Cisco Spaces is a multichannel engagement platform that enables you to connect, know, and engage with visitors at their physical business locations.

Cisco Spaces is the industry's most scalable end-to-end indoor location services cloud platform that empowers customers to achieve business outcomes at scale. With its comprehensive suite of services, it offers a robust solution for all your location-based needs.

Cisco Spaces provides solutions for monitoring and managing the assets in your premises.

It covers various verticals of business such as

• retail

• manufacturing

• hospitality

• healthcare

• education

• financial services

• enterprise workspaces, and so on.

With Cisco Spaces, users gain centralized access to all location technology and intelligence via a unified dashboard interface. Designed for compatibility with existing Cisco Aironet, Cisco Catalyst, and Cisco Meraki infrastructure, Cisco Spaces stands out as a versatile solution for location-based service needs.

Use Case Scenario

In the ABC shopping mall, to get free Wi-Fi, the customers must connect to an SSID once they enter the mall. ABC wanted to provide a personalized experience to each customer who connects to the Wi-Fi based on their purchase history and visit frequency. After installing Cisco Spaces, ABC could collect the Wi-Fi user’s details through the captive portals, and utilize these details to send notifications to the customers regarding the offers and services available to them. The customers once connected to the Wi-Fi are taken to a captive portal, where they are provided with an option to register themselves by filling in details such as name, e-mail address, telephone number, and so on. This information captured is stored in Cisco Spaces. When customers re-visit the mall, promotional offers are sent to the customers through SMS, or e-mail.

Cisco Spaces can also be configured to notify business users such as employees regarding customer activities. For example, you can identify and tag repeat customers as platinum members on Cisco Spaces dashboard. When a platinum customer enters a restaurant and their device is detected by a wireless access point, the restaurant representatives would receive alerts on their devices and can provide personalized services to the customer.

The process flow for Cisco Spaces is as shown in the following figure:

Cisco Spaces is available in two license formats:

• Spaces EXTEND bundled with Cisco DNA Advantage with an upgrade option to Spaces ACT or choose between Spaces Smart Operations or Spaces Smart Venues.

• Spsces A-la-carte that includes Spaces ACT (includes all Cisco Spaces features), Spaces Smart Operations, Spaces Smart Venues and Spaces UNLIMITED license.

You can purchase either Spaces ACT or Spaces Unlimited licenses, both of which offer full features. Alternatively, you can choose Spaces Smart Operations and Spaces Smart Venues for specific use cases.

Note	Spaces EXTEND subscriptions are only included with Cisco DNA Advantage subscriptions that are paired with Catalyst Wireless and Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series and Cisco Catalyst 9400 Series switches.

Cisco DNA Advantage Package

The subscription options available are:

• Cisco DNA Advantage with only Spaces EXTEND is the default subscription option.

• Cisco DNA Advantage with Spaces EXTEND license and Spaces ACT license as the upgrade option.

• Cisco DNA Advantage with Spaces Smart Operations or Spaces Smart Venues along with Spaces EXTEND license. In this subscription option you can upgrade to Spaces ACT license.

Cisco Spaces A-la-carte

The subscription options available are:

• Spaces Smart Operations or Spaces Smart Venues with an option to upgrade to Spaces ACT

• Spaces ACT for device-based licensing

• Spaces ACT Unlimited for square footage based licensing

Overview of Cisco Spaces License Packages

The Cisco Spaces License package supports the following licenses: ACT, EXTEND, SMART_VENUES, SMART_OPERATIONS, SMART_OPERATIONS_BASE and UNLIMITED.

With the Cisco Spaces License package, you can choose the license option that best suits your needs and preferences.

As a Cisco Spaces user, you can purchase either SPACES ACT or SPACES UNLIMITED licenses with full features or SMART_OPERATIONS and SMART_VENUES for specific use cases.

Licensing Options

The Cisco Spaces licensing options are:

• EXTEND: Cisco Spaces Extend subscription is included with Cisco DNA Advantage subscriptions with Cisco Catalyst Wireless and Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series and 9400 Series Switches.

• SPACES ACT: This license works based on the number of Access Point (AP) provisioned for the Cisco Spaces account.

  SPACES ACT license is based on per device/year basis. This is also available as an add-on option on Cisco DNA Advantage subscription (Transactional and EA) as well as offered separately.

