Cisco AIR-CT5508-12-K9 Full English Product Description
1. Short Official Part & License Label
AIR-CT5508-12-K9: Cisco 5508 Wireless LAN Controller Entry Base Model, Pre-Licensed for 12 Lightweight Aironet Access Points, 1U Rack-Mount Enterprise CUWN WLC, 8×1G SFP Gigabit Uplink Ports, Total 8 Gbps Non-Blocking Throughput, Redundant PSU Support, Optimized for 802.11n / 802.11ac Wave 1 APs, Full Unified Wireless Security Stack, CleanAir RF Management, FlexConnect, Multi-Context, SSO Stateful HA, End-of-Sale Legacy Mid-Enterprise Wireless Controller
2. Full Product Overview
Cisco AIR-CT5508-12-K9 is the entry baseline model of the legacy Cisco 5500 Series wireless LAN controller family, built as a core component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network (CUWN) architecture for small-to-medium enterprise headquarters, multi-building campus satellite sites, large branch offices, and low-density multi-tenant MSSP deployments that require scalable centralized lightweight AP management with room for future capacity expansionCisco.
This unit ships with a permanent built-in license supporting up to 12 lightweight APs; incremental AP add-on licenses can be purchased to scale capacity all the way up to the hardware maximum of 500 APs, protecting long-term IT investment without hardware replacement. It delivers enterprise-class non-blocking 8 Gbps wired throughput, supporting CAPWAP/DTLS encrypted tunnels for all joined thin Aironet access points, unifying RF control, wireless security policy enforcement, seamless Layer 2/3 client mobility, enterprise-grade VoWLAN QoS, guest access services, and embedded wireless intrusion prevention (wIPS).
The 5508 hardware platform is optimized for 802.11n and 802.11ac Wave 1 APs, equipped with 8 SFP Gigabit uplink slots for flexible fiber/copper uplink media selection, and supports optional dual redundant power supplies for carrier-grade uptime. It includes critical enterprise resiliency features such as Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA with full AP/client session sync, multi-context multi-tenant logical firewalls, and Cisco CleanAir spectrum intelligence to mitigate RF interference.
The entire 5500 Series reached Cisco End-of-Sale (EoS) and End-of-Support (EoL); all available inventory consists of surplus, used, or certified refurbished units. Centralized fleet management is supported via Cisco Prime Infrastructure and legacy Wireless Control System (WCS), while standalone administration is available via local HTTPS web GUI, SSH/Telnet CLI, or serial console portCisco.
3. Complete Hardware Physical & Interface Specifications
Form Factor & Mechanical
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Rack Form Factor: Standard 1U 19-inch rack-mount chassis
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Dimensions: 440 mm (W) × 539 mm (D) × 44.5 mm (H) / 17.30 × 21.20 × 1.75 inches
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Unit Weight: 9.1 kg (20 lbs) with dual power supplies installed
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Cooling: Multiple internal hot-swappable cooling fans
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Power Supply: Single integrated AC PSU standard; optional redundant second PSU for fault tolerance
Rear Panel Interface Layout
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8× SFP Gigabit Ethernet uplink slots (supports SFP copper, short/long-range fiber transceivers)
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1× 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 Service Port for out-of-band management
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DB-9 RS-232 serial console port + mini-USB console port for local CLI configuration
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Redundancy port for inter-controller SSO HA synchronization
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USB port for local firmware upload, config backup and restore
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Dual AC power supply input slots (primary + optional redundant PSU)
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Physical security lock slot for anti-theft cable attachment
Front Panel LED Status Indicators
Global status LEDs: Power 1, Power 2, System Health, Fault Alarm, Fan Status
Per-port Link/Activity LEDs for all 8 SFP uplink interfaces and service port
Power & Environmental Parameters
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Input AC: 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz universal power input
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Maximum Power Consumption: 115 W per power supply
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Operating Temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
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Storage Temperature: -25°C to 70°C (-13°F to 158°F)
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Humidity: 10%–95% non-condensing for operation and storage
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Regulatory Certifications: UL 60950-1, CE, FCC Class A EMC, ICES-003, VCCI, NEBS Level 3 compliant
4. Official Capacity & Performance Benchmarks
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Factory Licensed AP Count: 12 lightweight APs (expandable up to hardware maximum 500 APs via incremental AP licenses)
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Maximum Concurrent Wireless Client Stations: Up to 7,000 total across all managed APs
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System Non-Blocking Wired Throughput: 8 Gbps
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Supported Unique WLAN SSIDs: Up to 512 broadcast/hidden SSIDs
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Maximum VLAN Interfaces: Up to 512 802.1Q tagged VLANs
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Max AP Groups for Segmented Policy Control: 500 independent AP groups
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Max FlexConnect Remote Branch Groups: 100 groups (max 25 APs per group)
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Roaming Capabilities: Intra-controller Layer 2 seamless roaming, Layer 3 inter-VLAN mobility, 802.11r fast secure roaming (supports 14,000 PMK cache roaming clients)
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Supported Wireless Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wave1, WMM, 802.11k/r/u/w/h
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Max Rogue AP Detection Capacity: 2,000 detected rogue APs; 2,500 rogue wireless clients
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Max RFID Tags Tracking: 5,000 tags for location-based services
5. Complete Unified Wireless & Security Feature Suite
1. Centralized Lightweight AP Lifecycle Management
DTLS encrypted CAPWAP tunnel termination for all joined APs; zero-touch AP auto-discovery via DHCP Option 43; bulk AP firmware upgrades, unified RF configuration and global policy deployment across all managed access points. Supports FlexConnect local switching for remote branch WAN bandwidth savings, wireless mesh networks, and OfficeExtend teleworker APs for secure remote home office wireless.
