Cisco Catalyst 9115AX User Manual

Cisco Catalyst 9115AX

Series Wi-Fi 6 Access Points

Data sheet

Cisco public

Contents

Resilient - steady performance in demanding environments 5

Secure infrastructure 5

Intelligence for proactive insights and analytics 6

Aesthetically redesigned for next-generation enterprise 6

Cisco DNA support 6

Product specifications 7

Licensing and software packaging 29

Managing licenses with Smart Accounts 30

Warranty information 32

Cisco environmental sustainability 32

Cisco Services 33

Cisco Capital 33

The Cisco® Catalyst® 9115AX Series with Wi-Fi 6is the next generation of enterprise access points. They are resilient, secure, and intelligent.

Figure 1.

Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series

Hyperconnectivity with steady performance in demanding environments. Exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and next-generation applications. Advanced persistent security threats. All of these require a wireless network that provides resiliency and superior connectivity, integrated security with advanced classification and containment, and hardware and software innovations to automate, secure, and simplify networks. Updating your wireless infrastructure to one that will meet these needs is paramount for today’s digital business. The new generation of Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points, with high-performance Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) capabilities and innovations in RF performance, security, and analytics, enables end-to-end digitization and helps accelerate the rollout of business services by delivering beyond Wi-Fi.

The Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series Access Points are enterprise-class products that will address your current and future needs. They are the first step to updating your network to take better example of all of the features and benefits that Wi-Fi 6 provides.

Key features:

●

Wi-Fi 6 certifiable

●

Three radios: 2.4 GHz (4x4), 5 GHz (4x4), and BLE

●

OFDMA and MU-MIMO

●

Multigigabit support

●

Internal or external antenna

●

Available with optional embedded wireless controller

The Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series Access Points support both Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and Multiuser Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO), delivering more predictable performance for advanced applications and IoT. Additionally, with up to 2.5 Gbps with NBASE-T and IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet compatibility, the Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series can seamlessly offload network traffic without any bottlenecks.

With Cisco’s Multigigabit technology, you can use your existing Category 5e or 6 cabling to achieve speeds up to 5 Gbps, allowing for higher throughputs with minimum cost. And with two different antenna choices, you’re

able to decide which option works best for you.

Feature

Benefits

802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6)

The IEEE 802.11ax emerging standard, also known as High-Efficiency-Wireless (HEW) or Wi-Fi 6, builds on 802.11ac. It will deliver a better experience in typical environments and more predictable performance for advanced applications such as 4K or 8K video, high-density, high-definition collaboration apps, all-wireless offices, and IoT. 802.11ax is designed to use both the 2.4-Ghz and 5-GHz bands, unlike the 802.11ac standard.

Uplink/downlink OFDMA

OFDMA-based scheduling splits the bandwidth into smaller chunks called Resource Units (RUs), which can be allocated to individual clients in both the downlink and uplink directions to reduce overhead and latency.

MU-MIMO technology

Supporting four spatial streams, MU-MIMO enables access points to split spatial streams between client devices, to maximize throughput.

BSS coloring

Spatial reuse (also known as Basic Service Set [BSS] coloring) allows the Access Points (APs) and their clients to differentiate between BSSs, thus permitting more simultaneous transmissions.

Target wake time

A new power savings mode called Target Wake Time (TWT) allows the client to stay asleep and to wake up only at prescheduled (target) times to exchange data with the AP. This offers significant energy savings for battery-operated devices, up to 3x to 4x compared to 802.11n and 802.11ac.

Cisco Embedded Wireless Controller

The 9115AX Wi-Fi 6 access points are available with a built-in controller. The Cisco Embedded Wireless Controller on Catalyst 9100 Access Points provides an easy-to-deploy and manage option that does not require a physical appliance. The control resides on the access point, so there is no added footprint or complexity.

And because it uses Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series code, it’s easy to migrate your

network as your needs grow.

Multigigabit Ethernet support

Provides uplink speeds of 2.5 Gbps, in addition to 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps. All speeds are supported on Category 5e cabling for an industry first, as well as 10GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3bz) cabling.

With the 9115AX Series, you can secure remote workers or the micro-office. Any Cisco Aironet or Catalyst access point can function as an OfficeExtend access point (OEAP). With an OEAP, an employee at home or in a temporary micro-office will have access to the corporate SSID and the corporate network without the need to set up a VPN or have any advanced technical know-how.

Cisco User Defined Network, a feature available in Cisco DNA Center, allows IT to give end users control of their very own wireless network partition on a shared network. End users can then remotely and securely deploy their devices on this network. Perfect for university dormitories or extended hospital stays, Cisco User Defined Network grants both device security and control, allowing each user to choose who can connect to their network. (Available second half of calendar year 2020.)

