization of 160-MHz-wide channels and/or a fourth spatial stream for increased throughput. For dense WiFi environments, most Aironet Wave 2 Wi-Fi APs support Cisco's Mobility Express management platform, which lets you configure up to 100 APs rapidly without the need for Cisco wireless controller hardware. Progent can assist you to evaluate the business case for migrating from Wave 1 or older Aironet APs to Wave 2 models, and Progent can also help you plan, configure, manage, tune and troubleshoot a Wave 2 Aironet Wi-Fi solution that maximizes the business value of Wi-Fi ecosystem.
Cisco's Aironet 1810W Series Wi-Fi access point is a low-profile Wave 2 wall-plate-mountable AP intended for use in multi-dwelling units such as hotels and cruise ships. The Aironet 1810W includes Dual 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios and a Bluetooth radio, features 2x2 MU-MIMO technology with two spatial streams, and supports a combined data rate of 867-Mbps and a maximum client count of 400. The Aironet 1810W comes with three local Gigabit Ethernet ports including one with Power over Ethernet (PoE) Out for powering a device such as an IP Phone, printer or security camera. The Aironet 1818 also includes a 10/100/1000BASE-T PoE uplink port and a pass-through RJ-45 port. The Cisco Aironet 1810 OfficeExtend Series AP is a Wave 2 802.11ac unit that includes a mounting cradle and is engineered to deliver secure Wi-Fi access for remote workers and small office branch employees. The Cisco Aironet 1810W Series OfficeExtend Access Point requires a connection to a remote wireless network controller, which allows easy centralization of policies and eliminates the hassle of managing home-based or remote-office firewalls. The Aironet 1810 OfficeExtend Series features the same throughput and interfaces as the Aironet 1810W Wi-Fi AP.
Cisco's Aironet 1815 Series wireless access points are entry-level and compact Wave 2 APs intended for smaller organizations or sites. The four models in the series address different use cases. The 1815i AP has options for wall or ceiling mount; the 1815w AP is for desktop use; the 1815t AP comes with three 1 GE ports for use by home workers or in a small branch office; the 1815m AP has boosted transmit power for broader coverage. All 1815 model access points incorporate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios and feature 2x2 MU-MIMO with two spatial streams. All but the 1815t AP support Cisco Mobility Express software for fast deployment, and only the 1815t supports Cisco's OfficeExtend. Each 1815 AP delivers a combined data rate of 1 Gbps and can support up to 400 users. All but the 1815t include a Bluetooth BLE radio, and only the 1815t has a USB port as well as optional PoE or AC/DC power.
Cisco's Aironet 1830 Series WiFi access point is designed for small to mid-sized networks and includes dual 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios. The AP features 3x3 MU-MIMO with two spatial streams, includes a 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ-4 Ethernet port with PoE, supports up to 867-Mbps at 5-Ghz radio, and can handle up to 400 client users. The 1830 WiFi access point also includes a USB port for a Bluetooth Low Energy radio dongle. The BLE radio can be used for navigation, proximity marketing, and asset tracking applications.
Cisco's Aironet 1850i Wi-Fi access point is targeted at small and medium-sized organizations and features 4x4 MU-MIMO with up to four spatial streams in single-user MIMO mode and three spatial streams in MU-MIMO mode. The AP has a single GE PoE interface, a GE port for link aggregation, and an RJ-45 port for a management console. The Aironet 1850i delivers a dual-radio data rate of 2 Gbps and supports up to 400 clients. A BLE radio can be added using a USB dongle.
Cisco's Aironet 2800 Series WiFi access point is designed for enterprises and enhances performance by dynamically using its dual radios as a single 2.4 radio plus a single 5 GHz radio or as dual 5 GHz radios. Top performance is 5 Gbps. The Aironet 2800 WiFi AP offers 4x4 MU-MIMO with three spatial streams and can handle as many as 400 Wi-Fi users. A second antenna connector is for difficult venues like high-ceiling auditoriums, libraries or cafeterias. The 2800 WiFi access point has two GE ports and an RJ-45 port for a management console. A BLE radio can be attached via a USB dongle.