  The SPACES ACT license is recommended for wireless customers who have Cisco DNA Advantage and who want to keep a device licensing model (without significant expansions or increased device density planned).

• SPACES UNLIMITED: Cisco Spaces accounts with UNLIMITED license include all the entitlements similar to an existing ACT license. It is available in the new Cisco Spaces Unlimited EA and standalone subscription.

  Note	Cisco Spaces Unlimited license is not available at floor level.

  Cisco Spaces SPACES UNLIMITED license is available on a per square foot/square meter building unit/year basis. The Cisco Spaces SPACES UNLIMITED license is recommended for users with:

  • Multiple technologies or have dense deployments with Cisco Smart Workspaces

  • Do not need other features besides Cisco Smart Workspaces

  • Hybrid work offers

  Note	For a Cisco Smart License-enabled account with UNLIMITED license package, the license count is based on the total square foot area of all the floor locations calculated based on the maps uploaded to the Cisco Spaces platform.

• SMART_VENUES: This license works in the same way as the existing EXTEND license with some additional entitlements.

• SMART_OPERATIONS_BASE: This license works in the same way the current SMART_OPERATIONS license, excluding some entitlements and the following apps:

  • IoT Explorer,

  • Asset Locator, and

  • IoT Services.

• SMART_OPERATIONS: This license works in the same way as the existing EXTEND license with some additional entitlements. The SMART_OPERATIONS license includes all the access privileges under the EXTEND license.

For information about features included in Cisco Spaces, see Cisco Spaces License Types and Features Compatibility and the Cisco Spaces Data Sheet.

Note

The features available for your account depends on the type of Cisco Spaces license package you own. In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, the apps are displayed based on the license type for which they will be available. Cisco Spaces users can now choose any of these licenses for a location using the Split License feature.

Licensing Usage Details for Cisco Smart License Enabled and Non-Enabled Accounts

This table provides an overview of how licenses are consumed for Cisco Smart License enabled and Cisco Smart License non-enabled accounts, detailing the types of devices counted for each license type:

Note	The license counts for both Cisco Smart License enabled and Cisco Smart License non-enabled accounts will not include Cisco Meraki's MT Sensors.

Cisco Spaces offers various license tiers according to your business needs.

This table describes the Cisco Spaces feature compatibility depending on the license types.

Note	If your license status shows Out of Compliance, purchase new licenses or remove unlicensed devices to comply.

Cisco Spaces supports Single Sign-On (SSO) so that users can login to Cisco Spaces using their SSO credentials. For example, if the Cisco domain is SSO-enabled, Cisco employees, who have a Cisco Spaces account, can access Cisco Spaces using their Cisco e-mail address and password. Additionally, if a Cisco employee is already logged in to the Cisco domain through any other Cisco website or application, that Cisco employee can access Cisco Spaces by simply specifying the Cisco e-mail address.

When you click the Login button, only the e-mail ID field will appear in the Login window along with a Continue button. If the user is already logged into the SSO-enabled domain, then the user will be directly taken to the Cisco Spaces Dashboard after clicking the Continue button. If the Cisco Spaces account supports multiple customer names, then the Select Customer window will be displayed. If the user has not logged into the domain, then the user will be redirected to the IDP page for login authentication, and user can login by specifying the SSO credentials.

To enable SSO for your Cisco Spaces account, contact the Cisco Spaces support team and provide the following information:

• Account name

• Domain name (for which SSO needs to be enabled)

• Application Name

• SSO type: Currently, only SAML is supported.

• If only authentication is needed or both authentication and authorization needs to be enabled. This is done by setting the authenticateOnly flag to True or False.

  • True: Only authentication is enabled for the user.

  • False: Both authentication and authorization is enabled for the user.

    Note

    If you set authenticateOnly to False: You need to pass additional information from the IDP while sending the user details. For example, role=dnaspaces:174923535949:Dashboard_Admin. The value for role is mandatory and must be available in the IDP while sending the user details. You need not invite individual users from the Cisco Spaces dashboard > Admin Management. User invitation and activation is based on both authentication and authorization process by the specific customer IDP & Cisco Spaces. You can use the Cisco Spaces dashboard existing default roles or create a new role in the Cisco Spaces dashboard and use that specific role name. The Cisco Spaces dashboard default roles are: Dashboard Admin Role: Provides full admin permission to the user for the selected account Dashboard Admin Read: Provides read permission to the user for the selected account If you use the Cisco Spaces dashboard default roles, you must pass the role string value in the specified format: role": "dnaspaces:<account number>:Dashboard Admin Role", role": "dnaspaces:<account number>:Dashboard Admin Read", If you use custom roles, create these custom roles in Cisco Spaces > Admin Management > Roles and pass the role name as the role string value in the IDP response.

