It is now March. It actually hailed here in Huntington Beach, but we’ll call it snow for the novelty. It’s always neat to see things like this happen here in Southern California mainly because things like snow rarely seems to happen. We freak out on rainbows. Get the picture?

Well to keep things sane here locally, I asked my brethren Wireless Product Manager, Nasser Tarazi to take a few minutes to talk about his new Cisco WAP131.

Here’s a few nuggets about the new WAP131:

The new WAP131

• The WAP131 supports concurrent dual band radios for improved coverage and performance
• Designed for Desktop/tabletop deployment
• It can be powered by a PoE Switch using the WAP131’s PoE ethernet port, meaning less cabling demands for deployment
• Works out of the box
• Quick and easy deployment
• Free feature upgrades
• Limited Lifetime Warranty
• A good product to replace the popular WAP4410N

Simply put, this new wireless access point is a perfect upgrade for those who were previously using a single wireless router (network-in-a box) for their small business networking needs. Nasser adds, “We are providing our customers with affordable yet highly reliable, secure wireless solutions. The new Cisco WAP131 is yet another example”.

Quick note, Nasser’s son used his GoPro to video this piece, pretty good for his first attempt. Maybe the next video we will show Nasser snowboarding!

That is all for now. Thank you for spending some time with us.

Marc

Tags: Cisco, network, PoE+, port, rout, small business, wireless

Greetings all.

February is here. Winter is in full swing on this side of the equator. Summer is grasping the other. I know it’s been a warm one so far for our friends in Australia. But snowfall amounts in the Northeast has our ski areas in Northern California and the Rockies so envious. Such is Mother Nature right?

Recently, our team announced some important details for our Switching and Wireless products.

I thought I would take the time to let you all know more on these announcements.

First up, Nasser Tarazi, Wireless Product Manager, announced two new models. We will cover the new WAP351 this week and the new WAP131 next week.

The New Cisco WAP351

The new Cisco WAP351 perfect for conference rooms, classrooms, hospitality and other flexible deployments. It offers Dual Radio (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) wireless N connectivity, a 5-port Switch with PoE PD and PSE support, Single Point Setup, Captive Portal and comes with Limited Lifetime Warranty.

The WAP351 offers something new to the Wireless portfolio. Here is a quick Power Over Ethernet (PoE) primer. PoE Powered-Device (PD) is the ability to power the device through an PD-capable Ethernet port. PoE PSE (Power Sourcing Equipment) is the ability to supply power a device connected to a PSE-capable Ethernet port. In terms of power, a standard PoE port can support a maximum output of 15W, while a PoE+ port supports up to 30W.

Now, back to the WAP351.  As mentioned above, the WAP351 support both PD and PSE.   This means if the WAP351 is connected to a PoE+ switch like the SG300-10PP, the WAP351 can be power through PD-capable Ethernet port, while at the same time powering a standard PoE device like a phone or another AP, like the WAP131 through the WAP351’s designated PSE-capable Ethernet port.

More on Wireless Access Points and PoE:

• PoE: Power over Ethernet. PoE enables Power and Data to be combined onto a single Ethernet cable to power devices such as access points, IP phones, or IP cameras
• PSE on a WAP is exclusive to the new WAP351
• A WAP with PSE is attractive for verticals such as education, hospitality, and smaller offices and meeting rooms where both wired and wired access is required
• PoE enables WAP’s or other endpoint devices to be installed where power typically is not available, such as on a wall or ceiling. This allows for greater flexibility during deployments.
• All Cisco Small Business WAP’s support PoE PD
• Dual-Radio WAPs requiring 802.3af PoE power = WAP131, WAP351, WAP561
• Dual-Radio WAPs requiring 802.3at PoE+ power = WAP371, WAP351 when using the PSE with full power budget
• The WAP351 can be powered by 48V/1.25A external DC power if a 802.3af/t PoE switch is not used or available
• The WAP351 can provide 6w of PSE when using 802.3af
  

Ok you got it? Make sense?

