Likelihood to Recommend [Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller's] software quality has been shed in recent years. The only problem I have with it is its inability to work with older Cisco Access Points. However, that's to be expected for any deployment. While the controller's UI works well, some areas could be improved. API integrations lack flexibility. [I feel] it's time for policy redesign. It can be a little difficult to determine coding quality.
Read full review If we are thinking about replacing old Cisco AireOS controllers with a new technology, we can only choose Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers. Configuration based on Profiles and SiteTag is convenient and easier compared to the previous configuration. You can see that the entire controller has been designed from scratch. Support for new AccessPoints in Wifi 6 offers great possibilities.
Read full review Pros The GUI on the Cisco 8540 WLC is much better designed than other Cisco products. Its easy to navigate between the different settings to find what is needed. The AP groups allows touching multiple APs at one time. It also allows us to create standard SSIDs that can be used at all sites that connect back to it, this saves a lot of time instead of hitting each site with a local controller. Read full review Easily manages a large number of APs. It can push out settings or a new OS to a large group of APs at once. The GUI is very intuitive, and follows the model Cisco has created for many of their products. It integrates well with our ISE environment for handling RADIUS requests. Read full review Cons Code quality is a bit hit and miss. This will be great for a while, then things will be bad for a while, then we'll do it again. The UI of the controller works, but could do with a refresh, and I would like to see some improvement on layout and organization. The constant code/firmware upgrades and the QA of new code could be better. Maybe the compatibility with old Cisco Access Points could be improved, but it's normal in all kinds of deployments. Read full review add more sub-genres to the main menu make the product easier for people to use, that aren't working with it all day make the initial setup menu, where policies can be attached to Tags etc. more accessible When selecting APs from the Landing Page, make it possible to rename them immediately without having to switch to "Configuration" -> "Access Points" Read full review Usability Very well made product. Very stable. We have had no issues administering the 8540.
Read full review Reliability and Availability The availability of the cisco 9800 wireless lan controller depends on several factors including deloyment mode of the controllers itself, network size and architecture and the maitenance and support factor. It is designed to meet the needs of a large enterprise and together with a cisco support contract any outages will be covered
Read full review Performance Fully robust and well-built solution. The solution fully is able to support a full campus WiFi environment without having any issues. There is no slowness to setting up a WiFi solution or any delays when changes are made. The product [can handle] beyond the listed specifications, but Cisco has kept performance and throughput to allow for a robust and smooth experience.
Read full review Support Rating It is a better product. The evolution is positive.
Read full review Great contact to Wireless Innovate Program Team and TAC to solve our problems.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We have [done] some work before with the Cisco 3504 product, but the more recent Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller provides a wider range of capabilities for managing the wireless network and each individual device [and] also being able to handle more users. Unfortunately, we didn't test and deploy equivalent products from other concurrent companies.
Read full review We original worked with a Linksys based wireless system. Cisco improved our network reliability and speed which were the key reasons we upgraded our hardware in the first place. It appears that Cisco is better suited in a Business environment than its competitors are. I look forward to completing the network and to see it fully functional.
Read full review Return on Investment The Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller allows you to reduce your hardware footprint of wireless controllers deployed in your environment. Instead of having a controller per site deployed, you can have a couple of 8540 controllers in your data center that can handle up 6000 Access Points. Some of the savings on hardware cost is offset by the cost of redundant WAN circuits. The access points will continue to function when connectivity to the Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller is unreachable, but it will not allow any new connections in that wireless environment. Read full review We did replace several WLCs in our site with a redundant [Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller] and saved the cost [Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller] with IOS-XE enable us to manage APs in our branches easily, easier than AireOS ISSU enable us to do firmware upgrade with minimum downtime, a site with 24/7 activity will not be interrupted anymore Read full review ScreenShots