Cisco AIR-CT5520-500-K9 Full English Product Description

1. Short Official Part & License Label

AIR-CT5520-500-K9: Cisco 5520 Series High-Capacity Enterprise Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Pre-Licensed for Max 500 Lightweight Aironet Access Points, 1U Rack-Mount Chassis, 2×10G SFP+ Uplink Ports, 20 Gbps Total System Non-Blocking Throughput, DNA-Ready CUWN Platform, Optimized for 802.11ac Wave2 APs, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, NBAR2 AVC Layer7 Application Control, Full AP+Client Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA, Mobility Groups, RTU Right-To-Use Licensing, End-of-Sale Large Campus & Headquarters WLC

2. Full Product Overview

The Cisco AIR-CT5520-500-K9 is a high-capacity model of the discontinued Cisco 5520 Wireless LAN Controller family, serving as a core hardware component within the Cisco Unified Wireless Network (CUWN) and Unified Access architecture. It targets large enterprise campus core gateways, full-scale university and K-12 multi-building districts, national retail headquarters, high-density data center wireless access boundaries, and premium MSSP multi-tenant wireless environments that require high-performance 10G uplinks and scalable AP capacity beyond lower-tier 5520 SKUs.

This unit ships with permanent built-in RTU (Right-To-Use) licensing supporting up to 500 lightweight Aironet APs. Additional incremental AP RTU adder licenses can expand capacity upward to the hardware maximum of 1500 APs without chassis replacement, enabling phased wireless network expansion. It establishes DTLS-encrypted CAPWAP tunnels from all joined thin access points to deliver centralized RF management, enterprise wireless security policy enforcement, seamless Layer 2/3 client mobility, VoWLAN QoS, VideoStream multicast optimization, embedded wIPS wireless intrusion prevention, and TrustSec identity-aware policy enforcement.

The 5520 platform delivers hardware-backed 20 Gbps non-blocking throughput, equipped with dual SFP+ 10-Gigabit uplink interfaces supporting copper and fiber transceivers. It supports optional redundant AC power supplies and hot-swappable fans to eliminate single points of hardware failure for mission-critical wireless networks. It provides full Stateful Switchover (SSO) high availability with synchronization of both AP registration data and active client sessions for zero-downtime failover. Native support for Cisco CleanAir spectrum analytics, FlexConnect remote branch local switching, and NBAR2 Application Visibility and Control (AVC) enables distributed multi-site enterprise wireless deployments.

The entire Cisco 5520 series reached End-of-Sale (EoS) Dec 10, 2021 and End-of-Support (EoL) Jan 31, 2027; all available inventory consists of surplus, used, or certified refurbished hardware. It fully interoperates with all Aironet 1700/1800/2700/2800/3700/3800/4800 lightweight access points (802.11ac Wave1 / Wave2). Administrators can manage via local HTTPS web GUI, IOS-based SSH CLI, or centralized orchestration through Cisco Prime Infrastructure.

Key upgrade vs AIR-CT5520-100/250-K9: Larger native 500 AP base license footprint, optimized memory and session tables for ultra-dense campus client populations, higher roaming scale, and suitability for large multi-building consolidated wireless architectures.

3. Complete Hardware Physical & Interface Specifications

Form Factor & Mechanical

Rack Form Factor: Standard 1U 19-inch rack-mount chassis
Dimensions: 44.45 mm (H) × 482.6 mm (W) × 787.4 mm (D) / 1.75 × 18.98 × 30.98 inches
Unit Weight: 13.6 kg (30 lbs) with single PSU installed
Cooling: Multiple hot-swappable redundant internal cooling fans
Power Supply: Single AC PSU standard; optional second redundant PSU for fault tolerance

Rear Panel Interface Layout

2× 10G SFP+ uplink slots (compatible with SFP+ copper, SR, LR, LRM fiber transceivers; supports LAG EtherChannel)
1× 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 dedicated Service Port for isolated out-of-band management
Dedicated 1G Redundancy Port for SSO HA inter-controller synchronization
Dual console ports: RJ45 RS-232 serial console + mini-USB console for local CLI configuration
USB port for 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 both SFP+ uplinks, service port and redundancy port

Power & Environmental Parameters

Input AC Range: 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz universal power input
Maximum Power Consumption: 770 W fully loaded
Operating Temperature: 5°C to 40°C (41°F to 104°F)
Storage Temperature: -40°C to 65°C (-40°F to 149°F)
Humidity: 10%–90% non-condensing (operation & storage)
Regulatory Certifications: UL 60950-1 safety, CE, FCC Class A EMC, ICES-003, VCCI

