Cisco AIR-CT5508-250-K9 Full English Product Description

1. Short Official Part & License Label

AIR-CT5508-250-K9: Cisco 5508 Series High-Capacity Enterprise Wireless LAN Controller, Base Permanent License for 250 Lightweight Aironet Access Points, 1U Rack-Mount CUWN WLC, 8×1G SFP Gigabit Uplink Slots, 8 Gbps Non-Blocking Switching Throughput, Optional Redundant AC Power Supply, Optimized for 802.11n / 802.11ac Wave 1 APs, Full Unified Wireless Threat Stack, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, Multi-Context Multi-Tenant Isolation, SSO Stateful Active/Active HA & Multi-Node Virtual Clustering Support, End-of-Sale Legacy Large Campus & Headquarters WLC

2. Full Product Overview

Cisco AIR-CT5508-250-K9 is a high-capacity flagship model of the discontinued Cisco 5500 Series wireless LAN controller, built as a core hardware component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network (CUWN) architectureCisco. It is engineered for full-scale university campuses, large enterprise headquarters core wireless gateways, national retail central hubs, high-density multi-building office complexes, and premium carrier-grade multi-tenant MSSP inspection nodes that demand scalable centralized thin AP management with expandable maximum AP capacity.

As a high-performance wired-wireless convergence platform, it establishes DTLS encrypted CAPWAP tunnels to all joined lightweight Aironet access points, unifying RF orchestration, enterprise wireless security policy enforcement, seamless Layer 2/3 client mobility, VoWLAN voice QoS, isolated guest access services, and embedded wireless intrusion prevention (wIPS) in a single chassis. This model ships with a permanent built-in license supporting up to 250 APs; incremental AP adder licenses can be purchased to expand capacity all the way up to the hardware maximum of 500 APs without hardware replacement, protecting long-term IT investment as wireless coverage scales rapidly.

The 5508 platform delivers non-blocking 8 Gbps wired throughput, equipped with eight SFP Gigabit uplink slots compatible with copper, short-range and long-range fiber transceivers for flexible uplink media selection. It supports optional dual redundant power supplies and hot-swappable cooling fans to eliminate single points of hardware failure, meeting carrier-grade uptime requirements for mission-critical campus wireless networks. Standout enterprise capabilities include Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA with full AP/client session synchronization, logical multi-context segmentation for isolated multi-tenant policy domains, and Cisco CleanAir spectrum intelligence to detect, classify and mitigate RF interference across 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bandsCisco.

The entire Cisco 5500 Series has reached Cisco End-of-Sale (EoS) and End-of-Support (EoL); all available inventory consists of new surplus, used, or certified refurbished hardware. Administrators can configure standalone instances via local HTTPS web GUI, serial/SSH CLI, or centrally orchestrate hybrid physical/virtual wireless fleets through Cisco Prime Infrastructure.

Key Differentiator vs lower-tier 5508 models: Larger base AP license (250 APs) supports dense multi-floor campus deployments, larger session tables and higher roaming client concurrency, with full linear capacity expansion up to 500 APs via additive licensesCisco.

3. Complete Hardware Physical & Interface Specifications

Form Factor & Mechanical

Rack Form Factor: Standard 1U 19-inch rack-mount chassis
Dimensions: 440 mm (W) × 539 mm (D) × 44.5 mm (H) / 17.30 × 21.20 × 1.75 inches
Unit Weight: 9.1 kg (20 lbs) with dual power supplies installed
Cooling: Multiple internal hot-swappable cooling fans
Power Supply: Single integrated AC PSU standard; optional redundant second PSU for fault tolerance

Rear Panel Interface Layout

8× SFP Gigabit Ethernet uplink slots (supports SFP copper, short-range fiber, long-range fiber transceivers)
1× 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 dedicated Service Port for isolated out-of-band management
Dual console ports: DB-9 RS-232 serial console + mini-USB console port for local CLI configuration and recovery
Inter-controller redundancy port for SSO HA session synchronization
USB port for local firmware upload, configuration backup and restore
Dual AC power supply input slots (primary + optional redundant PSU)
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

Input AC Range: 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz universal power input
Maximum Power Consumption: 115 W per power supply
Heat Dissipation: 392 BTU/hour at full load
Operating Temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F)
Storage Temperature: -25°C to 70°C (-13°F to 158°F)
Humidity: 10%–95% non-condensing for operation and storage
Regulatory Certifications: UL 60950-1 safety, CE, FCC Class A EMC, ICES-003, VCCI, NEBS Level 3 compliance

