The Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller provides centralized control management and troubleshooting for high-scale deployments in service provider and large campus deployments. It offers flexibility to support multiple deployment modes in the same controller: for example centralized mode for campus Cisco FlexConnect^™ mode for lean branches managed over the WAN and mesh (bridge) mode for deployments where full Ethernet cabling is unavailable. As a component of the Cisco Unified Wireless Network this controller provides real-time communications between Cisco Aironet^® access points the Cisco Prime^®Infrastructure and the Cisco Mobility Services Engine and is interoperable with other Cisco controllers.

The Cisco Digital Network Architecture (Cisco DNA) is an open and extensible software-driven architecture that accelerates and simplifies your enterprise network operations. The programmable architecture frees your IT staff from time-consuming repetitive network configuration tasks so they can focus instead on innovation that positively transforms your business. SD-Access as part of Cisco DNA enables policy-based automation from edge to cloud with foundational capabilities. Cisco DNA Assurance also part of Cisco DNA provides a single source to monitor modify and manage your network and application data.

Features and Benefits

The Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller optimized for 802.11ac Wave2 performance high scale and enhanced system uptime supports:

• Intent-driven programmability and streaming telemetry.
• Subsecond access point and client failover for uninterrupted application availability.
• Extraordinary visibility into application traffic using Cisco Application Visibility and Control (AVC) the technology that includes the Network-Based Application Recognition 2 (NBAR2) engine Cisco's Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) capability. This allows to mark prioritize and block to conserve network bandwidth and enhance security. Customers can optionally export the flows to Cisco Prime Infrastructure or a third-party NetFlow collector.
• Embedded wireless Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy classification engine that allows classification of client devices and application of user group policies.
• Deployment of guest access and Bonjour and Chromecast services in centralized deployments.
• Software-defined segmentation with Cisco TrustSec^® technology reducing Access Control List (ACL) maintenance complexity and overhead.
• Integrated Cisco CleanAir^® technology providing the industry's only self-healing and self-optimizing wireless network.
• Simplified GUI wizard for quick setup and intuitive dashboards for monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Cisco DNA and SD-Access Wireless as well as Cisco DNA Assurance.