Cisco Systems Comparisonofthe3600and2600Series

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CiscoAironetAccessPointDeploymentGuide 
CiscoSystems
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Note:Beamformingtoa3SSclientrequiresn+1radiofrequency(RF)design.Toaccomplishthis,
theAP3600hasanadditionalradioperband,whichimprovesclientperformancebyusingCisco
ClientLink2.0.
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TheAP3500ehasseparateantennasforeachband,2.4GHzand5GHz,anddoesnotsupport3SS
technology,sinceithasonlytwotransceivers(transmitter/receiver)andoneextrareceiverperband
enablingoperationuptotwospatialstreams.
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UnliketheAP3500,thenewerAP3600designsupportsanoptional,add‐onfeaturemodule.The
bottomoftheAP3600hasopeningstosupportthefeaturemodule,asshowninFigure8.Theopenings,
whilefullysealed,permitthemoduletohaveaccesstothetopoftheAP,whichallowsthemodule
antennas(ifpresent)tofullyfunction.Theunitincludesapositivesnap“springloadedBB”sothe
installercanfeelapositivelockwhentheAPisfullyengagedinthebracket.
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Figure8:BottomViewoftheAP3600withSupportforaFeatureModule
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Comparisonofthe3600and2600Series
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TheAP3600hasamodulardesignthatoffersfutureprotectionwithoptional.11acandsecurity
modules.TheAP2600doesnotsupportoptionalmodules.However,theAP2600doeshaveaslightly
higherantennagaininthe2.4GHzband.
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TheAP3600andtheAP2600arethesamesize,butitiseasytoidentifyeachonebynotingwhetherthe
Ciscologohasanembossedframe(AP3600)ornot(AP2600).(SeeFigure9.)
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