Cisco Cisco Aironet 3700i Access Point Libro blanco

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Executive Summary

The growth in the number of Wi-Fi devices accessing the network in concentrated areas, along with limitations in

shared spectrum, requires a new approach to provide the best predictable and scalable user experience.

The goal of this white paper is to provide the technical details behind Cisco’s unique approach to high-density Wi-Fi

design, Cisco

High Density Experience (HDX), which offers both hardware and software innovation delivered in

the Cisco Aironet

2700 and 3700 Series access points.

With the emergence of smartphones, tablets, and laptops built for IEEE 802.11ac, which can use 80-MHz channel

bandwidth, and more complex modulation and coding schemes, the challenges that result from rapidly increasing

deployments of both Wi-Fi clients and Wi-Fi networks and the concurrent growing usage of shared spectrum

become more acute.

This paper explores the underlying factors for high-density Wi-Fi scenarios and describes Cisco HDX. It also

explains how this suite establishes a foundation and growth path for addressing and overcoming both the ongoing

and imminent challenges of high-density Wi-Fi. Finally, this paper also discusses recent HDX enhancements that

can be used to achieve higher levels of spectrum efficiency and end user performance.

Introduction

Wi-Fi has become essential as a connectivity technology for devices. Many people would rather give up their

chocolate or beer than their Wi-Fi.

When it comes to end-user behavior, the following trends are unquestioned:

●

More traffic is being consumed per user (for example, there is more streaming of audio and video and more

uploading of photos and videos).

●

More traffic is being automatically consumed per device (for example, more updates are being

downloaded and more backups and syncs are being uploaded).

●

More traffic is being offloaded from cellular to Wi-Fi (to save users money).

As for physical deployments, the following trends are occurring:

●

Growing number of personal devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones per access point

●

Growing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as thermostats, sensors, and wireless cameras

being introduced into the network

●

Growing number of access points per WLAN

●

Growing number of independent but neighboring WLANs

All of these factors work together to create a high-density environment for WLAN. The challenge for a WLAN

administrator is to keep pace with the expected demands on performance, given the very nature of WLAN. The
solution is Cisco’s High Density Experience. This white paper provides an overview of the technologies that make

up Cisco HDX.