Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller
Upgrade Your Wireless Network with 802.11ac Wave 2

Overview:

The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller provides centralized control, management, and troubleshooting for high-scale deployments in service provider and large campus deployments. It offers flexibility to support multiple deployment modes in the same controller: for example, centralized mode for campus, Cisco FlexConnect™ mode for lean branches managed over the WAN, and mesh (bridge) mode for deployments where full Ethernet cabling is unavailable. As a component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, this controller provides real-time communications between Cisco Aironet® access points, the Cisco Prime® Infrastructure, and the Cisco Mobility Services Engine, and is interoperable with other Cisco controllers.

The Cisco Digital Network Architecture (Cisco DNA) is an open and extensible, software-driven architecture that accelerates and simplifies your enterprise network operations. The programmable architecture frees your IT staff from time-consuming, repetitive network configuration tasks so they can focus instead on innovation that positively transforms your business. SD-Access, as part of Cisco DNA, enables policy-based automation from edge to cloud with foundational capabilities. Cisco DNA Assurance, also part of Cisco DNA, provides a single source to monitor, modify, and manage your network and application data.

The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller, optimized for 802.11ac Wave2 performance, high scale, and enhanced system uptime, supports:

• Intent-driven programmability and streaming telemetry.
• Subsecond access point and client failover for uninterrupted application availability.
• Extraordinary visibility into application traffic, using Cisco Application Visibility and Control (AVC), the technology that includes the Network-Based Application Recognition 2 (NBAR2) engine, Cisco's Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) capability. This allows to mark, prioritize, and block to conserve network bandwidth and enhance security. Customers can optionally export the flows to Cisco Prime Infrastructure or a third-party NetFlow collector.
• Embedded wireless Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy classification engine that allows classification of client devices and application of user group based policies.
• Deployment of guest access and Bonjour and Chromecast services in centralized deployments.
• Software-defined segmentation with Cisco TrustSec® technology, reducing Access Control List (ACL) maintenance, complexity and overhead.
• Integrated Cisco CleanAir® technology, providing the industry’s only self-healing and self-optimizing wireless network.
• Wi-Fi Alliance Passpoint (Hotspot 2.0) for mobile data offload.
• Network-based mobility management with Proxy Mobile IPv6 Mobility Access Gateway (MAG) and eGRE support for integration with cellular data networks.
• Simplified GUI wizard for quick setup and intuitive dashboards for monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Cisco DNA and SD-Access Wireless, as well as Cisco DNA Assurance.

Features & Benefits:

Technical Specifications:

Documentation:

Download the Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller Datasheet (PDF).