The Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points includes the 9115 and 9117, and designed to meet high demand network access.
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WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud
Score 9.2 out of 10
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The vendor says WatchGuard Wi-Fi Cloud is where you take your access points to
unlock their full potential. With a Secure Wi-Fi license, you get patented WIPS
security, compliance reporting including PCI, Wi-Fi vulnerability assessment
reporting, and every enterprise-grade WLAN feature you’ll need to take your access
points into the toughest environments – with features like live floorplan
views, hotspot 2.0, application firewall, and role-based access with 802.1x. WatchGuard
Wi-Fi Cloud has…
Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points are well suited for dense Client solutions. We have used these in areas where we have a large number of guests that need top-notch connectivity without ever losing connection. The one area where we do have difficulty is in outdoor deployment, where large areas need to be covered, but we do not have physical connectivity in order to get the access points connected. This is not an access point issue but more of a physical connectivity limitation.
The WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud works well in any scenario. With the number of AP model options, this solution can work at a coffee shop all the way up to a multi-tenant facility with thousands of users.
So this product actually helps in healthcare facilities where we have a wireless, we call this WOW monitors. It's Wireless On Wheels. So we use those monitors to the patient's room to room. So in that case, rather than connecting it to wire, so it really helps us to connect through the WIFI and access the patients whenever we be needed.
They could definitely download their code faster. When we first get them out of the box and join them on the network, it takes probably 20, 30 minutes per access point to download the new code from the wireless controller and then reboot itself and then come back online.
When you're configuring it on the controller, if you want to switch access point groups, we have them broken out per site. Every time you add it to one of those groups, it also has to reboot. That's like downtime for us. That could be improved, I think.
On a scale of 1–10, we would rate our likelihood to renew Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points as a 9. The access points have provided reliable wireless connectivity, strong security features, and consistent performance, which are critical for supporting both in-office and hybrid work. Minor improvements could make the experience fully seamless.
The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points have been a solid deployment for me. Using their interface is a mix of new and old. They run IOS, so if you know the CLI, you can easily navigate around them. You can join them to an older controller if it supports a certain version, you can join it to a new 9800 controller--very straight forward--and you can run the embedded wireless controller on them directly. I've found this to be very useful at smaller sites. The Cisco Catalyst 9120 Access Points are not limited to feature sets like the older generations' mobility express platform.
On a scale of 1–10, I would rate the overall usability of Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points as an 8. The interface is intuitive, and common tasks like monitoring and basic configuration are straightforward. While some advanced features and troubleshooting functions remain complex, the majority of operations are user-friendly, making the system efficient for IT teams managing hybrid and in-office environments.
Using Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points you can expect good performance, if not excellent. Coupled with other tools and managment systems you can easily gain good insight and ease of management. Flexible deployment variations help you adopt the equipment to work for most any required scenario you could think of. It's a well designed and evolved product.
Cisco has been very good at correcting early issues with their code. Their TAC support has been fantastic when I would open a case with issues I was facing. Even though the hardware was new, they were very familiar with the interfaces and issues I was having. In the past I've been concerned about adopting a new product right away because of support issues. That was not the case here. Once I had the deployment up and running, they have had a good run of reliability.
The support team is great! I have never had an issue getting the support I needed. They make it a point to stick with the issue until it's resolved to the customer's satisfaction. They do not make you feel like you need to hurry up and close the ticket. They make sure the solution is working as designed.
On a scale of 1–10, I would rate the in-person training for Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points as an 8. The sessions were interactive and provided hands-on experience, which helped IT staff understand configuration, troubleshooting, and advanced features. Greater depth in real-world scenario exercises could make the training even more effective.
On a scale of 1–10, I would rate the online training for Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points as a 6. While the training materials were comprehensive and covered essential topics, some modules were overly technical and not always intuitive for all users. Additional practical examples and interactive exercises would improve understanding and make the training more effective.
Key insights from implementing Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points include the importance of thorough planning, pilot testing, and involving both IT teams and end-users early in the process. Centralized management and robust security features simplify long-term operations, but adequate training and clear documentation are essential to maximize adoption and ensure smooth, reliable connectivity across hybrid work environments.
We are migrating from Aironet platform to Cisco Catalyst 9100 Access Points. That's more flexible, and we do it to sync switching, SDWAN, and wifi under one family.
WatchGuard Secure Wi-Fi Cloud offers the cloud management solution unlike Ubiquiti which needs a controller that you need to setup, configure, update, and maintain. Also Security is offered with Secure Wi-Fi cloud.
These access points offer flexibility in deployment scenarios, supporting both standalone and controller-based architectures. Organisations can choose the model that best suits their current needs and scale as their requirements grow. Cisco Aironet Access Points are compatible with Cisco's Wireless LAN controllers, allowing for centralized management and monitoring of a large number of access points across the network. With the recent changes, it will even support cloud base controllers.
