access point product portfolio and roadmap update

Cisco Confidential © 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 1

Access Point Product Portfolio and Roadmap Update

April 2013

© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 2

CISCO AIRONET ACCESS POINTS 802.11n G2 Series

Teleworker

600 Enterprise Class

1600 Mission Critical

2600 Best in Class

3600

• Up to 300 Mbps

• Seamless Connectivity with Corporate SSID for Remote Office

• Split Tunneling and Local Resource Sharing*

• Up to 300 Mbps

• CleanAir Express*

• ClientLink 2.0

• VideoStream

• Up to 450 Mbps • High Client Scalability • CleanAir • ClientLink 2.0 • VideoStream

Second Generation 802.11n

• Up to 1.3 Gbps • High Client Density •  Investment Protection, Future

Proof Modularity (Security, 802.11ac** or 3G Small Cell***)

• 802.11ac Support • HD Video/VDI, VideoStream • Best In Class Security • ClientLink 2.0, CleanAir

* Available as a Software Update in Q4CY13 ** FCS Q2CY13 *** FCS Q4CY13


Indoor AP Series 600 Teleworker 1600 2600 3600

Max Data Rate 300 Mbps 300 Mbps 450 Mbps 450 Mbps and 1.3 GbpS with 11ac Module

RF Design MIMO:Spatial Stream 2x3:2 3x3:2 3x4:3 11n: 4x4:3

11ac: 3x3:3

Performance/Coverage/ Investment Protection

Max No. of Clients 15 256 400 400 50 - 11ac Module

RRM ✔ ✔ ✔

CleanAir CleanAir Express** ✔ ✔

ClientLink ClientLink 2.0 ClientLink 2.0 ClientLink 2.0 for 802.11agn EBF for 802.11ac

Max No. of ClientLink 2.0 Clients 64 256 256 – ClientLink 2.0 32 – ECBF on 11ac Module

BandSelect ✔ ✔ ✔

VideoStream ✔ ✔ ✔

Rogue AP Detection ✔ ✔ ✔

Adaptive wIPS ✔ ✔ ✔

External Antenna Opt ✔ ✔ ✔

Module Options Multiple Local Ethernet Ports

WSSI (Security) –Shipping 802.11ac - Q2CY13

Cisco 3G SCM – Q4CY13

Starting List Price $419 $695 $1095 $1495 - AP $500 – WSSI & .11ac Module

**Available as a Software Upgrade in H2 CY13


Designed for Value-Minded Customers Looking for Proven Good RF Performance

FCS Q2CY13 New

Indoor AP Series 700 1600 Radios Dual Band Dual Band

RF Design (MIMO:SS) 2x2:2 3x3:2

Client Count 200 256

Autonomous Future ✔

Beamforming ECBF Ready ClientLink 2.0

Spectrum Intelligence CleanAir Express

RRM ✔ ✔

VideoStream ✔ ✔

BandSelect ✔ ✔

Rogue Detection ✔ ✔

Adaptive wIPS ✔ ✔

Limited Lifetime Warranty ✔ ✔

List Price (Integrated Ant.) $495 $695


For more see www.cisco.com/go/ap700


While Bracket-3 does not work with the AP-700 you can still mount the AP-700 in the center of the tile if needed using an electrical box approach. See 3600 deployment guide for more details J

Although Bracket-7 is smaller the T-Rails (grid clips) are compatible with both brackets as the hole patterns are the same


Aruba AP-135 Take-away – You can’t stick a Paper plate through our AP We have no exposed holes on top.

Cisco AP-700

AP-700 uses same ceiling hardware and electrical box compatible METAL BRACKET for more mounting options.


•  Each AP-700 ordered includes: o  New AIR-AP-BRACKET-7 (only compatible with AP-700)

o  Existing AIR-AP-T-RAIL-R or AIR-AP-T-RAIL-F o  Optional AIR-CHNL-ADAPTER at additional cost ($5 USD).

•  The table below details what mounting options are supported with AP-700 series.


