Product Overview

This section provides an overview of the two new controllers:

Unified Access CT5760 Wireless Controller

The CT5760 Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) is the first Cisco IOS® software-based controller built with Cisco’s innovative UADP ASIC intended to be deployed as a centralized controller in the next generation unified wireless architecture. CT5760 controllers are specifically designed to function like the older unified model central wireless controllers. They also support the newer Mobility functionality with Next Generation Wireless Controllers 3850 switches in the wireless architecture.

CT5760 controllers are deployed behind a core switch/router. The core switch/router is the only gateway into the network for the controller. The uplink ports connected to the core switch are configured as EtherChannel trunk to ensure port redundancy.

This new controller is an extensible and high performance wireless controller, which can scale up to 1000 access points (AP) and 12,000 clients. The controller has 6x10 Gbps data ports.

As a component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, the 5760 series works in conjunction with Cisco Aironet Access Points, the Cisco Prime Infrastructure, and the Cisco Mobility Services Engine to support business-critical wireless data, voice, and video applications. See Figure 1-1 for the WLC5760 overview.

Figure 1-1 WLC5760 Overview

Unified Access Catalyst 3850 Switches

The Unified Access Catalyst 3850 switch is a flexible ASIC-based hardware that can support multiple protocols and has many advantages over the current hardware platform. The Catalyst 3850 switch has an integrated hardware-based wireless support with Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) and fragmentation. It also has 40 GB of uplink bandwidth when all ports function at line rate.

The Catalyst 3850 switch provides an open service platform. It has a 4-core CPU to leverage the operating system (OS) and to host various services. The Catalyst 3850 hardware is the next- generation switching hardware.

The UA Catalyst 3850 switch has unified wired and wireless architecture. The wireless operating system is Cisco IOS® software-based. UA Catalyst 3850 switch provides uniform wired and wireless policies. It can house 50 access points (802.11n) and support 2000 clients per stack. Figure 1-2 shows the platform overview for the Catalyst 3850.

Refer to the Catalyst 3850 Configuration Guides page for detailed information on configuration recommendation.

Figure 1-2 New Catalyst 3850