Cisco Cisco Catalyst 6000 Multilayer Switch Feature Card MSFC2 White Paper
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Business-Class Wireless
The Cisco Unified Wireless Network meets exacting Cisco standards for business-class resiliency and reliability. Because businesses are
increasingly trusting their mission-critical applications to the wireless network, preserving network uptime is imperative. Cisco places a strong
focus on quality testing of its components, helping ensure that each product is designed to deliver superior performance.
Additionally, Cisco has enhanced its wireless solution to improve network resiliency through automatic failover between access points and
controllers. In the case of a controller failure, access points will automatically communicate with the next available controller. Similarly, the system
will detect any access point failure and will instruct the neighboring access points to increase their power transmission to avoid coverage gaps.
At the core of the unification of wireless and wired Cisco networks are the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series WiSM and the Cisco WLCM. Cisco switches
and integrated services routers are designed to provide superior uptime to help ensure that even the most demanding networks remain free from
unplanned interruptions. The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series WiSM and Cisco WLCM use the high service level provided by the Cisco Catalyst switches
and Cisco integrated services routers to help ensure that the wireless network provides the same level of uptime as the underlying wired network.
TCO
The businesses view of IT expenditures has shifted dramatically over the past few years. Many business executives now view IT as a strategic
investment that can provide competitive advantage through improved efficiencies, lower production costs, and new ways of reaching the customer.
Enterprises are now increasingly aware of how IT investments affect profits.
Perhaps the best way to evaluate the benefit of an integrated mobility platform as compared to a nonunified solution is in the way each solution
affects the TCO. Nonunified WLANs do not deliver a lowered TCO. Unified solutions such as the Cisco Unified Wireless Network can deliver on
the promise of lower TCO because they unify two separate systems (wired and wireless) and extend the same capabilities across both systems.
TCO analysis can be divided between capital expenditures and operational expenditures. Analysis often shows that the acquisition price of
technology is a small fraction of the total cost over the lifetime of the product, typically representing anywhere from 20 to 35 percent, depending
on the technology and its maturity. Table 1 describes the ways in which an integrated wired and wireless mobility platform provides a lower TCO
when compared with a nonunified wireless network.
Table 1.
Unified Wired and Wireless Architecture Savings
Type of Saving
Benefits
Capital expenditures
•
Lower capital expenditure because of larger purchasing volume
•
Implementation with existing network components (routers, switches, security devices), eliminating the need for
additional equipment expenditures
Operational expenditures
•
Better procurement management because of fewer suppliers
•
Lower training costs
•
Faster problem resolution because of elimination of multivendor conflicts
•
Faster implementation involving a single, experienced partner
•
Improved network management through a single centralized interface
•
Decreased labor support costs because of centralized network management
•
Lower network planned and unplanned downtime
•
Faster network adds, moves, and changes through centralization of access point configurations