Cisco CW9800L-K9 Full English Product Description

1. Short Official Part & License Label

CW9800L-K9: Cisco Catalyst CW9800L Next-Generation Compact Intent-Based Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Pre-Licensed for Max 500 Lightweight Catalyst/Aironet APs & 10,000 Concurrent Wireless Clients, Half-Width Desktop / Optional 1U Rack Mount, 2×10G SFP+ Uplink Ports, 10 Gbps Non-Blocking System Throughput, IOS-XE DNA-Ready Platform, Supports Wi‑Fi 6/6E APs, CleanAir RF Intelligence, FlexConnect Local Switching, NBAR2 AVC, aWIPS, ETA Encrypted Traffic Analytics, Full AP+Client Stateful Switchover (SSO) HA, ISSU In-Service Software Upgrade, Smart Licensing Using Policy

2. Full Product Overview

The Cisco CW9800L-K9 is the latest compact wireless controller in the Catalyst 9800 portfolio, succeeding the older C9800-L series. Designed for medium enterprise remote campuses, regional branch headquarters, multi-site retail chains, K‑12 satellite campuses and medium-density hospitality networks. It delivers higher baseline capacity and performance than the legacy C9800-L without mandatory performance license upgrades.

This appliance ships factory-enabled to manage up to500 lightweight access points and 10,000 concurrent wireless clientswith native 10 Gbps throughput, no extra performance license required. It runs modular Cisco IOS‑XE and supports three primary deployment modes: Central Local Mode for campus, FlexConnect distributed branch switching to minimize WAN backhaul traffic, and SD‑Access Fabric integration for zero-trust campus architectures. It terminates DTLS‑encrypted CAPWAP tunnels for Catalyst 9100 Wi‑Fi 6/6E and Aironet Wave 2 APs, providing unified RF management, enterprise wireless security, seamless Layer 2/3 mobility, VoWLAN QoS, VideoStream multicast optimization and advanced aWIPS threat defense.

Equipped with dual 10G SFP+ fiber uplink ports compatible with SR/LRM/LR/SFP+ copper transceivers, the CW9800L features optimized thermal design with quieter operation compared to the previous generation. It supports active/standby SSO high availability that synchronizes AP sessions and active client states for zero-outage failover. Modular IOS‑XE supports hot patching and ISSU non-disruptive firmware upgrades. Built-in Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA) enables threat detection within encrypted flows without full decryption.

The CW9800L is currently active supported hardware. It adopts Cisco Smart Licensing Using Policy (SLP). Management options include embedded HTTPS web UI, IOS‑XE SSH serial CLI, NETCONF/YANG programmable APIs and centralized orchestration via Catalyst Center (DNA Center) or Cisco Prime Infrastructure.

Key Differentiator vs C9800-L: Native maximum 500 AP capacity out of box, fixed 10 Gbps throughput, improved compute and memory, optimized for Wi‑Fi 6/6E high-density environments, quieter cooling and modernized hardware architecture.

3. Complete Hardware Physical & Interface Specifications

Form Factor & Mechanical

Form Factor: Half-width compact desktop chassis; optional rack mount kit (CW9800L-RMNT=) for 19-inch 1RU rack installation
Dimensions: 44.45 mm (H) × 214.9 mm (W) × 271.5 mm (D) / 1.75 × 8.46 × 10.69 inches
Unit Weight: 2.0 kg (4.4 lbs)
Cooling: Single low-noise internal cooling fan
Power Supply: External universal AC power adapter; no internal redundant PSU slot

Rear Panel Interface Layout

2×10G SFP+ uplink slots (Supports SFP+ copper, SR, LR, LRM transceivers; LAG EtherChannel supported)
4× 1/2.5G Multigigabit RJ45 access ports
RJ45 RS‑232 serial console port for local CLI configuration
USB 3.0 Type‑A port for firmware upload, configuration backup and restore
Dedicated RJ45 out-of-band Service Port for isolated management traffic
DC power input jack for external AC power adapter
Physical security lock slot for anti-theft cable attachment

Front Panel LED Status Indicators

Global status LEDs: Power, System Health, Critical Fault Alarm

Per-port Link/Activity LEDs for all SFP+ uplinks, Multigigabit ports and service port

Power & Environmental Parameters

Input AC: 100–240 VAC, 50/60 Hz universal external power adapter
Maximum Power Consumption: 98 W fully loaded
Operating Temperature: 0°C to 40°C (32°F ~ 104°F)
Storage Temperature: -20°C to 70°C (-4°F ~ 158°F)
Humidity: 5%–95% non‑condensing (operation & storage)
Regulatory Certifications: UL 60950‑1 safety, CE, FCC Class B EMC, ICES‑003, VCCI