The Wi-Fi 6 readiness dashboard is a new dashboard in the Assurance menu of Cisco DNA Center. It will look through the inventory of all devices on the network and verify device, software, and client compatibility with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard. After upgrading, advanced wireless analytics will indicate performance and capacity gains as a result of the Wi-Fi 6 deployment. This is an incredible tool that will help your team define where and how the wireless network should be upgraded. It will also give you insights into the access point distribution by protocol (802.11 ac/n/abg), wireless airtime efficiency by protocol, and granular performance metrics.

Table 1. Features and benefits

Feature

Benefits

Bluetooth 5.0

Integrated Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.0 radio to enable IoT use cases such as location tracking and wayfinding.

Apple features

Apple and Cisco have partnered to create an optimal mobile experience for iOS devices on corporate networks based on Cisco technologies. Using new features in iOS 10, in combination with the latest software and hardware from Cisco, businesses can now more effectively use their network infrastructure to deliver an enhanced user experience across all business applications.

At the center of the collaboration is a unique handshake between the Cisco WLAN and Apple devices. This handshake enables the Cisco WLAN to provide an optimal Wi-Fi roaming experience to Apple devices. Additionally, the Cisco WLAN trusts Apple devices and gives priority treatment for business-critical applications specified by the Apple device. This feature is also known as Fast Lane.

Note: Features available in future releases – Uplink/downlink OFDMA, Cisco Intelligent Capture

Resilient - steady performance in demanding environments

Network infrastructure that upgrades to Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, enables devices to get up to a 4x capacity boost to support the additional devices connected to the network as well as the data they generate.

802.11ax will offer Multigigabit performance, with seamless connectivity and higher throughput compared to

the 802.11ac standard. This means you’ll see your network run more smoothly. With support for BSS coloring,

the new standard eases high-density environments allowing simultaneous transmissions, ultimately increasing network capacity, customer interactions, and value-add services.

Wi-Fi 6, with better coordination of transit time to and from devices, will also bring about a reduction in latency and a greater reliability, allowing for hundreds of devices per access point. This allows for IoT devices to be reliably deployed at scale. And an overall improved user experience will be seen as well, as 802.11ax will improve the battery life of devices such as smartphones, tablets, and IoT devices when compared to prior standards. For more details about 802.11ax, please check Cisco’s technical white paper on 802.11ax.

Secure infrastructure

Trustworthy systems built with Cisco Trust Anchor Technologies provide a highly secure foundation for Cisco products. With the Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points, these technologies enable hardware and software authenticity assurance for supply chain trust and strong mitigation against man-in-the-middle attacks that compromise software and firmware. Trust Anchor capabilities include:

●

Image signing: Cryptographically signed images provide assurance that the firmware, BIOS, and other

software are authentic and unmodified. As the system boots, the system’s software signatures are checked for integrity.

●

Secure Boot: Cisco Secure Boot technology anchors the boot sequence chain of trust to immutable

hardware, mitigating threats against a system’s foundational state and the software that is to be loaded, regardless of a user’s privilege level. It provides layered protection against the persistence of illicitly

modified firmware.

●

Cisco Trust Anchor module: A tamper-resistant, strong cryptographic, single-chip solution provides hardware authenticity assurance to uniquely identify the product so that its origin can be confirmed to Cisco. This provides assurance that the product is genuine.

Intelligence for proactive insights and analytics

With multi-RF support paramount for IoT devices and expanded ecosystem partnerships, the Cisco Catalyst 9100 portfolio provides unprecedented visibility from mobile devices on Cisco networks. Enabling digitization with Cisco DNA, the Cisco Catalyst 9100 portfolio offers further Cisco RF innovations for securing air with realtime telemetry, guided remediation, and optimization for Wi-Fi and IoT networks. The Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points can support advanced spectrum intelligence, device analytics, and network assurance. With capabilities such as Intelligent Capture, these devices probe the network and provide Cisco DNA Center with deep analysis. The software can track numerous anomalies and instantaneously review all packets on demand, emulating the onsite network administrator. Overall, Cisco Intelligent Capture allows for more informed decisions on your wireless networks.

Aesthetically redesigned for next-generation enterprise

The Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points are built from the ground up, with a new aerodynamic look and smooth finish, integrating RF excellence and next-generation technologies to provide a best-in-class wireless experience without compromise. While packing several high-performance features, the hardware is redesigned to deliver higher efficiencies in a more compact form factor to make visually appealing Wi-Fi deployments commonplace.

Cisco DNA support

Pairing the Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series Access Points with Cisco DNA allows for a total network transformation. Cisco DNA allows you to truly understand your network with real-time analytics, quickly detect and contain security threats, and easily provide networkwide consistency through automation and virtualization.

