General
Q. What services are provided by the Cisco® Mobility Services Engine (MSE)?
A. Location Services, Advanced Location Services, and Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (wIPS) are services supported by MSE. Each service requires a separate license.
Q. What is the Location Services license?
A. The MSE with Location Services license provides presence detection and real-time location tracking, including track and trace of rogue devices, interferers, Wi-Fi clients, smartphones, and RFID tags. The data is accessed using the Cisco Prime™ infrastructure user interface.
Q. What is the Advanced Location Services license?
A. The Advanced Location Services license includes all the features of the Location Services license with the addition of:
• Location analytics, providing real-time location analytics alongside historical trends, enabling visibility into customer movements and patterns. This solution is based on technology acquired in the 2012 ThinkSmart acquisition.
• Mobile concierge, which enables engaging with customers based on their behavior when visiting premises. Engagement can include features such as "indoor GPS" navigation, targeted location-based messaging, and more. Mobile concierge enables engaging customers using different media:
– Mobile application on customer device. This requires the customer to download an appropriate application, which is location enabled.
– Customer device without application using Mobility Services Advertisement Protocol (MSAP) using devices with Qualcomm chipsets. Devices with the Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm will be able to automatically discover services based on their location.
– Web browser. This solution enables sending pop-up messages and advertisements to web browsers when customers are connected to the venue Wi-Fi network. This solution will become available in a future release.
Q. Do Advanced Location Services include location analytics? What about mobile concierge?
A. The MSE Advanced Location Services license includes include both location analytics and mobile concierge.
Q. What is the wIPS license?
A. The WIPS license enables intrusion prevention tools that protect the network from wireless threats, rogue wireless devices, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
Q. How many MSE licenses do I require?
A. Licenses are purchased per access point rather than per end user, as was the case in previous versions. Licensing will be on a per-floor basis. Customers will have to buy licenses for all access points on a particular floor.
Q. Are there any changes with licensing tiers?
A. There are new licensing tiers for all MSE licenses. For more details, see the ordering guide http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps9733/ps9742/data_sheet_c07-473865.html.
Q. If I want to use the open API, do I need the Advanced Location Services license?
A. No, you will only need the Location Services license.
Q. If I only want to use an RFID solution with third-party RFID tags, which license do I need?
A. You need the Location Services license.
Q. Are evaluation licenses available for Location Services/Advanced Location Services?
A. Yes. Cisco provides a 120-day evaluation license for Location Services, Advanced Location Services, and wIPS.
MSE Technical and Deployment
Q. What is the location accuracy?
A. The achievable location accuracy depends on many factors, including the type of deployment, access point density, access point deployment, access point height, RF environment, and so on. For example, a Wi-Fi network with a typical cell size of 2500 square feet per access point deployed in a typical office environment can expect to have location accuracy of ~5m.
Q. Which architectures support Location Services?
A. Local mode and Flex mode.
Q. Which platforms and versions of MSE support Advanced Location Services?
A. Advanced Location Services are supported on the MSE 3355 and the MSE Virtual Appliance using the 7.4 software release and Prime infrastructure 1.3 releases (or later versions). The MSE 3310 does not support Advanced Location Services.
Q. What is the management interface for MSE?
A. Prime infrastructure is the management solution for all Cisco WLANs, including the MSE. For more information, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12239/index.html.
Q. Which WLC and Prime infrastructure versions do I need for Advanced Location Services?
A. You need 7.2 release or above on your WLAN controller and software version 1.3 or above for Prime infrastructure.
Q. Are there any differences in machine sizing to support Advanced Location Services as opposed to Base Location Services?
A. For large deployments, we recommend that you use one application per Cisco MSE appliance. For small deployments (for example, the MSE 3355 with under 200 APs or MSE High-End Virtual with under 500 APs), you can run multiple applications on the same MSE. For scaling information, visit: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/wireless/ps9733/ps9742/data_sheet_c78-475378.html.
MSE Solutions and Applications
Q. What does it mean to integrate location capabilities into a mobile application?
A. It means that application users can use "indoor GPS" navigation, receive prompts to open the application when they enter the venue, receive messages and offers based on their location, and more.