Official Licensed Capacity & Performance Benchmarks

Factory Licensed AP Count: 500 lightweight APs (expandable up to hardware maximum 1500 APs via incremental RTU AP licenses)
Maximum Concurrent Active Wireless Clients: 20,000 total across all managed APs
System Non-Blocking Throughput: Up to 20 Gbps
Supported Unique WLAN SSIDs: Up to 512 broadcast/hidden SSIDs
Maximum 802.1Q Tagged VLAN Interfaces: Up to 4,095 VLANs
Max AP Groups: 1,500 independent AP groups
Max FlexConnect Remote Branch Groups: 1,500 groups (max 100 APs per group)
Roaming Capabilities: Intra-controller Layer2 seamless roaming, Layer3 inter-VLAN mobility, 802.11r fast secure roaming (supports 40,000 PMK cache roaming clients)
Supported Wireless Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wave 1/2, WMM, 802.11k/r/u/w/h
Max Detected Rogue APs: 24,000; Max Rogue Wireless Clients: 32,000
Max RFID Location Tags Tracking: 25,000 tags for location services
Supports TLS/SSL Decryption and IPsec VPN traffic processing

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 profiles and global security policy deployment. Supports Central Local Mode, FlexConnect local switching to reduce WAN bandwidth consumption, enterprise wireless mesh networks, and OfficeExtend teleworker APs for secure remote home 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 troubleshooting.

3. Enterprise-Grade Wireless Security Stack

Authentication: IEEE 802.1X EAP-TLS/PEAP/EAP-FAST, local user database, external RADIUS/TACACS+ AAA integration
Encryption Protocols: WEP, WPA2-PSK/Enterprise, WPA3, AES-CCMP, TKIP
Threat Mitigation: Built-in wIPS wireless intrusion prevention, rogue AP containment, client isolation, MAC filtering, dynamic per-SSID VLAN assignment, downloadable ACLs
Compliance: PCI DSS validated architecture for retail wireless POS deployments

4. Identity-Aware Zero Trust Policy Enforcement

Native integration with Active Directory, Cisco ISE and AnyConnect Secure Client to deliver user/group context-based access control, TrustSec software-defined segmentation, and BYOD device profiling.

5. 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, 802.11r fast roaming to avoid voice call drops.

6. 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 filtering, DSCP marking, rate limiting and Flexible NetFlow reporting for granular traffic governance.

7. Integrated 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 global workforce.

8. High Availability & Scalability

Active/Standby Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA: Full synchronization of AP registration and active client sessions for zero service interruption during failover or maintenance
Multi-controller mobility groups for cross-controller Layer3 roaming and unified guest anchor tunneling
LAG EtherChannel link aggregation supported on both 10G SFP+ uplinks for bandwidth aggregation and link redundancy
Optional dual redundant power supplies and hot-swappable fans eliminate hardware single points of failure

9. Traffic Visibility, Logging & Compliance

Real-time monitoring via local HTTPS web GUI; secure encrypted syslog, SNMP v3 and Flexible NetFlow export to third-party SIEM platforms. Persistent audit logging meets enterprise PCI DSS, HIPAA and GDPR regulatory requirements.

10. Device Management & Automation

Local administration: HTTPS web GUI, IOS-based SSH CLI, serial console
Centralized multi-controller orchestration, policy distribution and reporting via Cisco Prime Infrastructure
RESTful API support for automated provisioning and lifecycle management
RTU Right-To-Use licensing with optional Cisco Smart Licensing

5. Typical Deployment Scenarios

Large enterprise campus core wireless gateway supporting up to 500 APs, expandable to full 1500 AP hardware capacity
Multi-building university and K-12 district unified wireless consolidation projects
National retail headquarters wireless hubs with PCI DSS wireless POS compliance requirements
Premium MSSP multi-tenant wireless security infrastructure with isolated policy domains
High-density remote campus deployments utilizing FlexConnect local switching to save expensive WAN bandwidth
Legacy CUWN network refresh replacing older 5508 controllers with higher-throughput 10G capable platform
Lab, staging and pre-production environments for high-density 802.11ac Wave2 wireless testing

6. Short Sales Listing Tagline

Cisco AIR-CT5520-500-K9 Legacy 1U Rackmount High-Capacity Enterprise Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Pre-Licensed for Max 500 Lightweight Aironet APs (Expandable to Hardware Max 1500 APs), 2×10G SFP+ Uplink Ports, 20Gbps Non-Blocking System Throughput, Optional Redundant PSU Support, CleanAir RF Spectrum Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, NBAR2 AVC Layer7 Application Control, Full AP+Client SSO Stateful HA & Mobility Groups, RTU Right-To-Use Licensing, Managed via Local Web GUI, IOS SSH CLI or Cisco Prime Infrastructure, EoS DNA-Ready CUWN WLC for Large Enterprise Campuses & National Headquarters Wireless Deployments


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