User's Manual

Table Of Contents
10/10/03 Airespace Wired Connections
90-100584-004 Airespace Product Guide 20
When the Airespace Wireless Switch or WLAN Appliance is operated in Appliance Mode, the Airespace
APs communicate with the Airespace Switch or Appliance through the switched network. The 4012 and
4024 Airespace Wireless Switches connect to the switched network using a copper 10/100Base-T cable
or a copper or fiber-optic GigE cable.
The 4101 Airespace WLAN Appliance connects to the switched network using a fiber-optic GigE cable.
The 4102 Airespace WLAN Appliance connects to the switched network using two fiber-optic GigE
cables: two redundant GigE connections to bypass single network failures. At any given time one of the
4102 Airespace WLAN Appliance GigE connections is active and the other is passive. Upon a switched
network failure, the active connection becomes passive, and the passive connection becomes active.
When the 4012 and 4024 Airespace Wireless Switches are operated in Hybrid Mode
, some Airespace
APs and third-party APs use the CAT-5 cable to connect to the Airespace Wireless Switch in Direct
Connect Mode and some connect in Appliance Mode. The Airespace Wireless Switch connects to the
switched network using a copper 10/100Base-T cable or a copper or fiber-optic GigE cable.
Note that the 4101 and 4102 Airespace WLAN Appliances only operate in Appliance Mode, and do not
connect directly to any Access Points.
Standard CAT-5 cable supports a 100 m (328 ft.) run between the Airespace APs and the Airespace
Wireless Switch. This allows a single Airespace Wireless Switch to serve Airespace APs in multiple
buildings and/or floors in a single building.
The standard CAT-5 cable can also be used to conduct power for the Airespace APs from a network
device equipped with Power Over Ethernet
(PoE) capability. This power distribution plan can be used to
reduce the cost of individual AP power supplies and related cabling.