(2) Discrete single band 2.4 GHz single radiating element antennas (2) Discrete single band 5.0GHz single radiating element antennas

3 dBi @ 2.4 GHz 5 dBi @ 5 GHz (Measured peak)

VSWR is better then 2:1 Isolation is at least 20dB @ 2GHz 30dB @ 5GHz


2.4 GHz antenna element number 1

2.4 GHz 3 dBi (PEAK) Pattern is fairly uniform Note: This is early information I don’t have them in Cisco format as it was not characterized at the Cisco Richfield Ohio Facility


5 GHz antenna element number 4

5 GHz 5 dBi (PEAK) Pattern is fairly uniform Note: This is early information I don’t have them in Cisco format as it was not characterized at the Cisco Richfield Ohio Facility


Take-away – it is NOT an AP-3600

Take-away – AP700 NO “In-Tile” mount

Take-away – The existing brackets 1-3 are not compatible with this physically smaller AP

Unrelated-Take-away - The first release of the AP-700 will support DFS just not in US (FCC) it’s a time to market thing but it will J


Module WSSI (Security Module)

802.11ac 3G Femto

Benefits Full comprehensive wireless security posture with off channel scan for WIPS,

Rogue Detection, Context Aware, CleanAir, and RRM

Support new 802.11ac data clients and Smartphones, up to 1Gbps+ wireless speeds

Provides extended 3G cellular infrastructure coverage where cell tower signals cannot go (carpet areas in high rises,

MDUs)

Target Markets All Enterprise, Retail (PCI), Healthcare, Manufacturing

All Enterprise All Enterprise

List Price $500 $500 TBD

Orderability Now Q2CY13 (Target) Q4CY13

New


LinkSys 1x1 AC USB

802.11ac mobile devices

CY 2012 CY 2013 CY 2014 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Consumer class devices from Linksys and

Netgear First 802.11ac laptops

Cisco 802.11ac Module for Aironet

3600 Series

Client proliferation continues: Handets?, Tablets?

Intel Ultrabooks ? Apple

MacBooks?, iOS?

802.11ac Wave2 Starts to Roll

1H CY15

IEEE 802.11ac Ratification

Wave 2

HTC One

ZTE Grand Memo

Samsung S 4

Wave 1

…


Smartphones from 210 Mbps*

Tablets from 460 Mbps*

High End Laptops from 680 Mbps*

802.11ac Performance Table

* Assumes ~70% MAC efficiency Not all Clients will be created equal – early chip drops and quality of components - mileage will vary Rate & Range, Environment and Deployment will impact coverage and quality

1x1

2x2

2x2 3x3

faster connectivity = shorter active radio time = better battery life

Single GbE port on the AP3600 - More than sufficient bandwidth from the full duplex GbE port on the AP3600


•  Field-upgradable 802.11ac module for the 3600 Series, enables a seamless migration to next generation wireless

No rip and replace of APs, plug-in and go!

•  802.11ac - 5 GHz Module 1.3 Gbps PHY - 80 MHz @ 3SS with 256 QAM (Wave 1 – Draft 5) 3 Spatial Streams, 20/40/80 MHz channels, 256 QAM SU-MIMO Explicit Compressed Beam Forming (ECBF) support as per the 802.11ac specification

•  AP3600 operates 3 active radios, 2.4 and 5 GHz integrated and the 802.11ac 5 GHz module

Supporting b/g/n on 2.4 GHz and a/ac/n on 5 GHz

•  18w of Power required for the 3600 with the 802.11ac Module installed Power draw with 802.11ac Module exceeds 15.4 Watts (802.3af), and will require either Enhanced PoE, 802.3at PoE+, Local Supply or Power Injector 4

•  Single GbE port on the AP3600 - More than sufficient bandwidth from the full duplex GbE port on the AP3600

•  Each module ships with a Universal Mounting Brackets (Bracket-2)

FCS Q2CY13


Codename: Gemini 3G HSPA+ -‐ 21Mbps/5.7Mbps

<100mW/20dBm EiRP 16 Active Users

Lab Q1CY13 – FCS Q4CY13

Product Offer – 3G + Wi-Fi Enterprise

Capability 3G/HSPA + 802.11n

RF Band II/V or I 802.11n 2.4/5GHz

RF Power 3G 100mW at Ant. Port

Antenna 3G: 1x1 SISO 802.11n 4x4 3SS / Beamforming

RF BW 5 MHz

Base Platform Cisco 3600 AP Platform

Throughput 21/5.7 Mbps HSPA+

3G Feature Set 16 Active users; 200 idle ;3GPP R99 & R7 HSPA+ ; Iuh / TR-069, TR-196v1

