Cognitive Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi has become the primary access mechanism in today’s enterprise networks. Ensuring users have seamless connectivity and smooth application experience requires the Wi-Fi part of the network to work flawlessly. In addition to providing the basic connectivity, it needs to provide actionable intelligence to network administrators for addressing immediate issues and to optimize the network for the ever changing network conditions.

Arista’s CloudVision CUE provides network administrators the tools required to ensure that the Wi-Fi network is running flawlessly, pre-empt issues that could degrade user experience, test the network on demand and as per pre-defined schedule and finally, provide actionable insights, in case users do have less than the smooth application experience they expect. Ensuring the optimal function of the deployed Wi-Fi network and achieving the smallest “mean time to resolution” in case of any reported issues are the key goals of CloudVision CUE.

Arista’s CloudVision CUE solution leverages the power of the cloud and the massive data sets available across its customer base to continuously perform supervised and unsupervised learning required to apply AI concepts to decipher Wi-Fi users’ application experience. Arista uses inference models to arrive quickly at the root cause of any poor experience and proactively provides this information to the network administrators along with suggested remediation.

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Arista’s CloudVision CUE solution’s distributed control plane allows seamless and limitless scaling, removes any single points of failure and ensures amazing user experience. With best-of-breed hardware, including the latest Wi-Fi 6 AP family; the best Wireless Intrusion Prevention System that the industry has to offer and a robust Guest management and analytics solution, Arista’s CloudVision CUE provides the best value for money solution for Enterprise Campus deployments. CloudVision CUE’s all-in licensing policy ensures that customers can enjoy all the benefits of this top of the line solution without having to worry about missing out.

CloudVision CUE (CV-CUE) is at the core of Arista’s cloud-native approach to enterprise Wi-Fi networks. It enables centralized management of APs which remarkably simplifies policy management and provisioning of Wi-Fi networks. At the network edge, APs are equipped with distributed algorithms to handle control plane functions locally. This decoupling of management and control planes, along with a flexible data plane that allows wireless access points to provide customizable traffic redirection at the network's edge, results in a more robust network, without a single point of failure. Thus, CV-CUE enables seamless scaling of the network from a few to 1000s of APs.

With virtually unlimited and elastic availability of storage and compute resources, the Arista Wi-Fi solution eliminates artificial boundaries inherent in controller-based WLAN architectures. Naturally, it enables many innovative, previously unforeseen applications in big data analytics, machine learning and cognitive computing in the context of Wi-Fi.

Key Features

Cognitive Management Plane

CloudVision CUE is powered by a cognitive management plane which simplifies configuration and troubleshooting while delivering richer telemetry to network administrators. The innovative cognition plane uses AI and ML techniques to provide root cause analysis and proactive problem resolution options to reduce the mean time to resolve problems, minimizing network troubleshooting effort and reducing total cost of ownership

Network Baselining	Baselines network behavior and automatically detects and highlights anomalies, using ML algorithms.
Root Cause Analysis Engine	Automatically detects and classifies Wi-Fi clients’ connection failures and pinpoints the root cause in real-time.
Single Client Inferencing	Identifies clients facing poor QoE, based on RF, network and application KPIs and performs root cause analysis for specific clients.
Automatic Packet Capture	Proactively captures packet traces to help diagnose problems; traces are stored alongside related failures or symptoms to simplify troubleshooting later.
Client Emulation and Network Profiling	Takes advantage of the multi-function radio, present in most Arista Wi-Fi APs, turning it into a client to run a wide variety of tests and proactively identify problems before users do.

The Cognitive Management Plane is driven by Arista’s NetDB, a state-based, cloud-hosted, network-wide database that collects real-time data streamed from wired and wireless devices for cognitive analytics. CloudVision CUE’s capabilities can be extended further by integration with 3rd party applications using OpenConfig and Arista’s ReST API framework.

Wireless Intrusion Prevention

With a multi-function radio acting as a dedicated wireless intrusion prevention (WIPS) sensor, wireless threats are detected and blocked almost instantly in your network. CV-CUE works with the APs, which are powered by patented techniques such as Marker PacketsTM, to enable surgical over-the-air intrusion prevention, automatically and accurately creating alerts and classifying wireless threats. CloudVision CUE uses behavior based detection of threats; rather than a signature based approach; to enable zero day protection without chasing exploits, tools and their signatures.

Secure Client Access

CV-CUE supports flexible end user access management in enterprise Wi-Fi networks by enabling seamless integration with leading identity management solutions such as Aruba ClearPass, ForeScout NAC, Cisco ISE etc. Arista Guest Manager provides multiple ways for guest access in the enterprise including Guestbook, vouchers, OTP-based etc.

