Features and Capabilities

As a component of the Cisco Software-Defined Access Solution, the 8540 provides real-time communications between Cisco Aironet access points, Cisco Prime Infrastructure, and the Cisco Mobility Services Engine. It is also interoperable with other Cisco controllers.

The 8540 comes with integrated services:

- Application Visibility and Control (AVC) provides granular classification and prioritization of thousands of business-critical apps with dynamic protocol updates.

- Location-aware Bonjour and Chromcast can enable various services to be advertised across a Layer 3 network at a user and device level.

- An embedded policy classification engine offers simplified BYOD with native device profiling and onboard services.

- Software-defined segmentation with Cisco TrustSec reduces access control list maintenance, complexity, and overhead.

The 8540 Series offers exceptional scalability:

- Optimize 802.11ac Wave 2 next-generation networks with 40 Gb throughput.

- Support up to 6000 access points and 64,000 clients.

- Consolidate multiple controllers into one with a single point of touch.

- Support centralized, distributed, and mesh deployments.

- Deploy Cisco FlexConnect in sites with up to 100 access points, in up to 2000 groups.

The 8540 offers high-availability features for uninterrupted application availability and no incremental system downtime:

- Sub-second failover for access point and client failover for uninterrupted application availability.

- Dual-redundant 1 Gigabit or 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.

- Dual-redundant power supplies installed (AC or DC).

- Hot-swappable power supply and solid state storage with no incremental system downtime.

- Enhanced system uptime with fast system restarts.