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Data Sheet
Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers
Product Overview
Cisco® Wireless LAN Controllers work in conjunction with Cisco Aironet access points and the Cisco Wireless
Control System (WCS) to provide systemwide wireless LAN functions. As a component of the Cisco Unified
Wireless Network, the Cisco 2100 Series enables administrators to securely manage WLANs and mobility
services, such as enhanced security, voice, guest access, and location services.
Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers (Figure 1) supports up to 6, 12, or 25 access points and up to 256
clients, making it a cost-effective solution for retail, enterprise branches, and small and medium-sized businesses.
These controllers come with eight Ethernet ports, two of which can provide power directly to Cisco lightweight
access points.
Figure 1. Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controller
These controllers are part of a Payment Card Industry (PCI) certified architecture, and are well suited for retail
customers who deploy transactional data applications such as scanners and kiosks. With performance up to 100
Mbps, the Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers also enable small and medium branch offices to deploy
collaboration applications such as guest access and mobile voice.
While Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers support transaction-oriented wireless environments such as
handheld scanners in retail, the Cisco 5500 Series Wireless Controllers are recommended for high-data-rate and
multicast-intensive applications such as large data files, video, push-to-talk.
Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controller Models
The Cisco 2100 Series includes the models shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Cisco 2100 Series Models and Number of Access Points Supported
2100 Series Controllers # of Access Points Supported
Cisco 2106 6
Cisco 2112 12
Cisco 2125 25
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Wireless LAN Controller Series
The Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers are part of the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller family of products,
which includes standalone controllers, integrated controllers, and modular wireless LAN controllers that work in
conjunction with Cisco switches and routers. For details, visit: Cisco Unified Wireless Network Overview.
Features and Benefits
Table 2 describes the hardware features of the Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers.
Table 2. Features and Benefits of the Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers
Features Benefits
Eight 10/100 Ethernet Ports Provides eight 10/100 Ethernet ports, intended to support a combination of access points and redundant LAN
Power-over-Ethernet-Enabled
Ports
Small Form Factor Allows for convenient desktop mounting or rack mounting, with optional rack mount kit for flexible deployment
Extended Secure Coverage Extended secure coverage for larger stores and warehouses
PCI Integration Supports a PCI-certified architecture for retail customers
Support for 802.11n Offers robust coverage with 802.11 a/b/g or delivers unprecedented reliability using 802.11n and Cisco Next-
uplinks
Two of the eight 10/100 Ethernet ports are 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) and Cisco PoE enabled, rated
for use with Cisco Aironet® lightweight access points
Generation Wireless Solutions and Cisco Enterprise Wireless Mesh
Product Specifications
Table 3 lists the product specification for Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controllers.
Table 3. Product Specifications for the Cisco 2100 Series Wireless LAN Controller
Item Specification
Wireless Standards IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11d, 802.11h, 802.11n
Wired/Switching/Routing IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T, IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX specification, and IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging
Data RFCs
Security Standards
Encryption
●
RFC 768 UDP
●
RFC 791 IP
●
RFC 792 ICMP
●
RFC 793 TCP
●
RFC 826 ARP
●
RFC 1122 Requirements for Internet Hosts
●
RFC 1519 CIDR
●
RFC 1542 BOOTP
●
RFC 2131 DHCP
●
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
●
IEEE 802.11i (WPA2, RSN)
●
RFC 1321 MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm
●
RFC 2104 HMAC: Keyed Hashing for Message Authentication
●
RFC 2246 TLS Protocol Version 1.0
●
RFC 3280 X.509 PKI Certificate and CRL Profile
●
WEP and Temporal Key Integrity Protocol-Message Integrity Check (TKIP-MIC): RC4 40, 104 and 128
bits (both static and shared keys)
●
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS): RC4 128-bit and RSA 1024- and 2048bit
●
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): CCM, Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message
Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP)
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