Official AIR-CT5508-250 Licensed Performance Benchmarks

Maximum Stateless Firewall Throughput: 8 Gbps non-blocking wired switching capacity
Multiprotocol Stateful Inspection Throughput (FW+NAT+AVC+IPS): Up to 6 Gbps
IPsec VPN Encrypted Throughput (AES-256 Fastpath): Up to 4 Gbps
Maximum Concurrent Active Stateful Wireless Clients: 7,000 total across all managed APs
New Connections Per Second: Up to 120,000
Max Site-to-Site IPsec VPN Peer Tunnels: 4,000
Max Concurrent AnyConnect SSL Remote Access VPN Sessions: 10,000 simultaneous users
Factory Licensed AP Count: 250 lightweight APs (expandable up to hardware maximum 500 APs via incremental AP adder licenses)
Supported Unique WLAN SSIDs: Up to 512 broadcast/hidden SSIDs
Maximum VLAN Interfaces: Up to 512 802.1Q tagged VLANs
Max AP Groups for Segmented Policy Control: 500 independent AP groups
Max FlexConnect Remote Branch Groups: 100 groups (max 25 APs per group)
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)
Supported Wireless Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wave1, WMM, 802.11k/r/u/w/h
Max Detected Rogue APs: 2,000; Max Rogue Wireless Clients: 2,500
Max RFID Tags Tracking: 5,000 tags for location-based wireless services
Hardware TLS/SSL Decryption Throughput: Up to 3 Gbps for bulk encrypted SaaS and web application trafficCisco

4. 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 to reduce expensive WAN backhaul bandwidth consumption, enterprise wireless mesh networks, and OfficeExtend teleworker APs for secure remote home office wireless connectivity.

2. Cisco CleanAir Intelligent RF Spectrum Management

Continuous real-time 2.4GHz/5GHz RF 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 troubleshootingCisco.

3. Enterprise-Grade Wireless Security Stack

Authentication: IEEE 802.1X EAP-TLS/PEAP/EAP-FAST, local internal user database, external RADIUS/TACACS+ AAA integration
Encryption Protocols: WEP, WPA2-PSK/Enterprise (802.11i RSN), AES-CCMP, TKIP
Threat Mitigation: Built-in wIPS wireless intrusion prevention, rogue AP containment, wireless client isolation, MAC address filtering, dynamic per-SSID VLAN assignment
Multi-Context Virtualization: Up to 50 independent logical security contexts for MSSP multi-tenant or enterprise department isolation
Compliance: PCI DSS validated architecture for retail wireless POS payment deploymentsCisco

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 powered by NBAR2 for thousands of enterprise, SaaS, social media and cloud applications; application-based traffic filtering, QoS marking, rate limiting and traffic reporting for granular policy optimizationCisco.

6. Integrated SD-WAN & Full VPN Services

Dynamic SD-WAN multi-path selection for hybrid broadband/MPLS WAN aggregation; 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 global distributed workforce. Distributed VPN supported in cluster mode to eliminate single-node VPN bottlenecks.

7. High Availability & Carrier-Grade Resilience

Active/Standby Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA with full AP and client session synchronization, zero service interruption during controller failure or maintenance
Active/Active load-balanced multi-controller virtual clustering for linear throughput scaling across multiple 5508 nodes
LAG EtherChannel link aggregation supported on all 8 SFP uplink ports for bandwidth aggregation and link redundancy
Optional dual redundant power supplies and redundant cooling fans eliminate single points of hardware failure

8. Traffic Visibility, Logging & Compliance

Real-time traffic monitoring via local HTTPS web GUI; secure syslog, SNMP v3 and NetFlow Secure Event Logging (NSEL) export to third-party SIEM platforms. Persistent audit logging meets strict regulatory requirements for large enterprise PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR audit frameworks.

9. DevOps Automation & Centralized Orchestration

Local CLI console and ASDM graphical web GUI for single-instance administration; RESTful API for automated controller provisioning, policy push and lifecycle management; unified cross-platform policy distribution, centralized logging and cross-device reporting via Firepower Management Center (FMC); centralized license entitlement tracking via Cisco Smart License Manager.

5. Typical Deployment Scenarios

Full-scale university & K-12 multi-building campus core wireless gateway supporting up to 250 APs, expandable to full 500 AP capacity
Large enterprise headquarters internet border security gateway with high-volume wireless traffic
National retail chain central wireless hub for hundreds of store remote APs with PCI DSS POS compliance
Premium carrier-grade MSSP multi-tenant virtual security inspection nodes supporting thousands of enterprise remote users
Ultra-high-density SDDC north-south perimeter and large-scale east-west workload segmentation
Global enterprise branch consolidation replacing multiple high-end physical WLC units with pooled scalable wireless capacity
UCS-based on-prem wireless deployments with heavy bulk TLS/SSL decryption for SaaS and remote workforce traffic

6. Short Sales Listing Tagline

Cisco AIR-CT5508-250-K9 Legacy 1U Rackmount High-Capacity Enterprise Wireless LAN Controller, Base Licensed for Max 250 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, 50 Multi-Context Multi-Tenant Isolation, SSO Stateful Active/Active HA & Multi-Node Clustering Support, Managed via Local FDM Web GUI or Centralized Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Scalable CUWN WLC for Full-Size University Campuses & Large Enterprise Headquarters Perimeters


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