Cisco DNA with Software-Defined Access (SD-Access) is the network fabric that powers business. It is an open and extensible, software-driven architecture that accelerates and simplifies your enterprise network operations. The programmable architecture frees your IT staff from time-consuming, repetitive network configuration tasks so they can focus instead on innovation that positively transforms your business. By decoupling network functions from the hardware, you can build and manage your entire wired and wireless network from a single user interface. SD-Access enables policy-based automation from edge to cloud with foundational capabilities. These include:

●

Simplified device deployment

●

Unified management of wired and wireless networks

●

Network virtualization and segmentation

●

Group-based policies

●

Context-based analytics

Item

Specification

Part numbers

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXI Access Point: Indoor environments, with internal antennas

● C9115AXI-x: Cisco Catalyst 9115 Series

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXE Access Point: Indoor, challenging environments, with external antennas

● C9115AXE-x: Cisco Catalyst 9115 Series

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXI Access Point: Indoor environments, with internal antennas, with embedded wireless controller

● C9115AXI-EWC-x: Cisco Catalyst 9115 Series

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXE Access Point: Indoor, challenging environments, with external antennas, with embedded wireless controller

● C9115AXE-EWC-x: Cisco Catalyst 9115 Series

Regulatory domains: (x = regulatory domain)

Customers are responsible for verifying approval for use in their individual countries. To verify approval and to identify the regulatory domain that corresponds to a particular country, visit

https://www.cisco.com/go/aironet/compliance.

Not all regulatory domains have been approved. As they are approved, the part numbers will be available on the Global Price List.

Cisco Wireless LAN Services

● AS-WLAN-CNSLT: Cisco Wireless LAN Network Planning and Design Service

● AS-WLAN-CNSLT: Cisco Wireless LAN 802.11n Migration Service

● AS-WLAN-CNSLT: Cisco Wireless LAN Performance and Security Assessment Service

Software

● Cisco Unified Wireless Network Software Release 8.9 or later

● Cisco IOS

XE Software Release 16.11 or later

Supported wireless LAN controllers

● Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

● Cisco 3500, 5520, and 8540 Series Wireless Controllers and Cisco Virtual Wireless Controller

The Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series Access Points support Software-Defined Access, Cisco’s leading enterprise architecture.

●

Working together, the Cisco Catalyst 9115AX Series and Cisco DNA offer such features as:

●

Cisco DNA Spaces

●

Cisco Identity Services Engine

●

Cisco DNA Analytics and Assurance

●

And much more

The result? Your network stays relevant, becomes digital ready, and is the lifeblood of your organization.

Product specifications

Table 2. Specifications

Item

Specification

802.11n version

2.0 (and related) capabilities

● 4x4 MIMO with four spatial streams

● Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC)

● 802.11n and 802.11a/g beamforming

● 20- and 40-MHz channels

● PHY data rates up to 890 Mbps (40 MHz with 5 GHz and 20 MHz with 2.4 GHz)

● Packet aggregation: A-MPDU (transmit and receive), A-MSDU (transmit and receive)

● 802.11 Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS)

● Cyclic Shift Diversity (CSD) support

802.11ac

● 4x4 downlink MU-MIMO with four spatial streams

● MRC

● 802.11ac beamforming

● 20-, 40-, 80-, and 160-MHz channels

● PHY data rates up to 3.47 Gbps (160 MHz with 5 GHz)

● Packet aggregation: A-MPDU (transmit and receive), A-MSDU (transmit and receive)

● 802.11 DFS

● CSD support

802.11ax

● 4x4 downlink MU-MIMO with four spatial streams

● Uplink/downlink OFDMA

● TWT

● BSS coloring

● MRC

● 802.11ax beamforming

● 20-, 40-, 80-, and 160-MHz channels

● PHY data rates up to 5.38 Gbps (160 MHz with 5 GHz and 20 MHz with 2.4 GHz)

● Packet aggregation: A-MPDU (transmit and receive), A-MSDU (transmit and receive)

● 802.11 DFS

● CSD support

Integrated antenna

● 2.4 GHz, peak gain 3 dBi, internal antenna, omnidirectional in azimuth

● 5 GHz, peak gain 4 dBi, internal antenna, omnidirectional in azimuth

External antenna (sold separately)

● Cisco Catalyst 9115AXE Access Points are certified for use with antenna gains up to 6 dBi (2.4 GHz and 5

GHz)

● Cisco offers the industry's broadest selection of antennas, delivering optimal coverage for a variety of

deployment scenarios

Interfaces

● 1x 100, 1000, 2500 Multigigabit Ethernet (RJ-45) – IEEE 802.3bz

● Management console port (RJ-45)

● USB 2.0 (enabled via future software)

Indicators

● Status LED indicates boot loader status, association status, operating status, boot loader warnings, and boot

loader errors

Dimensions (W x L x H)

● Access point (without mounting brackets): C9115AXI: 8.0 x 8.0 x 1.5 in. (20.3 x 20.3 x 3.8 cm), C9115AXE:

