Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced a bevy of new remote office products, starting with a branch-friendly version of its Integrated Services Router (ISR) entry - the new ISR 1861 - a lightweight series of Catalyst 2960 Switches (complete with Cisco's LAN Lite IOS Software) and, significantly, the availability of 802.11n WLAN Controller support for the ISR.
Analysts are upbeat about Cisco's branch office bonanza, which they say addresses clear corporate pain points. At the same time, they caution, Cisco's new branch office deliverables are far from market-changers.
"These products broaden Cisco's potential in the enterprise branch market but are not in of themselves giant leaps," said Steven Schuchart, principal analyst for enterprise network systems. "These new products will intrigue new customers but will not necessarily be prime motivators for new sales."
Not that Cisco is any stranger to the enterprise branch, of course. The market is already an established (and highly competitive) player in this segment, according to Schuchart. "Cisco has been focusing on the enterprise branch for some time and the 2960 with LAN Lite and 1861 ISR in particular give customers more choices for smaller branch offices. These products also give Cisco a good play for the small and medium enterprise market," he said.
Schuchart also singles out the availability of 802.11n support on Cisco's Wireless LAN Controller module for the ISR, which he expects will help placate existing customers as well as attract new ones.
He cautions, however, that most customers have adopted a wait-and-see comportment with respect to 802.11n - so the new high-speed WLAN Controller module probably won't be an enormous hit.
"This fleshes out the 802.11n strategy and product line announced earlier this month and gives customers who need the raw speed of an n-based solution the option of adding it to the ISR," he said. "Cisco has been leading the market with modular on-router wireless. Cisco's customers can pick from any number of modular options for many ISR models that allow customers to tailor the products to their needs, as opposed to the all-in-one options offered by many of their competitors."
Showing posts with label Cisco products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cisco products. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Cisco Acquires Latigent
Cisco will have Web 2.0-based reporting systems added to its contact centre systems as a result of the new acquisition of Latigent.
Latigent is a top provider of web-based business intelligence and analytics reporting solutions.
Its products take advantage of Web 2.0 principles that help customers to create scalable, flexible and easy customisable real-time reports for contact centres.
The deal will see Latigent's products work with Cisco's Unified Customer Contact solutions.
Laurent Philonenko, vice president and general manager of the Customer Contact Business Unit at Cisco, said: "By acquiring Latigent, Cisco is signalling a commitment to increase the value of customer investments in our customer interaction solutions by providing appealing, robust and dynamic tools to enable increased visibility and efficiency."
News brought to you by Comms Express, number one for switches on the net.
Latigent is a top provider of web-based business intelligence and analytics reporting solutions.
Its products take advantage of Web 2.0 principles that help customers to create scalable, flexible and easy customisable real-time reports for contact centres.
The deal will see Latigent's products work with Cisco's Unified Customer Contact solutions.
Laurent Philonenko, vice president and general manager of the Customer Contact Business Unit at Cisco, said: "By acquiring Latigent, Cisco is signalling a commitment to increase the value of customer investments in our customer interaction solutions by providing appealing, robust and dynamic tools to enable increased visibility and efficiency."
News brought to you by Comms Express, number one for switches on the net.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Cisco rolls out appliance to enhance carrier Ethernet and IPTV
Cisco this week announced a service provider appliance that the vendor says will help carriers better deliver on the promise of what it calls the "connected life," by bringing fibre connectivity to multi-tenant units like apartments.
As service providers continue to jockey back and forth to differentiate themselves by offering new advanced services, Cisco's service provider senior marketing manager Mike Capuano said the focus is really on the end users, who demand connectivity and the ability to create their own mix of services, whether it's video, voice, IPTV or a combination of many.
"The critical competitive element is to deliver a great customer experience," Capuano said. "End users can create their own service mix if they want to."
The appliance, the ME 3400 24FS, is an update to Cisco's Carrier Ethernet portfolio of its IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN).
According to Capuano, the ME 3400 24FS delivers fibre to multi-tenant units to enable high-density fibre deployments. He claims that providers can install the box in building basements to ensure in-building reach in a pay-as-you-grow fashion. Port options accommodate fibre and copper and visibility and control over bandwidth.
"Using the ME 3400, providers are able to pinpoint troubleshooting, delay-free access to personalised content and advanced entertainment service delivery unrestrained by distance," Cisco said in a statement.
Along with the appliance, Cisco announced enhancements to its IP NGN Carrier Ethernet Design, including 50 ms resiliency from the core to the premise, increased scalability, new instrumentation for measuring customer service-level agreements (SLAs), and increased resiliency and scalability.
