The Design Story Behind the Award-Winning Cisco Wi-Fi 7 Access Points

Cisco's Wi-Fi 7 access points have been honored with the Red Dot Award for Product Design, a testament to their innovative design. This success stems from the Cisco Product Experience (PX) team's core principles: empathy, simplicity, and clarity.

A prime example of this philosophy is the Cisco Wireless 9179F, the industry's first enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 7 access point built for high-density settings. It is engineered for large public spaces like stadiums, airports, and concert venues where dependable, high-performance connectivity is essential.

The CW9179F demonstrates that aesthetics and performance can coexist. It delivers superior performance in crowded environments, features software-controllable beam switching, offers seamless management and advanced security, all within an elegantly designed housing.

A Deliberate Design Approach
Industrial design is a cornerstone of Cisco's product development. The PX team strives to make advanced technology feel intuitive and easy to use. Their process starts with empathy, considering the perspectives of installers, IT staff, and end-users. They pursue simplicity to minimize friction in every interaction and achieve clarity by handling backend complexity, resulting in a seamless user experience.

While maintaining a consistent brand identity, each new product generation incorporates innovations. Initial design concepts are ambitious but are refined based on practical considerations like thermal management, supply chain logistics, material selection, sustainability, and cost. The PX team collaborates closely with engineers to preserve the design's core vision throughout the manufacturing process.

Sustainability is a fundamental consideration, influencing decisions from materials to packaging. The goal is to minimize environmental impact while upholding high design standards, creating solutions that meet both present and future needs.

Designed for everyone
Cisco's Wi-Fi 7 access points are built with all users in mind. Installers benefit from an ergonomic and intuitive design that allows for swift deployment. The universal mounting system remains unchanged, facilitating straightforward upgrades, while visual indicators and a comfortable grip ensure accurate and reliable setup without the need for extra instruction.

For IT managers, a cohesive design aesthetic across the entire product line guarantees operational consistency. This uniformity, which signifies dependability, makes managing the network—from a single location to thousands of sites—a more intuitive process.

Finally, for business owners and their customers, the hardware is discreet enough to integrate into any décor, from a quiet café to a bustling stadium. Upon closer look, the superior craftsmanship is apparent, communicating Cisco's technological excellence in a way that enhances a space without dominating it.

Designed for performance, scalability, and sustainability
The transition from Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7 represents a fundamental shift for enterprise wireless networks. This new standard introduces groundbreaking capabilities like multi-link operation, quad-radio connectivity, 320 MHz channels, and AI-driven optimization, setting a new benchmark for performance.

Cisco's Wi-Fi 7 solutions are engineered to harness this power, featuring:

• A robust design that supports advanced internal components and manages increased heat.

• Full compatibility with the universal Cisco mount for easy upgrades.

• Packaging that significantly reduces or eliminates new plastics and virgin resins.

• A unified aesthetic and functional design across Meraki and Catalyst products.

• A scalable architecture adaptable for a wide range of future models.
  
  

To achieve this, the Product Experience team developed a flexible platform that maintains a consistent brand identity while accommodating different features and market segments. The design process involved exploring diverse concepts—from organic to geometric forms and minimal to monolithic structures—through extensive sketching and modeling. This culminated in a cohesive visual language that honors Cisco's legacy. In parallel, rigorous thermal testing validated the choice of a full die-cast aluminum chassis to ensure superior heat dissipation, embodying an "evolution-with-purpose" philosophy.

Designed for connectivity
The design theme for Cisco's Wi-Fi 7 access points is "Mesh," a concept drawn from the wave interference patterns that represent the core of interconnected networks. This is expressed through two intersecting creases on the device's surface, which form smooth, faceted planes flowing toward the central Cisco logo and status LED. The result is a cohesive and purposeful aesthetic that visually communicates connection.

This "Mesh" theme represents an evolution from the single-wave inspiration of the Wi-Fi 6E design, now embodying the interaction of multiple signals. This mirrors the unification of the Catalyst and Meraki product lines under a hybrid management system. The design successfully introduces new visual elements while maintaining essential functionality and scaling consistently across different models. Underpinning this innovation is a strong commitment to sustainability:

• The top covers of CW917X models are composed of a minimum of 50-60% post-consumer recycled plastic.

• The aluminum base is produced using a portion of recycled content.

• The plastic-free, corrugated packaging incorporates at least 25% post-consumer recycled material.

Designed as a foundation for the future
Mesh is a scalable, more sustainable, and iconic platform shaping the future of Cisco wireless networking. With more SKUs in development, the Mesh design language unifies our product portfolio while enabling ongoing innovation. The CW9179F enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 7 high-density access point exemplifies this vision, combining cutting-edge performance with the design language that defines our commitment to user-first experiences.

Winning the 2025 Red Dot Product Design Award is a landmark moment, affirming our values of user-first thinking, visual storytelling, simplicity, and empathic design. This is what happens when design is built for people, backed by engineering, and purpose-driven.