The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller provides centralized control, management, and troubleshooting for highscale 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 and Cisco Catalyst® 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.
Features and benefits
The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller, optimized for 802.11ac Wave 2 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.
