The Cisco Wireless 9172H Wi-Fi 7 series access point is an indoor-rated, wall-mounted AP. This AP has six integrated internal omnidirectional antennas and supports 2x2:2, 6 spatial streams with tri-band, tri-concurrent radios on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. The CW9172H AP supports full interoperability with leading 802.11be, 802.11ax, and 802.11ac clients, and a hybrid deployment with other APs and controllers.

The AP is supported on these platforms:

• Cisco Catalyst Center (formerly known as Cisco DNA Center) on-premises

• Cisco Catalyst stack

• Cisco Spaces

• Meraki cloud-based stack

A full listing of the AP's features and specifications is provided in the CW9172H Data Sheet, at:

Cisco Wireless 9172 Series Access Points Data Sheet

The Cisco Wireless 9172H Wi-Fi 7 AP is designed to work in both a Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller and a Meraki cloud-based deployment.

Some of the key features of the CW9172H AP include:

1. Radios and wireless capabilities

   • Six integrated internal antennas that are omnidirectional in azimuth for the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands

   • Wi-Fi 7 enabled on the tri-band, tri-concurrent, client-serving radios supporting 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz in 2x2:2 configurations

   • Dedicated 1x1 tri-band scanning (AUX) radio for real-time network monitoring and optimization, and

   • 2.4 GHz IoT radio supporting Bluetooth 6.0+, Zigbee and Thread for smart device integration.

2. Power and Connectivity

   • Ethernet ports supporting these speeds: 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, and 2.5 Gbps

   • Power over Ethernet (PoE): Fully compliant with 802.3bt, 4-pair PoE, enabling all device features.

     Tip	Ensure that the PoE injector or switch provides necessary power to the AP so that all features are enabled.

   • Ethernet Cable Requirements:

     • CAT6: Recommended for distances up to 55m.

     • CAT6A: Required for distances up to 100m.

   • Environmental Considerations:

     • Avoid routing cables near high-interference sources such as electrical panels or motors.

     • Ensure cable installations comply with local building and fire safety codes.

3. Intelligent Network Capabilities

   • Target Wake Time (TWT): An energy-saving mode that allows battery-powered devices to stay asleep and wake up only at predefined intervals for data exchange, optimizing energy efficiency.

   • CleanAir Pro Technology:

     • Provides advanced spectrum intelligence for 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands.

     • Supports high-speed spectrum analysis across channel widths from 20 MHz to 320 MHz

     • Identifies and mitigates interference sources, optimizing network performance in real-time.

4. Operating modes: The CW9172H supports a variety of deployment and operational modes to meet diverse network requirements:

   • Local mode: This is the default mode for the AP. In this mode, the AP serves clients. The AP creates two CAPWAP tunnels to the controller, one for management and the other for data traffic. This is known as central switching because the data traffic is switched (bridged) from the AP to the controller where it is then routed.

   • FlexConnect mode: In FlexConnect mode, the data traffic is switched locally and is not sent to the controller. In this mode, the AP behaves like an autonomous AP, but is managed by the controller. Here, the AP can continue to function even if connection to the controller is lost.

   • Monitor mode: In this mode, specified Cisco APs can exclude themselves from handling data traffic between clients and the infrastructure. These APs act as dedicated sensors for location-based services (LBS), rogue AP detection, and intrusion detection system (IDS).When APs are in monitor mode, they actively monitor the airwaves and typically, do not serve clients.

   • Site Survey mode: The AP GUI is enabled and used for configuring the RF parameters for site survey investigation, simplifying network planning and installation. For information, see the Access Points Survey Mode section in the Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide.

   • Sniffer mode: In this mode, the AP sniffs the air (captures and forwards all client packets for remote analysis on a given channel to a remote machine that runs AiroPeek NX or Wireshark (packet analyzers for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs). This includes metadata such as timestamp, signal strength, and packet size.

     Note	In the sniffer mode, the server to which the data is sent (receiving server) should be on the same VLAN as the wireless controller management VLAN. Otherwise, an error is displayed.

5. External Interfaces

   • One 2.5Gbps uplink port supporting port speeds of 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, and 2.5 Gbps

   • Three 1Gbps LAN ports for wired applications supporting port speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and 1 Gbps

     • Port 1: 802.3af POE-out port

   • One RJ45 console port.

6. Software Features

   • Intelligent Capture: Probes the network to provide deep diagnostic insights, enabling troubleshooting latency, interference, and other performance issues.

   • Cisco Catalyst Center integration to enable features such as:

     • Cisco Spaces for location services

     • Apple FastLane for optimized iOS device performance

     • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for advanced security and network access control

   • Optimized AP Roaming: Ensures client devices connect to the access point, providing the fastest data rates within their coverage range

   • Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for efficient traffic scheduling and resource utilization

   • BSS coloring and spatial reuse enable differentiation between multiple basic service sets for increased transmission efficiency

With the new Wi-Fi 7 APs, Cisco now has one AP portfolio that can be used either with the Meraki cloud native network or Cisco Catalyst on-premise controller-based deployments. With the introduction of the one AP portfolio, it is essential to have a single product ID (PID) at manufacturing, to simplify logistics or operations. This AP model is designed for global use under a single PID. To verify approval and to identify the regulatory domain that corresponds to a particular country, see https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/assets/prod/wireless/wireless-compliance-tool/index.html. Regulatory approvals are continually updated as they are obtained.

The following sections provide detailed information about the AP's antennas and radios.

• Wi-Fi serving antennas with a dedicated 2.4-GHz radio, 5-GHz radio, and a 6-GHz radio

• One internal single-band antenna with a dedicated 2.4-GHz IoT radio

• One tri-band antenna with a dedicated 2.4 GHz, 5-GHz, and 6-GHz AUX radio