Competitive Update: Cisco CleanAir and AP3500

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R Rajiv Iyer 3 years 5 months ago
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Hi All,  
On April 27, 2010, Cisco Systems announced two new dual radio 802.11n access points AP 3500 and AP 1260 and a new marketing initiative called Cisco CleanAir. Cisco 3500 uses a built-in Cognio ASIC for spectrum analysis. Cisco has launched a marketing campaign called Cisco CleanAir around its spectrum analysis capability.

We have created a high level response that you can use to position against Cisco. We need to highlight the following:

Spectrum Analysis (SA) capability integrated in 802.11n access point is not a new technology . Motorola AirDefense customers have enjoyed spectrum analysis, forensic analysis, WIPS and remote troubleshooting integrated with 802.11n access points for almost two years.
Cisco has implemented SA into its radio hardware which requires a rip and replace of all existing AP infrastructure. Cisco customers who have invested in Cisco 1250 and 1140 APs cannot take advantage of Cisco CleanAir. This is precisely why Motorola chose a software based implementation for spectrum analysis and made it available across all 802.11n APs.
Cisco CleanAir lags behind Motorola AirDefense Remote Troubleshooting offering because it is limited to L1 and L2 - identifying and locating the RF interference source and changing channels in response to interference. Motorola LiveRF and SMART -RF offer this capability today. In addition, Motorola AirDefense offers automated connectivity tests that enable network administrators to automatically run end-to-end network health tests covering L1 to L4 and rapidly troubleshoot client connectivity problems.
Cisco AP 3500 and 1260 are still using a 2x3 MIMO design with no support for 802.11n mesh or 3G technology .
While Cisco is claiming 802.3af compliance, going by past performance (50% performance drop in AP1140 and AP 1250 with dual radio operation), performance and throughput with simultaneous spectrum analysis and dual 802.11n radios is anybody's guess.

We will be posting detailed competitive analysis in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. Thanks, Rajiv Iyer

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2 Replies

A Arsen Bandurian

Here's something you might find interesting - a competitive report that Cisco uses to show that it's better than AirDefense and SMART RF! Please not the big red circle in WCS :) http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns1070... Also, the white paper: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns394/ns348/ns1070...

R Rajiv Iyer

Hi Arsen, Thanks for forwarding those Cisco links. We have looked at it and also have a rebuttal that you can use. For the Miercom CleanAir report that targets MOT AirDefense and SMART-RF, please use the following docs to counter: http://compass.mot.com/doc/348072450/Cisco_Response_To_CleanAir_AP3500… http://compass.mot.com/doc/352239547/Wireless_Summit_Competitive_Update_... For the second whitepaper that shows poor throughput and performance at distance, please use the following docs to counter: http://compass.mot.com/doc/344871463/Response_to_Cisco_WLAN_Youtube_Test... http://compass.mot.com/doc/352239547/Wireless_Summit_Competitive_Update_... Please note that in the power point slide above, we have published our own result from open air testing with Cisco, Motorola and Aruba that counters the claims of poor performance and shows our superiority. Combine that with poor performance with 802.3af and you have good ammunition to counter those reports. Good luck. Thanks, Rajiv

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