Open Mode

Mobility 3G Active CS/PS and Idle Mode Resel

SON / HetNet 3G : Network Listen; 802.11 : Clean Air

Power Supply PoE+ or 48V DC (25W)

Size / Weight 1.5L ; 1.4kg (complete unit)

Deployment Indoors

•  16 User 3G Open Mode Module

•  <100mW Transmit Power (same as ETSI 802.11)

•  Compatible with 3600i/3600e Wi-Fi AP

•  Supports powering through PoE+

•  R99 WCDMA Voice Calls

•  Up to 21Mbps DL / 5.76Mbps UL HSPA data

•  Available in 3GPP Band II/V (USA/LATAM) or I (Rest of World)

•  Roadmap to include 32 user count, DC-HSPA+ and LTE


•  Greenfield header (pure 802.11n, for networks with no 802.11a/b/g stations) by the way this is a bad idea as you want to be a good RF neighbor. FYI - Greenfield will not be supported in 802.11ac.

•  4 Spatial streams for up to 600 Mbps (assuming bonded 40 MHz and short 400ns GI) just too many issues (lack of clients, PoE considerations etc.) FYI .11ac 3-SS Wave-1

•  Channel bonding in 2.4 GHz for enterprise (just not enough channels) as you can only do so much on 2.4 GHz as there isn’t that much spectrum. FYI- 802.11ac is 5 GHz only

•  Explicit beam-forming (clients really didn’t support this) FYI- Supported with .11ac

•  Dual CTS protection (AP send to CTS when using Space Time Block Coding, STBC, which extends the range of the cell: one CTS for non-STBC stations (short range), and one CTS for STBC stations (longer range) FYI – New protections added with .11ac


600 Mbps

450 Mbps

802.11

1999 2003 2007

2 Mbps

11 Mbps

802.11b

54 Mbps

802.11ag

24 Mbps

300 Mbps

65 Mbps

802.11n

6900* Mbps

1300 Mbps

870 Mbps

290 Mbps

6900* Mbps

3500* Mbps

290 Mbps

Wave 1 802.11ac

Wave 2 802.11ac

* Assumes 160 MHz channel width is available and usable

802.11ac = game changer

802.11n 802.11ac

Band 2.4GHz & 5.0GHz 5.0GHz only

PHY Rate 65 Mbps – 600 Mbps 290 Mbps – 6.9 Gbps

MAC Throughput 45 Mbps – 420 Mbps 194 Mbps – 4.8 Gbps

Spatial Streams 4 8

Modulation 64 QAM 256 QAM

Channel Width 20 or 40 MHz 20, 40, 80, *80+80, 160 MHz

1SS @ 80

4SS @ 80

8SS @ 160

Key benefits: •  Increased performance and throughput •  Improved battery life

2013 2015

4SS @ 160

3SS @ 80

2600* Mbps

1730 Mbps

3SS @ 160


The Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) is looking at Wave 1 today with the main features implemented being:

•  Channel Bonding 80 MHz (mandatory)

•  Faster modulation 256-QAM (optional)

•  Ability to receive 1,2 & 3 Spatial Streams tested - 2SS is mandatory for non-battery-powered APs

- Only 1SS is mandatory for battery powered AP’s and clients

•  WFA’s focus is on 80 MHz, 1-3SS and 256-QAM with WFA compliant products likely sporting a new Wi-Fi Certified logo

802.11ac is happening in stages Referred to as “Wave-1 and Wave-2

Wi-Fi Alliance logo should look something like this


•  GIG-E MEETS REAL WORLD NETWORK SITUATION - 1 Gbps+ throughput requires a “perfect storm” where

1)  multiple clients (2.4 and 5GHz, 3SS) need to reside physically nearby to AP (best case wireless conditions) 2)  with all traffic pushing in a single direction (worst case traffic pattern) 3)  and with full airtime efficiencies (very few management and control frames and retries) 4)  all above must be met in order to achieve 1.060 Gbps peak (only 11% excess of 950 Mbps Gig-E theoretical)

•  802.11ac STANDARD and WFA CERTIFICATION - Neither IEEE 802.11 nor Wi-Fi Alliance mandate 2 (or more) GigE ports – do NOT allow the competition to successfully assert otherwise !

