WLC Safe Harbor Code, what is it?? What does it mean to you ?

In your travels you may hear the term safe harbor code, or Cisco’s validated code. So you probably wonder what is it and what does it mean to you.

Cisco has identified 3 WLAN controller code releases and has elevated their status designated by Cisco. The code versions are 4.2.176, 4.2.205 and 4.2.207. Cisco has defined three programs; AssureWave, Cisco Validated Design and Safe Harbor. These three programs are a collaborative effort of sorts.

These programs focus on specific code versions which are tested, evaluated and graded for quality and dependability. This isn’t to say you should not consider later releases, such as 5.1, 5.2 or 6.0. As these later releases will gain you additional (bells and whistles). You may have noticed I didn’t mention 5.0. This is because 5.0 is extremely buggy and should not be used.

The AssureWave program also enlists testing from third parties and partners. This ensures stringent testing of client and application interoperability, which results in a smoother introduction of a complete wireless network.

Testing is currently performed on the following simulated networks:

• Healthcare
• Enterprise
• Retail
• Higher education

Cisco Validated Designs consist of systems and solutions that are designed, tested, and documented to facilitate and improve customer deployments. These designs incorporate a wide range of technologies and products into a portfolio of solutions that have been developed to address the business needs of our customers.

Cisco Validated Designs are organized by solution areas which and will list one, two or all three primary types of Cisco Validated Design:

• Design Guides
• System Assurance Guides
• Application Deployment Guides
• All Enterprise Cisco Validated Designs

Safe Harbor is a Cisco® program that focuses on satisfying customer
quality requirements in critical vertical markets. This program links and expands
on product testing conducted within development engineering, regression testing,
and systems test groups within Cisco Systems®. Safe Harbor certification marks the successful
completion of extensive integrity testing that validates
targeted releases.

Rumor has it the next safe harbor code will be released in 6.0.