1400 Series Bridge
IOS features

Based upon IEEE 802.11a technology and utilizing the same Cisco IOS Software as in a wired network, the Cisco Aironet 1400 Series provides a user with a familiar experience that supports an "out-of-the-box" deployment , .

The 1400 radio can be configured in three roles. A wireless bridge connected to the main LAN network can be configured as a wireless root bridge to provide support for point-to-point or point-to-multipoint bridging. Second, a wireless bridge connected to a remote LAN network can be configured as a wireless non-root bridge to allow operation as the remote node in a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint network. Third, the antenna alignment assistance feature provides a wireless bridge with an auto-configuration and installation mode for out-of-box deployment of point-to-point links without requiring configuration through telnet, file transfer protocol (FTP), or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). This mode drives LEDs and a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) port with a voltage output proportional to the received signal strength for use during the installation and alignment process. This allows a wireless bridge installation team without knowledge of Cisco IOS software or data networking to install and verify the quality of the wireless link.

Some of the other features include the programmable clear channel assessment feature, where the wireless bridge can be configured to a particular background interference level found in a specific environment for reduced overhead contention with other wireless systems. Next, the wireless packet concatenation feature is the concatenation of smaller packets into larger ones to more efficiently use the wireless medium and provide higher overall data throughputs on a wireless bridge. Finally, the wireless link distance adjustment parameter enables tuning of the CSMA/CA parameters for a particular range to maximize the performance of a wireless bridge.

The following features in Cisco IOS Release 12.2(11)JA are not supported by the bridge:

  • Broadcast key rotation
  • Hot standby
  • Multiple service set identifiers (SSIDs)
  • Proxy Mobile IP
  • World mode