•  COSTS - another Cat5e line to the AP and consuming an extra switch port – all for running another cable that would typically cost in the area of 55 - 75% of the ASP for new AP for capacity that is not required

CONCLUSION: For the first wave of 11ac access points, the use of a single GigE port is a technologically practical and economically prudent implementation choice.

2.4GHz 11n radio 150 Mbps max

5GHz 11ac radio 910 Mbps max

AP

Gigabit Ethernet 950 Mbps max

1.06 Gbps HDX vs. 1.9 Gbps FDX

24 Cisco Confidential © 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

* The 802.11ac specification will be brought to market in 2 phases or “Waves” * Each Wave of 802.11ac will require new chip sets

Feature Wave 1 – 2013

Wave 2 – 2014/2015

Features still in Discussions

PHY Rate 1.3 Gbps 1.3 Gbps 1.73 Gbps 2.6 Gbps 3.5 Gbps

# of Spatial Streams 3 3 4 3 4

Modulation 256 QAM 256 QAM 256 QAM 256 QAM 256 QAM Channel Width 20, 40, 80 MHz 20, 40, 80 MHz 20, 40, 80 MHz 20, 40, 80,

80+80, 160 MHz 20, 40, 80,

80+80, 160 MHz MIMO Single User Multi User Multi User Multi User Multi User 802.11 protocol support

a, n, ac a, n, ac a, n, ac a, n, ac a, n, ac

Ethernet Uplink GbE GbE and 10GbE


802.11ac (Wave-1) introduces 256-QAM Faster throughput happens when you can use more complex Modulation Coding Schemes (MCS) rates

802.11n 1-ss MCS up to 64-QAM 64-QAM uses 6 bits per symbol 802.11ac 1-ss MCS supports 256-QAM

256-QAM uses 8 bits per symbol (up to 4x faster)


Remember this from 3600 TAC training?

Well that was true… Channel Sounding and EBF method really didn’t make it into 802.11n Lots of channel sounding mechanisms and the industry could not decide at the time which one to use so everything was proprietary – EBF changed to ECBF Explicit Compressed Beam Forming This got a lot better with 802.11ac after a single sounding method was agreed upon.


Single User and Multi-user MIMO •  Channel sounding for SU & MU

•  To make efficient use of a channel (and beam-form), stations need to know the channel characteristics – they can send test frames [sounding frames] of known structure, which allows the receiver to understand the channel specs, and beam-form or optimize back to the sender (AP or client).

•  But for MU-MIMO, a unique sounding mechanism is important, and 11ac community agreed on a single sounding mechanism - Same mechanism is applicable for SU-MIMO –

(This is the method the AC module uses to beam-form back to clients)

•  ACK for MU •  AP polls each client for ACK. This adds overhead, but is more robust

•  RTS/CTS for MU •  No new RTS/CTS mechanism is added for MU but the spec allows AP for proprietary mechanisms using conventional

RTS/CTS

Note: This still doesn’t benefit legacy and 802.11n clients so ClientLink 2.0 is still important. AP-3600’s 11ac module uses IEEE channel sounding on AC clients AP-3600 uses the integrated 11n radio and ClientLink 2.0 on N and legacy clients


What about channel bonding? Wave-1 allows up to 80 MHz channel bonding

802.11n can bond up to 40 MHz

802.11ac can bond up to 80 MHz (Wave-1) *up to 160 MHz (Wave-2)


MCS rates @ 1 Spatial Stream in Mbps

New Phones such as the HTC One & Samsung S 4 have support for 802.11ac Wave-1

More than 1-SS requires that the client have more radios which draw more power. The goal is to enable devices to have more throughput with less battery draw Most mobile devices will use 1-SS Tablets & laptops can use 2-SS or more


.11ac MCS Rates @ 1-spatial stream -- (Wave1) typically supports up to 3-ss (Wave-2) up to 8-ss


802.11ac (Wave-2) Up to 8 spatial streams. .11ac MCS rates (unlike 802.11n) don’t exceed 0-9 -- but rather it is 0-9 and then you call out how many Spatial Streams so a chart like this is quite extensive. Depicted to the right is only streams 2 & 3 out of the 8 possible spatial streams. 1 stream (80MHz) is 433 Mbps 2 stream (80MHz) is 866 Mbps 3 stream (80MHz) is 1300 Mbps


Smartphones from 210 Mbps*

Tablets from 460 Mbps*

High End Laptops from +680 Mbps* 802.11ac Performance Table

* Assumes 70% MAC efficiency

1 stream (80MHz) is 433 Mbps 2 stream (80MHz) is 866 Mbps 3 stream (80MHz) is 1300 Mbps

(Now let’s drop it to ~70% MAC efficiency)

So assuming ~70% MAC efficiency* What’s the real expected throughput?