Pinpointing trouble on a massive service provider network has been difficult in the past, according to Eve Guilloches, program manager of telecom infrastructure at IDC. And as the Carrier Ethernet market continues to be a growth area, a better understanding of the network end-to-end has become imperative.
Many vendors are making appliances for the core of the telecom network and moving slowly to the edge, Guilloches said. But the inherent problem with Carrier Ethernet is its need to be more reliable, especially as service providers offer new services like IPTV. The ability to manage the network from end-to-end will help ensure that the network is reliable, she said.
"[With Cisco IP NGN Carrier Ethernet] software can go all the way through fibre directly to the customer to understand what's going on at the customer site," she said. "What you want to do is have as much visibility as possible."
Guilloches said service providers want to know exactly where a problem lies -- whether it's in the satellite feed, the core, or at the customer site. Since data traverses a great deal of network infrastructure, it was difficult in the past for service providers to determine just where the problem lay.
"There are a million ways to screw it up," she said. "Now at least they can diagnose the problem to know where it's falling apart."
Ricky Wong, chairman of Hong Kong Broadcast Network, agreed that troubleshooting was difficult, especially with the mass of traffic and the increased use of new, advanced services.
"With the target to cover two million households for triple-play services on our Carrier Ethernet network, quality of experience is of the utmost importance," Wong said in a statement. "Given the growth of traffic and subscribers, working to ensure it is an ongoing challenge."
As service providers continue to jockey back and forth to differentiate themselves by offering new advanced services, Cisco's service provider senior marketing manager Mike Capuano said the focus is really on the end users, who demand connectivity and the ability to create their own mix of services, whether it's video, voice, IPTV or a combination of many.
"The critical competitive element is to deliver a great customer experience," Capuano said. "End users can create their own service mix if they want to."
The appliance, the ME 3400 24FS, is an update to Cisco's Carrier Ethernet portfolio of its IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN).
According to Capuano, the ME 3400 24FS delivers fibre to multi-tenant units to enable high-density fibre deployments. He claims that providers can install the box in building basements to ensure in-building reach in a pay-as-you-grow fashion. Port options accommodate fibre and copper and visibility and control over bandwidth.
"Using the ME 3400, providers are able to pinpoint troubleshooting, delay-free access to personalised content and advanced entertainment service delivery unrestrained by distance," Cisco said in a statement.
Along with the appliance, Cisco announced enhancements to its IP NGN Carrier Ethernet Design, including 50 ms resiliency from the core to the premise, increased scalability, new instrumentation for measuring customer service-level agreements (SLAs), and increased resiliency and scalability.
Pinpointing trouble on a massive service provider network has been difficult in the past, according to Eve Guilloches, program manager of telecom infrastructure at IDC. And as the Carrier Ethernet market continues to be a growth area, a better understanding of the network end-to-end has become imperative.
Many vendors are making appliances for the core of the telecom network and moving slowly to the edge, Guilloches said. But the inherent problem with Carrier Ethernet is its need to be more reliable, especially as service providers offer new services like IPTV. The ability to manage the network from end-to-end will help ensure that the network is reliable, she said.
"[With Cisco IP NGN Carrier Ethernet] software can go all the way through fibre directly to the customer to understand what's going on at the customer site," she said. "What you want to do is have as much visibility as possible."
Guilloches said service providers want to know exactly where a problem lies -- whether it's in the satellite feed, the core, or at the customer site. Since data traverses a great deal of network infrastructure, it was difficult in the past for service providers to determine just where the problem lay.
"There are a million ways to screw it up," she said. "Now at least they can diagnose the problem to know where it's falling apart."
Ricky Wong, chairman of Hong Kong Broadcast Network, agreed that troubleshooting was difficult, especially with the mass of traffic and the increased use of new, advanced services.
"With the target to cover two million households for triple-play services on our Carrier Ethernet network, quality of experience is of the utmost importance," Wong said in a statement. "Given the growth of traffic and subscribers, working to ensure it is an ongoing challenge."
Cisco Product Rollout Aims To Boost Branch Offices
Cisco Systems on Wednesday rolled out several new products and services designed to give branch offices similar security, wireless, application acceleration, and unified communications capabilities as the home office.
The new products and services include platforms, hardware modules, software enhancements, and new feature sets.
"We came out with a branch [office] architecture that allows us to provide our customers with an entire set of service capabilities that they need in the branch office: the routing, the switching, the wireless capabilities, unified communications, voice over IP, and Wide Area Network optimization to drive down latency and improve application performance," said Inbar Lasser-Raab, Cisco's director of network systems, in an interview.
Cisco's 1861 Integrated Services Router, which costs $3,995, comes with built-in security and unified communications capabilities for up to eight users in a branch office. A smaller business can connect its phones to the router for basic voice messaging. A larger business can tie it to a business application for the full unified communications experience, Lasser-Raab said.
