People counting with Cisco Catalyst
Running Cisco Catalyst? Your access points and wireless controllers already register how people move. Bumbee Labs turns those signals into anonymous footfall counts, dwell times and flows: nothing new on the ceiling.
No new hardware: your existing Catalyst network does the sensing.
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Why Cisco Catalyst + Bumbee Labs
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No new hardware
Works with the Cisco Catalyst access points and wireless controllers you already operate.
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Privacy-first
Signals are anonymised and aggregated from the start, so no individual is ever identified.
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One platform
Counts, dwell times and movement patterns land in your Bumbee Labs dashboards and API.
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Sustainable by design
The access points already racked in your Catalyst network keep earning: no new devices to build, ship or scrap.
Getting started on your Catalyst network
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Connect to your Catalyst network
Bumbee Labs ingests data from your Cisco Catalyst wireless environment, the access points and wireless LAN controllers (WLC) you already operate.
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Filter & anonymise
Our engine filters out noise, then anonymises and aggregates what remains. Personal data is irrevocably deleted, leaving only statistics.
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Process & calibrate
The signals become visitor counts, dwell times, zone correlations and movement flows, calibrated to your venue.
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Deliver
Clean, anonymous metrics arrive in real time through your dashboards and the API, ready for your BI tools.
What you measure with Cisco Catalyst
Wi-Fi is Bumbee Labs' whole-space method, strongest at covering entire venues and the journeys across them. Typical metrics from a Catalyst network:
- Visitor count (total) and unique visitors
- Dwell time, per zone and overall
- Visitor paths & flows between zones and between sites
- Zone data & correlation
- Passers-by and capture rate (passing → entering)
- Peaks & lows and long-run trends
For exact line-crossing in/out and live occupancy at a specific door, pair Catalyst with cameras or 3D sensors. See the full method-by-method grid.
Footfall analytics on your Cisco Catalyst network
Phones emit Wi-Fi signals as people move, and your Cisco Catalyst access points and controllers already pick them up. Bumbee Labs ingests that data and turns it into visitor counts, dwell times and movement patterns, anonymised and aggregated, using the wireless you already run.
What you need to start: a Cisco Catalyst wireless environment (your access points and wireless LAN controllers, typically managed through Catalyst Center) and permission to connect Bumbee Labs to it. No new hardware, no site visit, no change to how your network runs.
Beyond visitor counting, the same Catalyst integration supports real-time occupancy monitoring where live capacity matters, so the network you already operate answers a second question: not just whether it’s healthy, but how people actually move through the space.
Running Cisco Spaces instead? See people counting with Cisco Spaces for the cloud-stream route, or read how Wi-Fi people counting handles the privacy side.
Cisco Catalyst vs other counting methods
Every method has a sweet spot. Wi-Fi covers whole spaces and the journeys across them; pair it with cameras or cellular where you need point precision or wide-area catchment.
| Capability | Cisco Catalyst (Wi-Fi) | Camera & 3D | Cellular |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole-space coverage | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Exact in/out at a door | Partial | Yes | No |
| Real-time occupancy | Partial | Yes | No |
| Paths & flows between zones | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Dwell time | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Catchment / origin | No | No | Yes |
| Uses your existing hardware | Yes | No | Yes |
| Privacy-first by design | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Full
- Partial
- Not available
Curious what this looks like for your venue?
Compliant where it counts
Insight from your Cisco Catalyst network feeds the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority, with no personal data involved.
Having the large flows we have is a challenge. We constantly strive to have as efficient a station as possible. With the help of reliable data from the new measurement system, we can better plan where different service functions or stores are to be located and how we can adapt doors or passages.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to install new hardware?
No. Bumbee Labs works with the Cisco Catalyst access points and controllers you already run, so there is nothing to mount or cable.
How does Bumbee Labs connect to Cisco Catalyst?
Bumbee Labs ingests data from your Catalyst wireless environment (the access points and wireless LAN controllers, WLC, you already operate) and turns it into anonymous footfall analytics.
How is this different from people counting with Cisco Spaces?
Cisco Catalyst reads from your on-prem access points and controllers. Cisco Spaces delivers the data as a cloud stream (the Firehose). Both land in the same Bumbee Labs platform; the right route depends on how your Cisco estate is set up.
Do we need Cisco CMX, or does Bumbee Labs replace it?
Bumbee Labs works from the data your Cisco Catalyst network already produces (the access points and wireless LAN controllers, WLC, managed through Catalyst Center), so you don't need to stand up a separate location-analytics product such as Cisco CMX (Connected Mobile Experiences) to get footfall analytics. If CMX is already part of your environment, book a demo and we'll confirm the right route for your setup.
Does it identify individual visitors?
No. Signals are anonymised and aggregated, and personal data is irrevocably deleted, so only anonymous statistics remain. No individual can be identified.
Is it GDPR-compliant?
Yes. Personal data is deleted at source, leaving only aggregated statistics, and the underlying method was reviewed and approved by a European data protection authority.