Takeaway: The Cisco Enterprise Wireless group helps networking and IT professionals stay informed and get the most out of Cisco’s products and solutions, while displaying thought leadership on major technological trends. For 2012, there were 10 posts that stood out from the rest.

Cisco Enterprise Wireless products and solutions continue to grow in the enterprise space, providing best-in-class wireless infrastructure for many businesses and organizations. Out of our blogs this year, including detailed case studies of how enterprises utilize Cisco products and solutions, best practices from successful deployments, overviews of thought leadership webinars, and more, ten posts stood out from the rest.

Ten Most Popular

1. Get your Wi-Fi Network Ready for Windows 8

Jeevan Patil discusses 802.11w and Windows 8 compatibility, workarounds, why you should care and how to ensure that your network is ready.

2. 802.11ac: The Fifth Generation of Wi-Fi Technology

802.11ac is coming. Let Bill Rubino walk you through the in’s and out’s of IEEE’s latest standard, aided by trusty Techwise TV Fundamentals.

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Tags: .11, 802., 802.11ac, byod, Enterprise, iphone5, LAN, mobility, network, wi-fi, wifi, Windows 8, wireless, wlan

Last week, a friend of mine jokingly asked me, “So, what is Santa bringing to Cisco’s wireless customers this holiday season?”

I couldn’t help but grin because I already knew what many of you are now aware of: Santa’s wireless holiday delivery came early this year, with Release 7.4 now posted on Cisco.com.

We at Cisco’s Wireless Networking Group are really excited to show off this shiny new release. 7.4 is jam-packed with 40+ features to improve the everyday lives of Cisco wireless customers.

You must be thinking: But you just released feature-heavy 7.3 in October AND new products, such as Virtual Wireless Controller and the highly scalable Wireless Controller 8510!

So what makes 7.4 so special? We specifically chose each feature with the goal of creating an uncompromised user-experience while keeping wireless network administrators happy by making it easy manage their WLAN more efficiently. The 7.4 release specifically focuses on four main pillars:

• Quality of Experience for Wireless Users
• Improved Security & Spectrum intelligence
• Improved performance for small deployments
• Ability to deploy innovative IT services using mobile apps

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Tags: access point, Aironet, application, AVC, Bonjour, controller, holiday, LAN, mobility, mobility services engine, network, networking, release 7.3, release 7.4, wi-fi, wifi, wireless, wlan

The world is going mobile--have you seen those stats? In fact, you probably have some wireless infrastructure deployed in your business.

Have you always imagined getting more out of your Wi-Fi? Do you ever wonder if you can generate some revenue off of your enterprise infrastructure? Well do we have a treat for you! This Thursday, November 15th at 10AM PST, we have an awesome webinar where we’ll discuss how you can leverage wireless technologies to help you more effectively engage and better understand your customers.  What’s more, we’ll be going over actual customer stories of how they used these technologies and what they got out of it.  Sound good to you? Click on the image to register.

There will also be an opportunity for Q&A.  Overall, we’ll cover:

• How the new technology innovations are helping to enable today’s connected lifestyle
• How your existing wireless network can accommodate these trends and become a tool to generate new revenue
• How enterprises and service providers are deploying and benefiting from this technology

What’re you waiting for? Register today!

Tags: access point, Cisco, consumer, hospitality, mobility, network, retail, webinar, wireless, wlan

The question isn’t IF your users will need more bandwidth, but WHEN they will need more bandwidth. 802.11ac represents the next evolution of the 802.11 standard, and, as you’ve heard, this one really pegs the gas petal in the quest for speed. Offering a link-rate of up to 1.3Gbps, 802.11ac represents the first wireless standard that surpasses the gigabit barrier.

But what makes 802.11ac unique isn’t just bandwidth. The new standard represents a forced push to the cleaner 5GHz spectrum, as well as extended battery life, made possible by getting devices on and off the air more quickly. To learn more about the technical details under the hood of 802.11ac reference this whitepaper.

Cisco’s Aironet Access Point 3600 and an alpha version of the 802.11ac module were demonstrated during Cisco’s presentation during Wireless Field Day 3 (the demo occurs at timestamp 15:30 in the video). Keep in mind that this is a demonstration of a pre-released product so it is expected that throughput and functionality will change and likely increase when the product is available for customers in early 2013.

The test goal was to measure one client, one Access Point 802.11ac performance and leveraged Ixia’s IxChariot to generate UDP traffic over the air. The test was done in an open real world environment, so the achieved throughput is less than what would be expected in a clean RF environment typical of a benchmark test.

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Tags: 3600 module, 802.11ac, access point, aironet 3600, AP3600, application, bandwidth, broadcom, gigabit, IEEE, link-rate, mbps, spectrum, throughput, wireless, wireless standard, wlan

It’s a fact – everyone wants wireless access.  Recent research indicates that by 2015, more US internet users will be accessing the internet over their mobile devices than on traditional computers.   With that many people online and on their mobile devices not having stable, secure wireless access is surely an impediment for companies as well as every day users. Companies leverage mobile devices to enable a more efficient workforce. Mobile devices are used to leverage “always-on” applications, increasing access for employees and as a better means of time management. Both of which increase employee productivity.  Companies also often rely on their wireless network for regulating employee safety.  Such is the case for the iron manufacturing company, North American Hoganas Inc.

With 11 production facilities across four continents in eight countries including the United States, where it staffs 250 employees, North American Hoganas Inc. needed to deploy an end-to-end wireless network in order to keep up with market demands and target new operational efficiencies.  Up to the minute communication is vital not only for business operations, but also for the safety of their plant employees.  Updating employees on risk assessments, proper product handling techniques, and work schedules are just some examples of mission-critical, daily communication from management to employees.  There was one problem that stood between North American Hoganas Inc and a successfully deploying a pervasive wireless network: North American Hoganas Inc. itself.

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Tags: cleanair, interference, Manufacturing, pervasive wireless, rf, wireless, wireless network, wlan