Cisco 300 Series Switches

In other news:

Switching Product Manager Michael Wynh announced several price reductions on the ever-popular 300 Series Switches. This is good news for our customers and channel partners alike. Businesses can maximize their budgets and take advantage of Cisco’s class-leading PoE switching products. For more information on these important updates, please contact your local Cisco Representative or check out our support community.

That is it for now. Thanks for hanging out with us.

Until next time,

Marc

Tags: #wireless, access point, Cisco, Cisco Wireless, ethernet, network, PoE ports, port, router, switch, VLAN, wlan

Deploying a Voice over IP network can be daunting given all the technologies required to deliver consistently high voice quality. This becomes especially troublesome as the network grows and more network infrastructure and endpoints are added. Cisco has found a unique solution to this problem and has formally been granted a patent for these technologies by the US Patent Office. The patent (US Pat: 8867405) has been granted for technologies enabling a zero-touch, network-wide, voice deployment. And the best part? This is supported today on the Cisco SMB 500, 300, and 200 Series Switches.

The Cisco solution incorporates a combination of VSDP (Voice Services Discovery Protocol), CDP, LLDP-MED, Auto Smartports, and mDNS. This unique solution addresses the auto-configuration of the network of switches as well as the auto-configuration of the Voice endpoints, AP’s, UC, and desktops/servers. Endpoints are automatically discovered and instructed which QoS and Voice VLAN parameters to use, and the switch ports are dynamically configured. The entire network converges on (and automatically adjusts to) the parameters needed to deliver high quality voice.

What makes this solution especially unique is that one can literally take a new switch as it arrives from the factory, plug in the IP phones and other endpoints, and have a functioning network without any configuration.

“Cisco has raised the bar for this product category”

– Kevin Tolly, Founder, The Tolly Group

For a more detailed description of the capabilities, a document has been posted on Cisco’s Support Forum.

A demo showing how this capability compares to competitive products in the market:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OowfcLEEnW8&feature=youtu.be

Another demo showing the ease of deployment with the Auto capability in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXDuWSay1lU#t=185

Tags: 300 series, 500 series, Cisco Switch, patent, SG300, SG500, smb

Just a quick note from our Cisco Team as we enter the Holiday Season.

Thank you all for your support this year. The team looks forward to launching more new products in the near future as well as some solid firmware updates. We hope you enjoy this holiday season.

From the Entire Cisco Small Business Team – Happy Thanksgiving.

Marc

RV320 and RV325

Hello all,

I hope everyone’s week has been a fruitful one.

Alike many product teams, ours sometimes have a tendency sometimes to keep a large amount of focus churning out new products with all of the features and performance characteristics our customers want in quality networking products.

While one of our product traits is #useability, we all know, there are features that are perhaps not as straightforward to the layman, small business owners, even though these savvy folks understand the need to use these features for their businesses to be successful.

So in that spirit, we have assembled a team of young, bright individuals and challenged them with an aggressive list of topics. The first of these topics is an informative yet light video-on-demand on Quick VPN configuration tips for some of my RV Series router models. Configuring VPN’s, even though it sounds exciting (yes that is a joke), is not always straightforward, so this video should be very helpful for many.

I would like to introduce you to Ruben:

I also wanted to pass along two Cisco Small Business Links that house a set of VoD’s that are a little more technical in nature that our team in Greenville has produced for topics such as Configuring VLAN’s on the RV320 and RV325 and setting up multiple types of VPN’s on RV130, RV320, RV325 and others. These again are little more technical in nature, but very informative and helpful in getting your Small Business Networking configured as needed.

Here is the Cisco Small Business YouTube Page.

And here is the Cisco Small Business Vimeo Page.

Make it a great day.

Marc

Tags: growth, network, router, Scalability, small business, switch, VLAN, vpn, wireless