2. Cisco CleanAir Intelligent RF Spectrum Management
Continuous real-time 2.4GHz/5GHz interference monitoring, dynamic transmit power & auto-channel assignment, wireless coverage hole detection, rogue AP detection, classification and active wireless containment, persistent historical RF reporting for capacity planning and wireless troubleshooting.
3. Enterprise-Grade Wireless Security Stack
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Authentication: IEEE 802.1X EAP-TLS/PEAP/EAP-FAST, local internal user database, external RADIUS/TACACS+ AAA integration
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Encryption Protocols: WEP, WPA2-PSK/Enterprise (802.11i RSN), AES-CCMP, TKIP
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Threat Mitigation: Built-in wIPS wireless intrusion prevention, rogue AP containment, wireless client isolation, MAC address filtering, dynamic per-SSID VLAN assignment
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Multi-Context Virtualization: Up to 50 independent logical security contexts for MSSP multi-tenant or enterprise department isolation
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Compliance: PCI DSS validated architecture for retail wireless POS payment deployments
4. Mobility, Voice & Video QoS
Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) traffic prioritization, Call Admission Control (CAC) for VoWLAN VoIP handsets, Cisco VideoStream multicast optimization for wireless IPTV, configurable bidirectional per-client bandwidth policing, fast secure roaming via 802.11r to eliminate voice call drops during client movement.
5. Application Visibility and Control (AVC)
Layer 7 deep application identification for thousands of enterprise, SaaS, social media and cloud applications; application-based traffic filtering, QoS marking, rate limiting and traffic reporting for granular policy optimization.
6. Scalable End-to-End VPN Services
Site-to-Site IPsec IKEv1/IKEv2 tunnels with AES-256 encryption; AnyConnect SSL remote access VPN with split tunneling, clientless web portal and secure mobility for distributed remote workforce; centralized VPN gateway consolidation across multi-branch enterprise networks.
7. High Availability & Carrier-Grade Resilience
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Active/Standby Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA with full AP and client session synchronization, zero service interruption during controller failure or maintenance
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Active/Active load-balanced multi-controller clustering for linear throughput scaling
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LAG EtherChannel link aggregation supported on all 8 SFP uplink ports for bandwidth aggregation and link redundancy
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Optional dual redundant power supplies and redundant cooling fans to eliminate single points of hardware failure
8. Traffic Visibility, Logging & Compliance
Real-time traffic monitoring via local HTTPS web GUI; secure syslog, SNMP v2c/v3 and NetFlow Secure Event Logging (NSEL) export to third-party SIEM platforms. Persistent audit logging meets strict regulatory requirements for enterprise PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR audit frameworks.
9. Multi-Mode Device Management & DevOps Orchestration
Local CLI console and ASDM graphical web GUI for single-instance administration; RESTful API for automated controller provisioning, policy deployment and lifecycle management; unified cross-platform policy distribution, centralized logging and cross-device reporting via Cisco Prime Infrastructure; centralized license entitlement tracking via Cisco Smart License Manager.
6. Typical Deployment Scenarios
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Small-to-medium enterprise headquarters campus wireless core gateway with up to 12 APs, expandable to full 500 AP capacity
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Multi-building campus satellite sites and large enterprise remote branch offices
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Low-density mid-tier MSSP multi-tenant virtual security inspection nodes with isolated multi-context domains
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Medium-scale virtualized data center east-west workload segmentation for 802.11n/ac wireless access points
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Global enterprise branch consolidation replacing multiple low-end wireless controllers with scalable pooled capacity
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Lab, training and pre-production security testing environments with expandable wireless coverage
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Retail chain central wireless gateways supporting wireless POS payment terminals with PCI DSS compliance requirements
7. Short Sales Listing Tagline
Cisco AIR-CT5508-12-K9 Legacy 1U Rackmount Enterprise Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Licensed for Max 12 Lightweight Aironet APs (Expandable to 500 APs), 8×1G SFP Gigabit Uplink Ports, 8Gbps Non-Blocking Throughput, Optional Redundant PSU Support, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, AVC Layer7 Application Control, Multi-Context Multi-Tenant Isolation, SSO Stateful Active/Standby HA & Multi-Node Clustering, Managed via Web GUI/SSH/Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Scalable Enterprise CUWN WLC for Small-Medium Campus & Large Branch Deployments