Wi-Fi 6 Access Point Comparison Matrix

	C-360	W-318	C-260	C-230 / C-230E	O-235 / O-235E	C-200
Description	Indoor tri-band AP for highest deterministic performance (voice, video, data), ultra-high density. Persistent RF analysis by dedicated multifunction radio.	Indoor tri-band wall plate or desktop stand, optimized for medium density environments with Ethernet/PoE ports to connect wired devices	Indoor AP for highest deterministic performance (voice, video, data), ultra-high density. Persistent RF analysis by multi-function third radio	Indoor AP for high deterministic performance (voice, video, data), high density. Persistent RF analysis by multi-function third radio	Outdoor AP for high deterministic performance (voice, video, data), high density. Persistent RF analysis by multi-function third radio	Indoor AP for low/medium density deployments
Radio Components	802.11b/g/n/ax radio (2.4 GHz)	802.11b/g/n/ax radio (2.4 GHz)	802.11b/g/n/ax radio (2.4 GHz)	802.11b/g/n/ax radio (2.4 GHz)	802.11b/g/n/ax radio (2.4 GHz)	802.11b/g/n/ax radio (2.4 GHz)
	802.11a/n/ac/ax radio (5 GHz)	802.11a/n/ac/ax radio (5 GHz)	802.11a/n/ac/ax radio (5 GHz)	802.11a/n/ac/ax radio (5 GHz)	802.11a/n/ac/ax radio (5 GHz)	802.11a/n/ac/ax radio (5 GHz)
	802.11ax radio (6 GHz)	802.11ax radio (6 GHz)
	802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax multifunction radio		802.11a/b/g/n/ac multifunction radio	802.11a/b/g/n/ac multifunction radio	802.11a/b/g/n/ac multifunction radio
	BLE/ZigBee	BLE/ZigBee	BLE	BLE	BLE
	Internal antenna	Internal antenna	Internal antenna	Internal/External antenna	Internal/External antenna	Internal antenna
Ports	2 x 10Gb Ethernet	1 x 2.5Gb Ethernet + 3x 1Gb Ethernet	2 x 5Gb Ethernet	1 x 5Gb Ethernet + 1 x Gb Ethernet	1 x 5Gb Ethernet + 1 x Gb Ethernet	1 x Gb Ethernet
	Console	Console	Console	Console		Console
	USB3.0	USB	USB	USB	USB
Max Data Rate	4.8 / 4.8 / 1.2 Gbps	2.4 / 1.2 / 0.574 Gbps	4.8 / 1.2 Gbps	2.4 Gbps / 574 Mbps	2.4 Gbps / 574 Mbps	1.2 Gbps / 574 Mbps
Spatial Streams	4x4 (2.4GHz); 4x4 (5GHz); 4x4 (6GHz)	2x2 (2.4GHz); 2x2 (5GHz); 2x2 (6GHz)	8x8:8 (5GHz) / 4x4 (2.4GHz)	4x4:4 (5GHz) / 2x2 (2.4GHz)	4x4:4 (5GHz) / 2x2 (2.4GHz)	2x2:2 (5GHz) / 2x2:2 (2.4GHz)
Channel Width	20/40/80/80+80/160 MHz	20/40/80/80+80/160 MHz	20/40/80/80+80/160 MHz	20/40/80/160 MHz	20/40/80/160 MHz	20/40/80 MHz
Power	802.3bt 802.3at (reduced functionality)	802.3bt 802.3at (reduced functionality)	802.3bt 802.3at (3dB power reduction)	802.3at 802.3af (reduced functionality)	802.3at 802.3af (reduced functionality)	802.3af
Power	DC Power	DC Power	DC Power	DC Power		DC Power
Dedicated WIPS	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mesh	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LTE Interference Mitigation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi Alliance Certification	In process	Pending	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SKU	AP-C360	AP-W318	AP-C260	AP-C230, AP-C230E	AP-O235, AP-O235E	AP-C200

All Arista Wi-Fi Access Points support WIPS functionality, either via the multi-function radio or with background scan enabled on the access radios.

Wi-Fi 5 Access Point Comparison Matrix

	C-130/E	C-110	C-100	O-105/E	W-118
Radio Components	802.11b/g/n radio	802.11b/g/n radio	802.11b/g/n radio	802.11b/g/n radio	802.11b/g/n radio
	802.11a/n/ac radio (Wave 2)	802.11a/n/ac radio (Wave 2)	802.11a/n/ac radio (Wave 2)	802.11a/n/ac radio (Wave 2)	802.11a/n/ac radio (Wave 2)
	802.11a/b/g/n/ac scanning radio	802.11a/b/g/n/ac scanning radio			802.11a/b/g/n/ac scanning radio
		BLE		BLE	BLE
Antenna	Internal and External	Internal	Internal	Internal and External	Internal
Ports	2x Gigabit Ethernet				4x Gigabit Ethernet (1x Uplink, 3xLAN Gigabit passthrough)
	Console
	USB	USB			USB
Max Data Rate	1.7 Gbps / 800 Mbps	867 Mbps / 300 Mbps	867 Mbps / 300 Mbps	867 Mbps / 300 Mbps	867 Mbps / 300 Mbps
Spatial Streams	4x4:4	2x2:2	2x2:2	2x2:2	2x2:2
Channel Width	20/40/80 MHz	20/40/80 MHz	20/40/80 MHz	20/40/80 MHz	20/40/80 MHz
Power	802.3at	802.3at	802.3af	802.3at	802.3at
Power	DC Power	DC Power	DC Power		DC Power
WIPS	Yes
Mesh	Yes
LTE Interference Mitigation	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Wi-Fi Alliance Certification	Yes	Yes		Yes
SKU	AP-130; AP-130E	AP-C110	AP-C100	AP-105; AP-105E	AP-W118