• The following information from the metadata.xml file:

  • SSO Details

  • Entity

  • Entry point

Once you provide the above details, the Cisco Spaces support team will send you the following so that you can configure your application:

• Entity ID

• Reply URL (also known as Assertion Consumer Service URL)

• Cisco metadata file with the following information:

  • Depending on the location of your application, either the US or EU Cisco Spaces IDP metadata

  • Identifier: https://dnaspaces.io

  • Sign On URL: https://dnaspaces.io/api/tm/v1/account/login

  • Sign out URL: https://dnaspaces.io/api/tm/v1/account/logout

  • CallBack URL from your IDP to Cisco Spaces: https://dnaspaces.io/api/tm/v1/account/login/callback

You need to configure your IDP metadata to return the firstName, lastName and email fields as below:

nameid-format:"emailAddress","firstName":"Jane","lastName":"Doe","phone":"9876543210","level":"info","

You can onboard Cisco Spaces through the Cisco Meraki Dashboard. The new seamless integration flow eliminates the need for multiple manual steps in establishing a mapping between the Cisco Meraki Dashboard and Cisco Spaces. This eliminates the need to manually copy and paste the API key and post URLs from one platform to the other. With the new integration, you can easily initiate the integration from the Meraki dashboard with just a few clicks.

For more information, see Seamless Meraki Integration with Cisco Spaces.

For setup instructions, see Cisco Meraki Integration with Cisco Spaces.

The following intergration options are available:

• Native Integration: Simple and seamless flow to enable Cisco Spaces integration via Cisco Meraki dashboard

• Bundled Licensing: Cisco Spaces Licenses are now bundled with Cisco Meraki Enterprise and Advanced licenses.

  • If you already have a Cisco Spaces account with Smart Licensing, you must create a new Cisco Spaces account when integrating Cisco Meraki Organization with Cisco Spaces. Otherwise, the bundled Cisco Meraki licenses are not displayed in Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM), and the Smart Licensing dashboard displays the status as Out of Compliance.

  • If you already have a Cisco Spaces account with Legacy Licensing, and the existing licensing tier matches the Cisco Meraki Organization being integrated, we recommend that you use the existing account when integrating Cisco Meraki Organization.

    For example, if the existing Cisco Spaces account is Spaces EXTEND licensing and the Cisco Meraki licensing is MR Enterprise, that would be the same Cisco Spaces licensing tier.

  • If you already have a Cisco Spaces account with Cisco Spaces Legacy Licensing, and the existing licensing tier is higher than the Cisco Meraki Organization being integrated, we recommend that you create a new Cisco Spaces account when integrating Cisco Meraki Organization.

    For example, if the existing Cisco Spaces account is Spaces ACT licensing and the Cisco Meraki licensing is MR Enterprise, that would be a higher Cisco Spaces licensing tier.

A user who is logged in to the Cisco Spaces dashboard can remain idle only for a specific time period. If inactive for 20 minutes, the user is automatically logged out of the dashboard. A notification is displayed 5 minutes before the idle timeout and the title of the browser window where the Cisco Spaces application is open changes to INACTIVE: You will be logged out in 5 mins. Any action performed on the corresponding window extends the user's session.

In the Cisco Spaces Location Hierarchy, if you have previously imported map data using Cisco Prime Infrastructure's import feature, you can now perform the same map data import using Catalyst Center's import feature.

This migration from Cisco Prime Infrastructure import to Catalyst Center import is considered as the source data migration in Cisco Spaces Location Hierarchy. After the migration, the import type source is considered as Catalyst Center import.

Before proceeding with map import or data migration, we strongly recommend that you reach out to the Cisco Spaces support team for assistance and guidance.

You can access the documentation for Cisco Spaces including Configuration Guides and Release Notes using the Cisco Spaces Support icon () displayed at the top-right of the Cisco Spaces dashboard.

You can also view the documentation, announcements, deployment guides, use cases and support information from the Spaces LaunchPad section. To do this, click the Spaces LaunchPad icon that is available at the bottom-right in Cisco Spaces UI.