The Cisco Compatible Extensions Program (.ccx) provides compatibility between Cisco Aironet wireless infrastructure products and wireless client devices from companies such as NETGEAR.

NETGEAR's WAG511 Dual Band PC Card and the WAG311 Dual Band PCI Card have Cisco certification. They are IEEE 802.11a/b/g compliant and Wi-Fi certified, and are compatible with other Wi-Fi certified products.

Initially, the WAG511 and WAG311 feature the Cisco Wireless Security Suite, including the proprietary Cisco Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) 802.1X authentication type. The certification provides support for Cisco VLANs, providing benefits such as flexible security schemes in a mixed client environment and optimized performance in Cisco VLAN deployments.

• The Cisco Compatible Extensions Program provides compatibility between Cisco Aironet wireless infrastructure products and wireless client devices from third-party companies such as NETGEAR.
• All NETGEAR’s WLAN products are IEEE 802.11 compliant and interoperate with IEEE 802.11 standards-based equipment, including Cisco WLAN infrastructure.
• The program does not include NETGEAR's wireless access points or WAN routers.
  

Q. Is the Cisco Compatible Extensions Program in competition with the Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard?
A. No. In fact, Wi-Fi compliance is at the core of the Cisco Compatible Extensions Program. Customers require our solutions to be IEEE 802.11 and Wi-Fi compliant; Cisco Compatible devices meet both of these requirements. It's the features that Cisco provides to program participants differentiate Cisco Compatible wireless devices from other devices.

Q. How will I know what vendors are approved Compatible Extensions Program members?

A. To make it easy to find these devices, Cisco licensed the Cisco Compatible logo for participants' use. Locating approved wireless devices is as easy as looking for the logo. Here is a list of products that have the Cisco Compatible designation.

Doc n101275.asp March 23, 2004