Cisco's Aironet 3800 wireless access points are designed for high-density environments. Aironet 3800 models offer three antenna options. The 3800i includes internal antennas; the 3800e has external antennas; and the 3800p has high-power external antennas to handle crowded indoor venues like arenas and convention centers. All versions of the 3800 access point feature 4x4 MU-MIMO and three spatial streams and can run either in 2.4-GHz/5-GHz mode or in Dual 5-GHz 802.11ac mode. Maximum performance is 5.2 Gbps. The Aironet 3800 supports 400 users and includes two 100/1000/2500/5000 Multigigabit Ethernet interfaces, one 100/1000BASE-T RJ-45 auxiliary port, and an RJ-45 management console interface.
Cisco's Aironet 4800 is intended for large enterprises looking for high performance and advanced security. The AP features dual 2.4 and 5 GHz radios or dual 5 GHz radios with 4x4 MU-MIMO and three spatial streams. The 4800 access point supports as many as 400 users. The 4800 AP has two Multigigabit ports, one RJ-45 management console port, and a Bluetooth radio. The fourth radio allows the 4800 access point to distribute key functions across more radios so they can run simultaneously. These functions include Flexible Radio Assignment, Hyperlocation, and Bluetooth BLE. The fourth radio also adds advanced security with deep analytics for throughput and location. In addition, the four radios allow the two Wi-Fi radios to use Flexible Radio Assignment technology to operate in 5 GHz client serving mode, delivering consistent 5.2 Gbps performance.
Cisco Aironet Wave 2 Outdoor Wi-Fi Access Points
Cisco's Aironet family of wireless APs includes a selection of Wave 2, Wave 1, and 802.11a/b/g/n devices intended for various outdoor venues that run from relatively mild environments like campuses and stadiums to rugged industrial sites like rail, mining, or oil and gas. Progent can assist you to select, configure, and administer Aironet outdoor and industrial Wi-Fi access points according to the severity of your environment, your technical requirements, and your IT budget. Progent's security and compliance experts can also assist you to review and apply policies for your outdoor Wi-Fi infrastructure or test your Aironet outdoor AP deployment for security vulnerabilities.
Cisco's Aironet 1540 outdoor WiFi access point is a Wave 2 AP that delivers 867-Mbps performance on the 5 GHz radio. Combined throughput with the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz radios is as high as 1.1 Gbps. The 1540 AP features 2x2 MU-MIMO with two spatial streams. For networks with up to 50 WiFi APs, you can use Cisco Mobility Express Solution for rapid deployment without requiring a Cisco wireless controller. The 1540 AP is among the most compact outdoor access points available with an internal antenna. The Aironet 1540 access point is offered with either a directional or a semi-omni directional antenna, providing flexibility in deploying Wi-Fi solutions for different outdoor venues.
Earlier Model Cisco Aironet Access Points
Aironet has long been the leading provider of WiFi access points and there exists a large installed base of Aironet Wave 1 APs as well as legacy devices which predate the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. These older access points do not deliver the performance, density, availability, security and manageability required by many modern Wi-Fi environments but can still be integrated with systems that include Wave 2 access points and wireless controllers. For information about early model Aironet wireless access points supported by Progent, visit Cisco Wi-Fi access point consulting services.
How Progent Can Help You with Cisco Aironet Wi-Fi Access Points
Progent can provide cost-effective online or onsite expertise from a Cisco-certified CCIE consultant to assist your business to design, deploy, manage, tune, upgrade, or troubleshoot a Wi-Fi solution that includes Cisco's Aironet WiFi access points. Progent can help you maintain and debug legacy Aironet APs or transition smoothly to the latest generation of Aironet Wave 2 Wi-Fi APs. Progent's Cisco wireless controller consultants can help you assess whether your Wi-Fi network should include Cisco WiFi controller hardware or can be managed with Cisco's virtual appliances and software-based management tools such as Cisco's Mobility Express.
Progent's remote and on-premises Wi-Fi site surveys can help you identify the right Aironet WiFi APs for your environment and determine where to place access points so they deliver the RF coverage you require and support your application workloads and user density. Progent's network security and compliance consultants can help you plan and test a comprehensive security solution that covers work processes, policy definition and enforcement, network monitoring, data leakage protection, threat defense and mitigation, and security management automation. Progent's disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning experts can help you design fault tolerance and recoverability into your converged WiFi and wired ecosystem to minimize downtime.
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