So if I bond what’s those channels look like? US- Theater – FCC channel allocation plan

The 80 MHz channel uses two adjacent, non-overlapping 40 MHz channels. The 160 MHz (Wave-2) may be formed by adjacent or non-contiguous channels. TDWR channels not available today. Note: Channel 144 (in red) is new and likely more channels will be allocated in 5 GHz to hopefully allow for more than two channels @ 160 MHz (Wave-2) depending on the frequencies they may not be adjacent


So if I bond what’s those channels look like? ETSI and Japan channel allocation plan

80 MHz bonding (Wave-1) 160 MHz (Wave-2)

Note: Efforts are underway globally to expand the number of channels in the 5 GHz band. China probably is progressing a bit quicker then others but everyone sees the need.


•  In the US there are currently 22/10/5/1 channels with bandwidth 20/40/80/160MHz channels

•  With opening up of 5.35-5.47GHz & 5.85-5.925GHz, the number of channels increases to 34/16/8/3

•  If the industry manages to take back the TDWR channels, the number of increases to 37/18/9/4

144

140

136

132

128

124

120

116

112

108

104

100

165

161

157

153

149

64

60

56

52

48

44

40

36

Channel #

20 MHz

40 MHz

80 MHz

160 MHz UNII-1 UNII-2 UNII-2 Extended UNII-3

5250 MHz

5350 MHz

5470 MHz

5725 MHz

96

92

88

84

80

76

72

68

169

173

177

181

5825 MHz

5925 MHz

Available TDWR channels, not yet available To become available Special OOBE must be met


•  A single GbE cable is fine for (Wave-1) (Wave-2) will exceed GbE speeds so for now, it is recommended for new installs requiring (Wave-2) that you pull two CAT6a cables until this standard is better defined.

•  A pair of CAT6a cables allows you to fall back to using 2 GbE ports for some iterations of (Wave-2) if required ?. If not needed, the other cable can be used to bring back the console port. CAT5e cables may be used or one of each for cost savings but not for 10GbE.

•  Challenges - 10GbE PoE standardization - (additional cost of CAT6a cabling, cost decision may motivate the use of 1 CAT5e & 1 CAT6a - physical challenges 2x cables can be problematic given space in existing conduit pipes.

(Wave-2) Minimum requirements for enterprise will likely include: 256-QAM, 3-SS and 160 MHz

•  For Wave 2, initially it is expected that 160 MHz devices will appear with 1-3SS (typical) with perhaps 4-SS supported with likely data rates of 867-2600 Mbps.

•  Likely data rates up to 3.5 Gbps PHY and over 2 Gbps MAC (IEEE approval late 2013)?

•  Will require faster than GigE speeds requiring either 10GbE or perhaps two GbE cables / hybrid

Future proofing new installations (cabling considerations)


Does it work? Any caveats? •  802.11ac MU MIMO is like 802.11n MIMO, except instead of one client, there are up to

four clients •  AP does pre-coding for all the clients within the MU group simultaneously •  In MU pre-coding, when AP beam-forms space-time streams to one client, it simultaneously null-

steers those space-time streams to the rest. •  All users’ MPDUs are padded to the same number of OFDM symbols

•  MU-MIMO is technically risky and challenging: •  Needs precise channel estimation (CSI) to maintain deep nulls •  Precise channel estimation adds overhead

•  Rate adaptation is more difficult •  Throughput benefits are sensitive to MU grouping

WFA Wave 2 certification: •  MU-MIMO

Null-steering:To send data to user 1, the AP forms a strong beam toward user 1, shown as the top-right lobe of the blue curve. At the same time the AP minimizes the energy for user 1 in the direction of user 2 and user 3. This is called "null steering" and is shown as the blue notches. Same logic applies to red and yellow beams.