Q. How do I integrate location capabilities into a mobile application?
A. There are three options for integrating location capabilities into a mobile application. All three solutions require the MSE as the basis for the solution. The three options are:
• Mobile concierge SDK: The SDK (powered by Meridian) enables integrating location capabilities into existing or new mobile applications. This enables customers to keep the mobile application they might already have while adding location capabilities.
• Application editor: Mobile application editor provided by Meridian enables creating a new application from the beginning with location capabilities using a simple application editor. Content and design of the application can be easily modified to suit different customers.
• Open API: Location capabilities can be integrated into mobile application using the MSE open API without using the SDK or the application editor.
Q. Why should a venue try out the mobile concierge SDK powered by Meridian?
A. To date, it's the only proven solution on the market for a venue to engage with iOS and Android apps to simulate GPS indoors, offer turn-by-turn directions, send push notifications wherever a visitor is, and "wake up" the app with personalized information when the user enters the venue.
Q. Can I use the API to integrate location into a mobile application instead of the mobile concierge SDK?
A. Yes, you may integrate with the MSE directly through the open API.
Q. How do I engage Meridian to receive the SDK?
A. The mobile concierge SDK (powered by Meridian) is part of the Advanced Location license and is available for download to all customers who have the Advanced Location license. However, in order to customize map information and add more maps, a separate contract with Meridian is required. The Advanced Location license customers will have free access to the Meridian tools, including the app editor, for 60 days. Additional access will require a separate contract with Meridian.
Q. What is the pricing model for engaging with Meridian?
A. For more information, contact Meridian.
Q. What OSs are supported for integrating location into mobile apps?
A. iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod) and Android operating systems are supported.
Q. How is the location analytics application (which was acquired through the ThinkSmart acquisition) integrated with the MSE?
A. The location analytics application is completely integrated into the MSE code and is available with the Advanced Location license.
Q. What is the user interface for the location analytics application?
A. The location analytics application has a separate UI on the MSE.
Upgrading and Using Older Software Releases
Q. Is there a charge for upgrading to 7.4?
A. No. Software upgrades are free of charge if you have a support contract in place.
Q. I have an older software release prior to 7.4 with Context-Aware Services (CAS) license and would like to use Advanced Location Services. How do I proceed?
A. First, you need to upgrade to MSE 7.4 or later. Existing CAS licenses will be converted into access point Location Services licenses based on a ratio of 50 devices to one access point. Second, you need to purchase the Upgrade Location SKU to upgrade to Advanced Location Services. For more information, visit the ordering guide.
Q. I have a CAS license and would like to upgrade to software release 7.4. or later. How do we handle CAS licenses? How does the conversion from endpoint CAS licenses to access point licenses work?
A. Upgrade to the 7.4 release. Existing CAS licenses will be automatically converted to Location Services (not Advanced Location Services) licenses based on the ratio of 50 endpoints to one access point. For example, 50 CAS licenses will translate to one access point Location Services license. If the number of deployed access points is higher than the number of access point Location licenses, you will receive free conversion licenses for any remaining access points until the end of July 2013. Based on the scaling guidance, you may need to purchase additional MSE physical or virtual appliances. Contact your partner or account team for additional access point Location licenses.
Q. We use a software release prior to 7.4 with CAS, and we would like additional CAS licenses and/or WIPS licenses. How do we proceed?
A. You may still purchase additional CAS licenses and/or WIPS licenses.
Q. After upgrading to 7.4, how does MSE know the number of access points in order to make the conversion? Is there a utility to run? Is the MSE pulling information from Cisco Prime? From the controllers? If so, does Cisco Prime have to upgrade to 1.3 first?
A. MSE will perform an automatic conversion for licenses. Information about the number of access points is pulled from Cisco Prime. License enforcement will begin in a later release.
Q. I am using the Aeroscout engine in my MSE. Are there any licensing changes in 7.4 of which I should be aware?
A. No changes in MSE 7.4 software release. MSE 7.4. software release will be the last to support Aeroscout engine and licenses. For more information, see the end-of-sale/end-of-life announcement for Aeroscout licenses: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/prod/collateral/wireless/ps9733/ps9806/end_of_life_notice_c51-717493.html.
Q. Where can I go for additional information?
A. For more information, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/mse.