Cisco Merges Meraki and Catalyst Into Single Wireless Brand 'Cisco Wireless'

'Cisco Wireless' is now the new unified brand that combines Cisco's Meraki and Catalyst product lines into a single wireless offering

Cisco, on Tuesday, announced the merger of its Meraki and Catalyst product lines into a single wireless brand called Cisco Wireless, at the company's Live conference in Australia on Tuesday. This consolidation aims to simplify licensing, add more value, and provide a seamless wireless management experience across cloud, on-premises, and hybrid networks.

The new Cisco Wireless brand will encompass both Meraki and Catalyst products.

Unified Licensing

Cisco has streamlined its licensing structure, offering Essentials and Advantage tiers with different levels of functionality.

The new 'Cisco Wireless' offers a single license that covers the entire Wi-Fi 7 solution, simplifying the purchasing and management process.

Wi-Fi 7 Access Points

Cisco has debuted two new Wi-Fi 7 access points, the CW9178 and CW9176, which can be managed using either on-prem controllers or cloud tools. Wi-Fi 7 offers significant performance upgrades, including higher data transfer rates, reduced network congestion, and support for advanced applications like AR and VR.

The new access points are AI-native, self-configuring, and built for resilient, secure connections.

Global Consistency

For Global Consistency in the new Cisco Wireless product line, regional variations are now implemented in software, allowing for consistent hardware across different markets.

Software-Defined Adjustments: The hardware remains consistent across regions, with local variations handled through software configurations, ensuring compliance with regional regulations without the need for different hardware models.

Previously, Cisco had to create different product models to meet regional regulations and requirements, which led to regional variations in their devices. This meant that devices sold in different regions might have had slight variations in hardware to comply with local regulations, such as radio frequency (RF) power limits, wireless spectrum usage, and other regulatory requirements.

With the new unified Cisco Wireless' brand, these regional variations are now implemented in software rather than hardware. This allows for a single product model that works globally, automatically adapting to local regulations through software configurations. This change simplifies the manufacturing process, reduces costs, and provides customers with consistent hardware that can be used worldwide.

Support, previously optional, is now included in the new licenses.

Deployment

Cisco Wireless solutions can be managed on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment, providing ultimate flexibility.

This consolidation is expected to reduce design and manufacturing work for Cisco while providing customers with simplified product portfolios and licenses starting from December 2024. 

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