Cisco Cisco Aironet 3600i Access Point Libro blanco

Farpoint Group White Paper – September 2012 

 

6 

installation minimizes IT expense, and assures secure and manageable 
communications anywhere. 

 

•  Spectral analysis and interference mitigation – The ability to detect and diagnose 

problematic traffic at the physical (PHY) layer is also vital today. Advanced 
techniques can be used to mitigate such interference in some cases. We highly 
recommend such capabilities in businesses of all sizes as there is no substitute 
technology or method for verifying the PHY environment. 

 

•  Traffic optimization – Whether handling ordinary data traffic or more demanding 

time-bounded voice and video, the ability to properly prioritize traffic is critical. 
Automation can be applied here in order to further minimize OpEx. Note this 
becomes a vital capability as high-demand traffic such as streaming video 
consumes an increasing percentage of network capacity. 

 

•  Automation – And, of course, limitations on IT staffs at most midsized firms 

demand management facilities that in general automate the configuration, 
monitoring, and corrective actions required as a result of troubleshooting, with a 
minimum of operator intervention. 

 
Farpoint Group always recommends installing APs based on 802.11n; there is no reason 
today to use an older Wi-Fi technology. Note, however, that 802.11n products are 
available both with three spatial streams, for up to 450 Mbps of throughput, and two 
streams, for 300 Mbps. Three streams will usually provide improved performance over 
two-steam designs even when used with two-stream clients. Two-stream APs, however, 
are still quite viable especially in light of their lower prices, and will be right at home in 

Figure 2 – Operational ease of use is primarily a function of the WLAN system’s management 
console, which must provide a broad range of information and functionality easily accessible 
and appropriate to the IT staffs of midmarket firms. Source: Cisco Systems.