SAN JOSE, Calif., November 12, 2003 - Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced the Cisco Aironet 1200 and 1100 Series IEEE 802.11g Access Points (APs) that reaffirm the enterprise standard for high performance, secure, manageable and flexible wireless local-area networks (LANs). These new 802.11g devices provide a maximum data rate of up to 54 Mbps, up to five times that of the IEEE 802.11b standard, and industry leading range. Designed for full backward compatibility to Cisco Aironet and Cisco Compatible 802.11b clients and the Cisco Wireless IP Phone 7920, these new 802.11g-based devices can easily be integrated into existing networks for increased performance. Furthermore, Cisco provides a seamless migration path for Cisco Aironet 1200 and 1100 Series 802.11b APs with 802.11g radio upgradeable modules that allow customers to protect their wireless LAN investments.
Complementing existing support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is also supported in hardware and will be enabled for all Cisco Aironet 802.11g devices in 2004 via a free software upgrade after ratification of the IEEE 802.11i standard. In addition, Cisco will provide IEEE 802.11a/b/g enabled client adapters in CardBus and PCI form factors supporting Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems. Cisco is pricing all of today's new 802.11g products at the same price as their Cisco Aironet 802.11b-based versions, thus providing compelling value with significant performance and security enhancements for customers.
Cisco Compatible Devices Now Commercially Available
To enable customers to deploy their wireless LANs with a broad variety of Wi-Fi mobile devices and client adapters with increased confidence, Cisco introduced the Cisco Compatible Extensions program earlier this year. After extensive interoperability testing with Cisco Aironet infrastructure at an independent testing lab, Cisco today announced that notebook PCs with embedded Wi-Fi from worldwide notebook industry leaders Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, and Toshiba and client adapters from Linksys and NETGEAR have been approved as Cisco Compatible. The Cisco Compatible brand signifies device support for the full set of Cisco Compatible Extension features.
Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network Provides Florida Hospital with Wi-Fi Access to Critical Patient Information
Florida Hospital (a division of Adventist Health System), an acute-care health care system with more than 1,800 beds throughout central Florida, is managing its Cisco Aironet Wi-Fi network with the CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE), a key component of the Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network (SWAN) solution. Florida Hospitals' Wi-Fi deployment provides over 8,400 doctors, nurses and other medical staff with access to mission-critical, point-of-care health applications through wireless-enabled laptops on mobile carts situated throughout seven hospitals.
With Cisco SWAN, Florida Hospital can take advantage of advanced air/radio frequency (RF) management services that provide a comprehensive system level view of the wireless LAN while simplifying deployment, management and troubleshooting complexity. These services are provided with CiscoWorks WLSE Version 2.5 for advanced air/RF and device management tools such as rogue access point detection, interference detection, and assisted site surveys.
"Florida Hospital's decision to install CiscoWorks WLSE was driven by the need to simplify deployment, decrease management and troubleshooting complexity, and quickly implement changes," said Gil Sturgis, Network Services Manager at Florida Hospital. "CiscoWorks WLSE Version 2.5 adds the ability to quickly and easily detect, locate and disable unauthorized 'rogue' access points which helps us to protect the confidentiality of our patients' information."
Additionally with CiscoWorks WLSE Version 2.5, network managers can identify and locate sources of interference and simplify new deployments by automating expensive and time-consuming set-up tasks like site surveys and configuring and installing new APs.
"With the flexible and upgradeable Cisco Aironet platform, we have created a way for organizations to migrate from existing 802.11b technology to higher performance 54 Mbps 802.11g-based networks at a very affordable cost," said Bill Rossi, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco's Wireless Networking Business Unit. "Combined with CiscoWorks WLSE Version 2.5, customers gain complete visibility into their wireless LAN from a single management console and a full set of air/RF tools that help simplify the deployment and on-going management of secure, robust and reliable wireless LANs."
In a related announcement today, Cisco also announced the results of a study entitled "2003 Wireless LAN Benefits Study," by NOP World - Technology, which substantiates productivity gains achieved by organizations using wireless LAN technology. For details, please refer to the press release entitled "Cisco Announces New Study Demonstrating Increasing Financial Returns with Wider Deployment of Wireless LANs."
Pricing and Availability
IEEE 802.11g-based versions of the Cisco Aironet 1100 and 1200 Series Access Points have a U.S. list price of $599 and $899, respectively. The 802.11g upgrade kit has a $149 U.S. list price. All are shipping this month. The Cisco Aironet IEEE 802.11a/b/g CardBus has a $169 U.S. list price and the PCI Card has a $249 U.S. list price. Both are scheduled to ship in Q1CY04. These prices reflect no increase from Cisco Aironet 802.11b-based versions, thus providing far better performance and security for the same price.
Both availability and pricing of Cisco Compatible laptops and client devices are determined by the mobile device manufacturer. For specific details please contact the Cisco Compatible Extensions participating company directly. Cisco Compatible products are also highlighted on the www.cisco.com/go/ciscocompatible/wireless Web site.
