Cisco Cisco Catalyst 6000 Multilayer Switch Feature Card MSFC2 White Paper
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Integrated Management
Network management also benefits from the integration of wired and wireless technology. As enterprises strive to decrease the complexity of
management, having a unified management view across all domains enhances the ability to maintain unified network policies and detect and respond
to alerts more quickly. A centralized management solution reduces training costs and allows the IT administrator to be more flexible when managing
internetwork issues.
The wireless RF domain has a special set of characteristics that make managing it more challenging than managing the wired network.
These challenges relate to the ever-changing nature of the RF environment and the fact that most enterprises lack in-house RF expertise.
The Cisco Unified Wireless Network takes the complexity out of RF management by supporting a series of RF-specific management tools such as
dynamic channel assignment, RF interference mitigation, client load balancing, and power transmit control. These tools provide visibility into the
wireless network. This visibility allows network managers to view performance, usage, availability, and reliability statistics from a single interface
across wired and wireless networks. The combination of these features supports ongoing and automated site survey services to help ensure that the
wireless network provides optimal coverage and capacity.
Innovative Mobility Services
One of the greatest benefits of an integrated approach to mobility is the ability to create new, innovative mobility services. As a part of the Cisco
Unified Wireless Network, Cisco is delivering a set of mobility services that use the combined strength of wired and wireless networks. Cisco
mobility services include location services, voice over WLAN, security, and guest services.
Location Services
An important benefit of wireless networking is the ability for resources and users to access the network from any physical location. Knowing the
location of resources and users as they access the wireless network is becoming increasingly important. Being able to track the physical location of
Wi-Fi devices facilitates a variety of innovative applications, including real-time asset tracking, location-based security, business policy
enforcement, and improved network management. The Cisco Unified Wireless Network supports location services that simultaneously track
thousands of devices from directly within the WLAN infrastructure. A location services solution can monitor the location of any active Wi-Fi device
within the range of an access point.
Although some location functions are possible without the integration of wired and wireless technology, the overall richness of the solution is much
higher with integration. Consider the example of a large, multifacility hospital. A doctor, equipped with a tablet PC, which she uses to access patient
records and images in real time, is conducting her patient visits. As the doctor moves from the general patient unit into the intensive care unit, the
location-aware network senses her movement and instantly instructs the underlying data network to adjust its quality-of-service (QoS) settings to
help ensure that she has the highest level of bandwidth priority. In this way, even the largest image file receives guaranteed delivery when it matters
the most.
The combination of location services and presence applications opens up a world of opportunity to refine the quality of communication. By unifying
the wireless location and the IP communications platform, businesses can help ensure that users are being reached as needed, depending on where
and how they are connected. Consider the hospital case again. Current location services allow internal hospital calls to be routed using voice over
WLAN to the caregiver closest to the patient in need. However, the system cannot interpret whether the caregiver is available to respond. Through
the combination of location and presence, the unified network now can match both parameters to determine not only the closest caregiver, but also
the closest available caregiver. The caregiver can define his or her presence and signal different levels of availability, such as:
•
Available
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Busy not with patient
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Busy with patient
•
On break