The Cisco Wireless LAN can help reduce your risk of hackers or malicious users gaining access to critical network resources. The two controllers we are highlighting today enable system-wide wireless functions in small to medium-sized enterprises and branch offices. Control can be maintained throughout the whole organization by lightweight wireless access points from the controller and changes can be applied within minutes if need be. They're designed for 802.11n and 802.11ac performance, and the controllers can simultaneously act as data-serving devices and IDS sensors.
Today, we are diving back into the 2504 and 3504 Wireless LAN Controllers. Though, 2504 is no longer sold directly by Cisco the support for this controller until 2023. Don't let these dates get in the way of you achieving your goal. Let OneCall, PivIT's maintenance offering, cover your 2504 or 3504 devices. Connect with our team to see if this would be a good fit for your network.
Below, we'll give a high-level overview of each controller and place them side-by-side to see which fits best in your network! Let's dive in.
The Cisco 2504 Wireless Controller supports Cisco Application Visibility and Control (AVC), the technology that includes Cisco’s Network-Based Application Recognition 2 (NBAR-2) engine. N-BAR-2 does deep packet inspection (DPI) to classify applications and tie into quality of service (QoS) to either drop or mark the traffic, thereby prioritizing business-critical applications in the network. Cisco AVC uses NetFlow Version 9 to export the flows to CiscoPrime™ Infrastructure or to a third-party NetFlow Collector. The Cisco 2504 Wireless Controller also supports Bonjour Services Directory, which enables Bonjour (Apple) Services to be advertised and utilized in a separate Layer 3 network. Wireless Policy engine is a wireless profiler and policy feature on the Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controller that enables profiling of wireless devices and enforcement of policies such as VLAN assignment, QoS, ACL, and time-of-day-based access.
PCI Integration and End-to-End Voice
The 2504 Wireless Controller is Part of Payment Card Industry (PCI) certified architecture and is well-suited for retail customers who deploy transactional data applications such as scanners and kiosks. It supports Unified Communications for improved collaboration through messaging, presence, and conferencing. The controller also supports all Cisco Unified Wireless IP Phones for cost-effective, real-time voice services.
Optimized for 802.11ac Wave 2 performance, the 3504 Wireless Controller is compact, highly scalable, and flexible enabling next-generation wireless networks. This controller fits best in small to medium-sized enterprises along with branch office deployments. The 3504 is a versatile controller with support for centralized, distributed, and mesh deployments to be used at different places.
The 3504's SD-Access Wireless is Cisco’s next-generation architecture for enterprise networks. It is the industry’s first policy-based automation from the edge to the cloud. It enables network access in minutes for any user or device to any application without compromising on security.
Along with the SD-Access, the 3504 has Cisco DNA Analytics and Assurance offering comprehensive network visibility. It collects data from users, devices, and applications to proactively identify problems. Network analytics and automation help IT quickly resolve issues, so you can increase availability and deliver a better user experience.
| Feature | 2504 | 3504 |
| Scalability & Performance |
Supports up to 75 APs and 1000 Clients Wired-network speed and non-blocking performance for 802.11n and 802.11ac networks. Supports up to 1 Gbps throughput. |
Supports up to 150 APs and 3000 Clients 1x Multigigabit Ethernet interface (up to 5 GigabitEthernet), + 4x 1 Gigabit Ethernet Supports up to 4-Gbps throughput, 4096 VLANs |
| RF Management | Provides both real-time and historical information about RF interference impacting network performance across controllers. |
That of the 2504 & proactively identifies and mitigates signal interference for better performance. |
| Comprehensive End-to-End Security | Offers CAPWAP-compliant Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) encryption to help ensure full-line-rate encryption between access points and controllers across remote WAN/LAN links. | Offers Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)-compliant Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) encryption on the control plane. |
| High-Performance Video | Integrates Cisco VideoStream technology as part of the Cisco MediaNet framework. | Cisco VideoStream technology optimizes the delivery of video applications across the WLAN |
| Ease of Deployment | For quick and easy deployment Access Points can be connected directly to the controller via two PoE (Power over Ethernet) ports | For quick and easy deployment, access points can be connected directly to the controller via two Power Over Ethernet (PoE) ports |
The Cisco 3504 and 2504 Wireless Controller with Cisco Multigigabit Ethernet technology is optimized for 802.11ac Wave 2 performance, high scale, and enhanced system uptime.
They offer:
Here at PivIT Global we want to help you find the right infrastructure to best set your business up for success. We have a team ready to answer any questions or to chat more on the Cisco Wireless Controllers to suit your needs! Need to get in touch quicker than a phone call? No worries, leave a quick comment below.