8.0 x 8.0 x 1.7 in. (20.3 x 20.3 x 4.3 cm)

Item

Specification

Weight

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXI

● 1.98 lb (0.9 kg)

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXE

● 2.43 lb (1.1 kg)

Input power requirements

● 802.3at Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+), 802.3bt Cisco Universal PoE (Cisco UPOE+, Cisco UPOE

)

● Cisco power injector, AIR-PWRINJ6=

● 802.3af PoE

● Cisco power injector, AIR-PWRINJ5= (Note: This injector supports only 802.3af)

Note: When 802.3af PoE is the source of power, both 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz radios will be reduced to 2x2 and Ethernet downgraded to 1 Gigabit Ethernet. In addition, the USB port will be off.

Power draw

802.3at full feature – Catalyst 9115AXI

Power source

Power type

2.4-GHz radio

5-GHz radio

Link speed

USB

LLDP

802.3at

PoE

4x4

2.5G

20.4W

802.3at full feature – Catalyst 9115AXE

Power source

Power type

2.4-GHz radio

5-GHz radio

Link speed

USB

LLDP

802.3at

PoE

4x4

2.5G

21.4W

802.3af reduced feature

Power source

Power type

2.4-GHz radio

5-GHz radio

Link speed

USB

LLDP

802.3af

PoE

2x2

1G N 13W

Environmental

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXI

● Nonoperating (storage) temperature: -22° to 158°F (-30° to 70°C)

● Nonoperating (storage) altitude test: 25˚C, 15,000 ft.

● Operating temperature: 32° to 122°F (0° to 50°C)

● Operating humidity: 10% to 90% (noncondensing)

● Operating altitude test: 40˚C, 9843 ft.

Note: When the ambient operating temperature exceeds 40°C, the access point will shift from 4x4 to 2x2 on both the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz radios, uplink Ethernet will downgrade to 1 Gigabit Ethernet, and the USB interface will be disabled.

Cisco Catalyst 9115AXE

● Nonoperating (storage) temperature: -22° to 158°F (-30° to 70°C)

● Nonoperating (storage) altitude test: 25˚C, 15,000 ft.

● Operating temperature: -4° to 122°F (-20° to 50°C)

● Operating humidity: 10% to 90% (noncondensing)

● Operating altitude test: 40˚C, 9843 ft.

Item

Specification

System memory

● 2048 MB DRAM

● 1024 MB flash

Warranty

Limited lifetime hardware warranty

Available transmit power settings

2.4 GHz

● 23 dBm (200 mW)

● 20 dBm (100 mW)

● 17 dBm (50 mW)

● 14 dBm (25 mW)

● 11 dBm (12.5 mW)

● 8 dBm (6.25 mW)

● 5 dBm (3.13 mW)

● 2 dBm (1.56 mW)

● -1dBm (0.79mW)

● -4dBm (0.39mW)

5 GHz

● 23 dBm (200 mW)

● 20 dBm (100 mW)

● 17 dBm (50 mW)

● 14 dBm (25 mW)

● 11 dBm (12.5 mW)

● 8 dBm (6.25 mW)

● 5 dBm (3.13 mW)

● 2 dBm (1.56 mW)

● -1dBm (0.79mW)

● -4dBm (0.39mW)

Frequency band and 20-MHz operating channels

A (A regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.462 GHz; 11 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.500 to 5.700 GHz; 8 channels

(excludes 5.600 to 5.640 GHz)

● 5.745 to 5.825 GHz; 5 channels

B (B regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.462 GHz; 11 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.500 to 5.700 GHz; 11 channels

● 5.745 to 5.865 GHz; 7 channels

C (C regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.745 to 5.825 GHz; 5 channels

D (D regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.462 GHz; 11 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.745 to 5.825 GHz; 5 channels

E (E regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.500 to 5.700 GHz; 8 channels

(excludes 5.600 to 5.640 GHz)

F (F regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.250 to 5.350 GHz; 4 channels

● 5.725 to 5.825 GHz; 4 channels

G (G regulatory domain):

I (I regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

K (K regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.500 to 5.620 GHz; 7 channels

● 5.745 to 5.805 GHz; 4 channels

N (N regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.462 GHz; 11 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.745 to 5.825 GHz; 5 channels

Q (Q regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.500 to 5.700 GHz; 11 channels

R (R regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.660 to 5,825 GHz; 8 channels

(excludes 5.700 to 5.745 GHz)

S (S regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.472 GHz; 13 channels

● 5.180 to 5.320 GHz; 8 channels

● 5.500 to 5.700 GHz; 11 channels

● 5.745 to 5.825 GHz; 5 channels

T (T regulatory domain):

● 2.412 to 2.462 GHz; 11 channels

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