Cisco AIR-CT3504-25-K9 Full English Product Description

1. Short Official Part & License Label

AIR-CT3504-25-K9: Cisco 3504 Series Mid-Capacity Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Pre-Licensed for Max 25 Lightweight Aironet Access Points, Compact Desktop Chassis with Optional 1U Rack Mount Kit, 4× Multigigabit Ethernet Ports (2 Ports Support IEEE 802.3af PoE), CUWN Unified Wireless Architecture, DNA-Ready, Supports 802.11ac Wave2 APs, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, AVC Layer7 Application Control, Full AP+Client SSO Stateful HA, End-of-Sale Legacy SMB & Large Branch WLC

2. Full Product Overview

The Cisco AIR-CT3504-25-K9 is a mid-tier wireless LAN controller within the discontinued Cisco 3500 Series platform, designed for large enterprise remote branches, multi-room retail chains, satellite K-12 campuses, medium-density SMB offices and small hospitality venues that require scalable centralized CAPWAP lightweight AP management with higher AP capacity than the entry AIR-CT3504-8-K9 variant. As a core component of Cisco Unified Wireless Network (CUWN), it terminates DTLS encrypted CAPWAP tunnels to all joined Aironet thin APs to deliver unified RF control, enterprise wireless security, seamless Layer2/3 client mobility, VoWLAN QoS optimization, isolated guest access services, and built-in wireless intrusion prevention (wIPS)Cisco.

This unit ships with a permanent built-in license supporting up to 25 lightweight APs; incremental AP adder licenses can expand capacity up to the hardware maximum of 150 APs without hardware replacement. It features four integrated Multigigabit Ethernet ports, two of which provide IEEE 802.3af PoE power output to directly power connected APs and eliminate external PoE injectors for on-site deployments. It is optimized for 802.11ac Wave2 APs and equipped with Cisco CleanAir spectrum intelligence to mitigate RF interference across 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, plus FlexConnect local switching to reduce costly WAN backhaul bandwidth consumption for distributed branch sitesCisco.

The entire Cisco 3504 platform reached Cisco End-of-Sale (EoS) on Jan 31, 2021 and End-of-Support (EoL) Jan 31, 2027; all available inventory consists of surplus, used or certified refurbished hardware. It interoperates with all Aironet 1700/1800/2700/2800/3700/3800 Wave 1/2 lightweight access points. Standalone configuration is available via local HTTPS web GUI, serial/SSH CLI, while centralized multi-controller fleet management is supported through Cisco Prime Infrastructure. A key enterprise advantage over older 2504 WLCs: full Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA synchronizes both AP registration and active client sessions between redundant controllers for zero-failover downtimeCisco.

3. Complete Hardware Physical & Interface Specifications

Form Factor & Mechanical

Base Form Factor: Compact desktop chassis; optional rack mount kit (AIR-CT2504-RMNT=) converts to standard 1U 19-inch rack unit
Dimensions: 43.9 mm (H) × 203.2 mm (W) × 271.5 mm (D) / 1.73 × 8.00 × 8.5 inches
Unit Weight: 2.0 kg (4.4 lbs) with external AC power adapter
Cooling: Single internal cooling fan (no redundant fan support)
Power Supply: External universal AC power brick (standard included)

Rear Panel Interface Layout

4× 10/100/1000/2.5G Multigigabit RJ45 ports (Ports 3 & 4 supply IEEE 802.3af PoE power output for lightweight APs)
RJ45 RS-232 serial console port for out-of-band initial configuration and recovery
Physical security lock slot for anti-theft cable attachment
DC power input jack for external AC power brick
USB port for local firmware upload, config backup and restore

Front Panel LED Indicators

Global status LEDs: Power, System Health, Critical Fault Alarm, Total Joined AP Count

Per-port Link/Activity LEDs for all four Multigigabit interfaces

Power & Environmental Parameters

Input AC Range: 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz universal external power supply
PoE Power Budget: Limited capacity to power up to two lightweight APs via ports 3 and 4
Maximum Power Consumption: 98 W with PoE fully loaded
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: 5%–95% non-condensing (operation & storage)
Regulatory Certifications: UL 60950-1 safety, CE, FCC Class B EMC, ICES-003, VCCI

4. Official Capacity & Performance Benchmarks

Factory Licensed AP Count: 25 lightweight APs (expandable up to hardware maximum 150 APs via incremental AP adder licenses)
Maximum Concurrent Wireless Client Stations: Up to 10,000 total across all managed APs
System-Wide Total Throughput Cap: 1 Gbps wire-rate Multigigabit switching capacity
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 Wave 2, WMM, 802.11k/r/u/w/h
Max Detected Rogue APs: 600; Max Rogue Wireless Clients: 1,500
Max RFID Tags Tracking: 1,500 tags for location-based wireless services
TLS/SSL Decryption Throughput: Up to 3 Gbps for bulk encrypted SaaS and web traffic

5. Core 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 connectivityCisco.

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 troubleshooting.

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/WPA3-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
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. Guest Wireless Services

Isolated dedicated guest SSID segmentation, customizable web splash-page authentication, time-limited guest user access credentials, isolated guest VLANs to separate visitor traffic from internal corporate assets, guest anchor tunneling for multi-controller deployments.

7. High Availability & Link Aggregation

Active/Standby Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA with full AP and client session synchronization, zero service interruption during controller failure or maintenance
N+1 controller redundancy supported for multi-controller load balancing
LAG EtherChannel link aggregation supported on all four Multigigabit ports for bandwidth aggregation and link redundancy

8. Multi-Mode Device Management & Logging

Local HTTPS web GUI for standalone monitoring and configuration
Command-line access via SSH v2, Telnet or RJ45 serial console
SNMP v1/v2c/v3 & RMON for third-party NMS monitoring integration
Secure persistent syslog export for security audit and event tracking
Centralized multi-controller orchestration via Cisco Prime Infrastructure

6. Typical Deployment Scenarios

Large enterprise remote branch offices deploying up to 25 wireless access points
Multi-location retail chains, medium medical clinics and full K-12 satellite school campuses
Mid-sized hospitality venues, hotels and resorts with medium-density wireless coverage
SMB office wireless consolidation utilizing built-in PoE ports to eliminate external power injectors
IT lab training environments, legacy CUWN network upgrade staging and medium-scale temporary event wireless networks
Distributed FlexConnect remote branch deployments leveraging local switching to reduce expensive WAN bandwidth consumption

7. Short Sales Listing Tagline

Cisco AIR-CT3504-25-K9 Legacy Compact Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Licensed for Max 25 Lightweight Aironet APs, 4×Multigigabit Ethernet Ports with Dual 802.3af PoE, Desktop / Optional 1U Rack Mount, 1Gbps System Throughput, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, AVC Layer7 Application Control, WPA2/WPA3 Enterprise Security, Full AP+Client SSO Stateful HA, Web GUI/SSH/Cisco Prime Managed, EoS Mid-Tier CUWN WLC for Large Enterprise Branches & Multi-Location Retail Deployments


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