Cisco demonstrates their latest access point offering the Cisco CleanAir 3500 access point / spectrum analyzer vs Aruba's ARM.
It was no secret when Cisco purchased Cognio their intentions were to integrate the spectrum chip technology on the board of a Cisco access point. In fact shortly after the purchase of Cognio we met with Cisco Engineering for a large deployment we were working on outside of San Jose. A Cisco Wireless engineer in the "know" commented, "With our recent purchase of Cognio we will bring spectrum analysis never seen before in the enterprise -- On each AP -- just give it a little time and you wait and see". Fast forward to today --- behold the CleanAir 3500.
Cisco brings to the table a technology offering other vendors can't come close to and at a price point that makes it affordable for full scale deployments (if you have a little bigger wallet of course)! Cisco's RRM like Aruba’s ARM leverages WiFi chip technology whereby analyzing a noise floor via channel scanning. I’m not sold on RRM and ARM technology; however I'm "drinking" Cisco CleanAir. Call me old school I suppose! I've done my own testing introducing interference on channel and observed mixed results of dynamic channel allocation with both Cisco RRM and ARM.
Marcus Burton from CWNP did a great evaluation of the 3500. Read more about it here:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns1070/Cisco_Premium_final.pdf
"While other vendors have previously claimed spectrum-level visibility in their APs, they suffer from the unfortunate effect of ill-advised marketing. What is billed by some as “spectrum analysis” is nothing more than 802.11 Wi-Fi utilization analysis, or very, very minimal spectrum data. A good feature, but it’s not true, useful spectrum analysis." - Marcus Burton / CWNP
NOTE: (From Jim Jim Florwick @ Cisco)
Launch details are located here:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/netsol/ns1070/networking_solutions_package.html
Licensing is based on system compomnents and levels. At the base level - a Cisco 3500 AP and a controller running version 7.0 code wil provide full view of current CleanAir information and supports the full mitigation features as well as Spectrum expert connect feature.
Adding WCS will allow historical reporting of AirQuality metrics and monitoring of security related IDR's (Interference Device Reports). As well as inclusion of a CleanAir Dashboard and trending information with regards to AirQuality. This is available with the WCS base license.
Adding the MSE to the system provides a great deal of functionality including historic Interference specific reports, and location (current and historical) of interference devices. The MSE requires that WCS have a plus license - and will also require CAS (Context Aware Sevice) license seats for the individual interference targets.
At present there will be free CAS licenses offered with bundles of 3500 series AP's, up to 100 seats for 20 AP's. Release date of the 7.0 software is targeted for the end of May as well.
NOTE: Cisco CleanAir Technology At A Glance
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns1070/aag_c22-594304.pdf