Official Licensed Capacity & Performance Benchmarks

Factory Licensed AP Count: Max 500 lightweight Catalyst/Aironet APs
Maximum Concurrent Wireless Clients: Up to 10,000 total across all managed APs
System Non-Blocking Throughput: Up to 10 Gbps
Supported Unique WLAN SSIDs: Up to 4,096 broadcast/hidden SSIDs
Maximum 802.1Q Tagged VLAN Interfaces: Up to 4,096 VLANs
Max AP Groups: 1,000 independent AP groups
Max FlexConnect Remote Branch Groups: 1,000 groups (max 100 APs per group)
Roaming Capabilities: Intra-controller Layer2 roaming, Layer3 inter-controller mobility groups, 802.11r fast secure roaming (supports 64,000 PMK cache roaming clients)
Supported Wireless Standards: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wave 2, Wi‑Fi 6/6E, WMM, 802.11k/r/u/w/h, Hotspot 2.0 Passpoint, WPA3‑SAE Enterprise
Max Detected Rogue APs: 2,000; Max Rogue Wireless Clients: 5,000
Supports Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA), Flexible NetFlow and Streaming Telemetry

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 templates. Deployment modes: Central Local Mode, FlexConnect Local Switching for remote branches, SD‑Access Fabric integrated mode. Compatible with OfficeExtend teleworker APs; wireless mesh supported on matching AP hardware.

2. Cisco CleanAir Intelligent RF Spectrum Management

Continuous real-time 2.4GHz/5GHz RF interference monitoring, dynamic transmit power control, auto-channel assignment, coverage hole detection, rogue AP detection, classification and active wireless containment, historical RF analytics for capacity planning and 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: WPA2‑PSK/Enterprise, WPA3‑SAE/Enterprise, AES‑CCMP, TKIP
Threat Mitigation: Built-in advanced aWIPS wireless intrusion prevention, rogue AP containment, client isolation, dynamic per‑SSID VLAN assignment, downloadable per-user ACLs
Encrypted Traffic Analytics (ETA): Identify threats hidden within encrypted traffic without packet decryption
TrustSec integration for software-defined segmentation, Cisco ISE BYOD device profiling
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 enforce user/group context-based access control, supporting granular zero-trust segmentation and dynamic policy assignment based on user identity, device posture and network location.

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, fast secure roaming via 802.11r to eliminate voice call interruptions during client movement.

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 traffic filtering, DSCP QoS marking, rate limiting and Flexible NetFlow v9 reporting for 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, customizable clientless web portal and secure mobility for distributed global remote workforce.

8. High Availability & Software Upgrades

Active/Standby Full AP+Client Stateful Switchover (SSO): Synchronizes CAPWAP tunnels, PMK cache and all active client session state for zero service interruption during failover or maintenance
N+1 multi-controller redundancy mode supported
ISSU In‑Service Software Upgrade and modular hot patching for non-disruptive operating system updates
LAG EtherChannel link aggregation supported on all 10G SFP+ uplink ports for link redundancy and bandwidth aggregation

9. Monitoring, Logging & Compliance

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

10. Programmability & Management

Local administration: Embedded HTTPS WebUI, IOS‑XE CLI via SSH v2, serial console
Centralized multi-controller orchestration, policy distribution and reporting via Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center) or Cisco Prime Infrastructure
Open APIs: NETCONF, YANG, RESTCONF for zero-touch automation and wireless lifecycle management
Cisco Smart Licensing / Smart Licensing Using Policy (SLP)

5. Typical Deployment Scenarios

Medium-to-large enterprise remote campus wireless controller supporting up to 500 APs
Multi-building K‑12 and higher education satellite campus wireless consolidation
Medium-density retail chain headquarters wireless infrastructure with PCI DSS wireless POS compliance
Mid-sized hospitality venues and dense large-scale SMB office wireless networks
FlexConnect multi-branch distributed wireless architecture to reduce expensive WAN backhaul bandwidth
Legacy wireless network migration replacing older C9800-L, 3504 and AireOS controllers with modern Wi‑Fi 6/6E-ready IOS‑XE platform
Lab and staging environments for SD‑Access, zero-trust wireless architecture testing

6. Short Sales Listing Tagline

Cisco CW9800L-K9 Modern Compact IOS-XE Wireless LAN Controller, Factory Pre-Licensed for Max 500 Lightweight Catalyst/Aironet APs & 10,000 Concurrent Wireless Clients, Half-Width Desktop / Optional 1U Rackmount, 2×10G SFP+ Fiber Uplink Ports, 10Gbps Non-Blocking System Throughput, DNA-Ready Intent-Based WLC, Supports Wi‑Fi 6/6E, CleanAir RF Intelligence, FlexConnect, NBAR2 AVC, aWIPS & ETA Encrypted Traffic Analytics, Full AP+Client SSO Stateful HA, ISSU Non-Disruptive Upgrades, Smart Licensing, Managed via Local WebUI, IOS-XE CLI or Catalyst Center, Next-Generation WLC for Medium Enterprise Campuses & Regional Multi-Site Branch Deployments


	© 2026 Kino Technology Limited. All Rights Reserved. \| Hong Kong Registered · Shenzhen Operation \| New & Genuine Used Network Equipment Supplier