Product Overview
The Cisco Wireless Location Appliance is part of the Cisco Location Solution, the industry's first location solution that simultaneously tracks thousands of 802.11 wireless devices from directly within a WLAN infrastructure, increasing asset visibility and control of the RF environment. Additionally, the appliance provides location-based alerts for business policy enforcement and records rich historical location information that can be used for location trending, rapid problem resolution, and RF capacity management. By enabling the deployment of powerful location-based applications such as Enhanced 911 (E911) services, asset management, and workflow automation through integration with the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance API, the appliance becomes a critical solution for customers ranging from enterprises to vertical industries such as healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, and federal organizations. Figure 1 shows the Cisco 2700 Series Wireless Location Appliance.
By design, the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance provides native location services in the WLAN infrastructure to lower customers' total cost of ownership and extend the value and security of the existing WLAN infrastructure by making it "location ready." As a component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance uses Cisco wireless LAN controllers and Cisco Aironet ® lightweight access points to track the physical location of wireless devices to within a few meters. For areas requiring very high fidelity and deterministic location, Cisco Compatible Extensions Wi-Fi tags support chokepoint-based notifications. The centralized WLAN management capabilities and intuitive GUI of the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS) are extended for managing and configuring the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance, making setup fast and intuitive.Product Architecture
The Cisco Location Solution is comprised of the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance in conjunction with the Cisco Wireless Control System (WCS), Cisco wireless LAN controllers, and Cisco Aironet lightweight access points. The Cisco Wireless Location Solution uses the same Cisco lightweight access points that deliver traffic as location "readers" for 802.11 wireless clients and Wi-Fi tags.
The Cisco Wireless Location Appliance provides a wide range of features applicable to business needs and includes:Chokepoint Support
The Cisco Wireless Location Appliance supports applications and areas requiring very high fidelity and deterministic location to within a few feet or several centimeters. Notifications are triggered by chokepoints as Cisco Compatible Extensions Wi-Fi tags as they come within range of a chokepoint that is mounted in the area requiring monitoring. Notifications can be triggered for entry or exit of a tag from a specified zone, doorway, or gate. Applications for chokepoints vary from general-purpose uses such as theft prevention of high-value assets to industry-specific process control events, such as those used in manufacturing plantsLocation Tracking
Once network maps and access points are added to the appliance, RF predictions and heat maps can be generated to graphically display the location of thousands of devices on the site's floor plans. Cisco WCS displays this location information visually, providing an immediate location application for customers who want to enhance their RF capacity management, utilize location- based security, and have asset visibility for WLAN devices. This location information is also available to third-party applications through a Simple Object Access Protocol/Extensible Markup Language (SOAP/XML) API on the appliance, creating an extensible foundation for a host of rich location-based applications.Intuitive Appliance Management
Cisco WCS manages the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance through an intuitive and visually rich GUI providing centralized management and configuration. For greater scalability, Cisco WCS can manage multiple Cisco Wireless Location Appliances. Cisco WCS view filters and flexible search criteria make targeted viewing of location data easy and adaptive to user needs. A Cisco WCS license with location services must be installed in order to interface with the Cisco Wireless Location Appliance and display location services information.Wireless Security and Rapid Troubleshooting
The Cisco Wireless Location Appliance allows IT managers to quickly and accurately locate security threats such as rogue access points and devices. Rogue access points create potential security breaches and unsecured WLAN connections that put the entire network at risk. Rogue devices are installed by employees or intruders. The ability to locate these devices more accurately helps IT managers rapidly isolate security threats and unauthorized attempts to access the network. Accurate detection of these rogue devices provides enhanced WLAN security by helping ensure that legitimate client stations associate only with trusted access pointsFigure 3 shows a targeted view for rogue access points and devices. Targeted views can be created for a variety of selections, including device categories, logical names, time detected and physical location such as floor area.
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