Cisco Flex 7500 gateway/controller

The Cisco Flex 7500 Series Cloud Controller provides centralized control, management, and troubleshooting. It supports the Cisco FlexConnect ™ solution for a lean branch network that uses access points connected to controllers in the data center over a wide area network. Data traffic from the access points is switched locally at the branch, so that in the rare event of a WAN failure at the branch, wireless clients remain connected on the network with access to local resources within the branch.

Cisco Flex 7500 Series Cloud Controllers automate wireless configuration and management functions and allow network managers to have the visibility and control needed to cost-effectively manage, secure, and optimize the performance of their branch networks. When traffic is directed to the controller in FlexConnect central switched mode, the Cisco Flex 7500 Series supports Cisco ® Application Visibility and Control (AVC). Cisco AVC includes the NBAR-2 engine, Cisco's deep packet inspection (DPI) capability that classifies applications, applies quality of service (QoS) to either drop or mark the traffic, and prioritizes business-critical applications in the network.

Cisco AVC uses NetFlow Version 9 to export the flows to Cisco Prime™ Infrastructure or a third-party NetFlow Collector. The Cisco Flex 7500 Series in central switched mode also supports Bonjour Services Directory to enable Bonjour Services to be advertised and utilized in a separate Layer 3 network. Wireless Policy engine is a wireless profiler and policy feature on the Cisco Flex 7500 Series wireless controller that enables profiling of wireless devices and enforcement of policies such as VLAN assignment, QoS, ACL, and time-of-day-based access. As a component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, this controller provides real-time communications between Cisco Aironet® access points, Cisco Prime Infrastructure, and the Cisco Mobility Services Engine (MSE), and is interoperable with other Cisco controllers. With integrated Cisco CleanAir ® technology, the Cisco Flex 7500 Series provides the industry's only self-healing and self-optimizing wireless network for branches.