AP-3600 antenna system with module installed This shows how the module antennas are extended into the radiation ground plane for best performance

Module antennas (top) extend next to the four dual band integrated antennas


AP-3600e antenna system with module The Radio module has four internal antennas Note: AP-3600e when using directional antennas .11ac clients remain Omni-Directional


Pattern from RM-3000 Monitor antenna

An antenna is NOT A SPORK…. (let’s talk about antennas….) …Single band / dual band…


Working as ONE virtual radio Radios work together in tandem (blended) to maintain proper radio isolation and performance (more on this later)…


The two 5-GHz radios (integrated and module) work in TANDEM and use same SSIDs so they do not compete with each other. They work in concert to support same channels (with internal radio taking lead on frequency selection) and the module performing the AC “overlay” AP has a dual-core uP with the radio module on one core supporting up to 50 .11ac clients


All 3 radios (module + 2 internal radios) requires 18W (802.3at) source “PoE +” If the switch doesn’t support this - the module will be disabled by (default) until a proper source of power is applied such as PoE injector Cisco AIR-PWR-INJ4 or local 48VDC supply AIR-PWR-B

To get the module running on .3af PoE (15.4W) it is possible to disable the 2.4 GHz radio & restart.

AIR-PWR-INJ5 (PoE) Injector Does not support three radios Use injector - 4


Cisco Switches 802.3af - PoE Cisco Enhanced PoE 802.3at - PoE+ UPoE

Module and 3700 – PoE ready Switches X ✔ ✔ ✔

4500 E Series 47xx line card X X ✔ ✔

4500 E Series all other copper line cards X X ✔ X

4500 non E Series X X X X

3850 24P/48P/48F models X X ✔ X

3750-X X X ✔ X

3750-E X ✔ X X

3750-G X X X X

3560-X X X ✔ X

3560-E X ✔ X X

3560-C X X ✔ X

2960-S X X ✔ X

2960-C X X X X

2960 X X X X

Power Injectors AIR-PWR-INJ4

Cisco Switches 3600 Module Ready 80% of Cisco switches sold today are capable of enhanced or 802.3at PoE

= Sufficient Power for the 3600 Series Access Point


What did we use for beta? USB clients available today. ASUS Model USB‐AC53 D‐Link Model DWA‐182 Belkin Model F9L1106 Netgear A6200 Buffalo Model WI‐U2‐866D Edimax Model EW‐7822UAC Linksys AE6000 PCI ‐ Desktop clients ASUS Model PCE‐AC66 WGB ‐ Like TRENDnet Model TEW‐800MB Buffalo Model WLI‐TX4‐1300H Linksys Model WUMC710 Linksys Model AC1300*

*Note: The Linksys AC1300 is the best external WGB like device so far as it supports 3-SS

Beta customers provided with D-Link but new .11ac devices are being released so more will be available Check spec sheets for # of SS


So when are these chipsets hitting the notebook computers?

Integrated Notebook devices – Not announced but anticipated in CY13

Intel based Ultrabooks – 2x2 802.11ac Wave 1 Apple – 2x2 or 3x3 802.11ac Wave 1

Mac Rumors is saying Apple likely to use Broadcom chipset perhaps introducing a new notebook lineup at Apple WWDC in June – Note: Mac OS X 10.8.4 beta shows AC support http://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/09/code-in-os-x-10-8-4-suggests-future-macs-will-offer-802-11ac-gigabit-wi-fi-support/


USB clients appear a bit slow (and can have driver issues) Some clients seem to be having trouble using DFS channels @ 80 MHz Some client(s) that do not work well from the client steering perspective: -  Linksys AE6000 USB (CSCuf78329) Linksys 11ac USB client, under certain conditions, will appear to keep trying to connect to 2.4 radio (appears to be a client driver issue) even though we drop the probe/auth/assoc due to band select/client steering features. Sometimes it doesn't even send probe requests on 5G band. We are still working to see if anything can be done on the AP SW side that would overcome this client problem At this time, we cannot guarantee that this client adapter will associate to 11ac radio consistently, compared to other 11ac client adapters. Note: Most of the clients based on Broadcom chipset appear fine

This one is a bit problematic based on MediaTek chip


The client should report 11ac rates if connected to the 11ac module – If no module present the .11ac client should drop to .11n rates and connect to slot 1 (internal 5-GHz radio)


Most .11ac devices today are based on Broadcom or Realtek No Omni-peek driver for those cards yet.

* Assumes 70% MAC efficiency

From Wildpackets… Our latest version of OmniPeek (v7.0) includes decodes for 11ac. But we are currently waiting for either a Ralink-based or Atheros-based external WLAN 11ac adapter to come to market before we can test packet capture with the devices.


There are so many data-rates in .11ac

Using the internal .11n radio on the AP-3600i. We performed a quick cell size characterization with .11n rates using several .11n clients. When we switched to .11ac clients, and the .11ac radio module it performed similar @40 MHz with clients having a cell size similar to the .11n clients. Take-away .11n/11ac are similar rate/range but of course @80 MHz and 256-QAM you get a significant data-rate boost New facility in Richfield Ohio for competitive testing

Note: We are still making changes from an RF and performance perspective – So it is a bit early for any real meaningful data


Comparison .11AC clients ver. 11N clients AP-3600 using AC module


Number of clients UDP at different packet sizes (early data)


Comparison 802.11ac versus 802.11n using 3-SS clients

11ac client Dell E6430 with Broadcom 3-ss Vs. 11n client Apple 3-ss Macbook Pro

(Take-away) .11ac client @ 3-ss is able to get twice the speed


Comparison 802.11ac 3-ss client module radio vs. Linksys AP @ 80 MHz

Client - Dell E6430 Broadcom 3-ss client installed using Windows 7

We removed the Intel Ultimate 6300 We found the Broadcom radio was bigger but fit fine in the slot to the left I have no idea why Linksys is slow as the RF reports high connection it just doesn’t seem to process the data quickly.


RRM w/.11ac (we are still making changes) right now the current RRM works ok, but it is making assessments based on the internal .11n radio and does not receive input from the .11ac module. That said, it does eventually figure it out if you give it time and enough RF activity. It is clearly not as robust as .11n RRM and it sometimes picks non-optimal channels initially but after awhile it does seem to settle on the correct channels especially if there are .11ac clients on the air and a modest amount of RF activity.


•  So what are the challenges with RRM on Cisco WLCs?

•  RRM today works by looking at 20 MHz-wide channels, and it’s easy to see activity (20 or 40) MHz

•  BUT - for AC new methods to look at how the channel is comprised (20, 40, 80 and 160 <Wave2>) will need to happen - so for now it is a limitation, as we do not fully detect issues with conflicting 802.11ac settings… with the radio module. But it does work (best effort) but this will need to be tuned as we go along…

•  New RRM (next gen) will need to take into account the different capabilities of each AP to determine the new channel widths and it will need to look at the PRIMARY CHANNELS as those are the most active when making the RRM assessment.

Note: Primary channels are the anchor channels where the bonding begins


ECBF Explicit Compressed Beam Forming - The .11ac radio module uses this method of client “channel sounding” per IEEE 802.11ac specification. Note: The .11ac radio module does not support Cisco ClientLink 2.0, Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) or RRM. This is because the .11ac radio is not a primary interface as it is controlled by the active integrated .11n radio as a virtual or “blended radio” working in tandem so same SSID, channel etc. The primary radio still supports these features and controls when the 11ac radio module can transmit. This ensures it does not interfere with the primary integrated 11n radio providing isolation and maintaining receiver sensitivity.

ClientLink 2.0 continues to enhance legacy and .11n clients, via 11n radio and will service what the .11ac radio doesn’t understand* *(for the most part) J


Things to look for if the module doesn’t come up Common issues arise because:

•  Module isn’t screwed down tightly •  Not enough PoE power (requires 802.3at) 18W •  Not configured correctly •  Not understanding the radios operate “together” so you

need to configure the radio in slot 1 (5 GHz internal) first •  Not understanding SSID’s for both 5 GHz need to be the

same and all .11ac clients are sent to the .11ac module

Things to look for if the module is not found:

•  Console will report “module radio found and ok” •  Also console CDP message for Power “Power ok – HIGH POWER inline power source” •  Perhaps remove module – verify AP ok then reinstall •  Module should show up as “slot-2” •  If you suspect PoE (try AIR-PWRB or AIR-PWR-INJ4) •  Module with not work with AIR-PWR-INJ5

Thank you.

access point product portfolio and roadmap update

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