The Catalyst 2960 Series Switches with LAN Lite Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) Software are managed switches with entry-level security and quality of service. The switches cost $995.
The Cisco Unified Messaging Gateway is designed for routing messages and exchanging subscriber and directory information among up to 10,000 voice mail systems within a unified messaging network, meaning one that supports an integrated in-box for multiple kinds of messages such as voicemail, e-mail, and fax. It acts as the central hub in a network. The gateway will be available in November, starting at $9,000 for 250 nodes.
The Intrusion Prevention System Advanced Integration Module, which starts at $3,000, is meant to help branch offices defend their networks against attacks and disruptions. The module identifies and stops malicious traffic originating from the Internet.
Cisco's new Performance Routing software monitors Internet traffic, performance bottlenecks, and overall network conditions, while the Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Network Module (for the Cisco 3800 Series Integrated Services Router) lets branch offices consolidate servers and storage into data centers and centrally deploy new applications.
Additionally, Cisco announced a software upgrade for its Wireless LAN Controller, which now supports the IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 standard that has the potential of delivering five times the performance of current wireless networks.
"Now customers can give their branches the same level of support and capability as they do in the headquarters," said Lasser-Raab.
The new products and services include platforms, hardware modules, software enhancements, and new feature sets.
"We came out with a branch [office] architecture that allows us to provide our customers with an entire set of service capabilities that they need in the branch office: the routing, the switching, the wireless capabilities, unified communications, voice over IP, and Wide Area Network optimization to drive down latency and improve application performance," said Inbar Lasser-Raab, Cisco's director of network systems, in an interview.
Cisco's 1861 Integrated Services Router, which costs $3,995, comes with built-in security and unified communications capabilities for up to eight users in a branch office. A smaller business can connect its phones to the router for basic voice messaging. A larger business can tie it to a business application for the full unified communications experience, Lasser-Raab said.
The Catalyst 2960 Series Switches with LAN Lite Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) Software are managed switches with entry-level security and quality of service. The switches cost $995.
The Cisco Unified Messaging Gateway is designed for routing messages and exchanging subscriber and directory information among up to 10,000 voice mail systems within a unified messaging network, meaning one that supports an integrated in-box for multiple kinds of messages such as voicemail, e-mail, and fax. It acts as the central hub in a network. The gateway will be available in November, starting at $9,000 for 250 nodes.
The Intrusion Prevention System Advanced Integration Module, which starts at $3,000, is meant to help branch offices defend their networks against attacks and disruptions. The module identifies and stops malicious traffic originating from the Internet.
Cisco's new Performance Routing software monitors Internet traffic, performance bottlenecks, and overall network conditions, while the Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Network Module (for the Cisco 3800 Series Integrated Services Router) lets branch offices consolidate servers and storage into data centers and centrally deploy new applications.
Additionally, Cisco announced a software upgrade for its Wireless LAN Controller, which now supports the IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 standard that has the potential of delivering five times the performance of current wireless networks.
"Now customers can give their branches the same level of support and capability as they do in the headquarters," said Lasser-Raab.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Cisco Stops Spam With Increased Performance From Intel
IronPort Systems, a business unit of Cisco, today announced the use of Multi-core Intel Xeon® processors to power IronPort's next generation of email and Web security appliances. IronPort appliances use AsyncOS, a proprietary operating system that is taking full advantage of the significant performance increases made possible by Intel Multi-core technology. This performance improvement helps enterprises, Internet service providers (ISPs) and smaller organizations stay ahead of the never-ending deluge of spam e-mail.
The new generation of email security appliances from IronPort harnesses the power of Multi-core Intel Xeon processors to stay in front of new spammer tactics. The IronPort X1050 uses dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series. The IronPort AsyncOS operating system is able to take full advantage of all eight cores, yielding system throughput approximately 800 percent greater than a comparable single-core appliance. This increase in processing power allows the IronPort appliance not only to process more spam messages, but also to run more sophisticated rules and analysis to thwart the latest spam techniques.
Spam continues and as a result, spam filters cannot simply rely on faster hardware to keep pace. The work that Cisco and Intel have been doing with multi-core systems is a great example of the new technologies required to stay ahead of spam.
Available Now
IronPort X1050 and all multi-core systems are available now. Visit www.ironport.com for more details.
The new generation of email security appliances from IronPort harnesses the power of Multi-core Intel Xeon processors to stay in front of new spammer tactics. The IronPort X1050 uses dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series. The IronPort AsyncOS operating system is able to take full advantage of all eight cores, yielding system throughput approximately 800 percent greater than a comparable single-core appliance. This increase in processing power allows the IronPort appliance not only to process more spam messages, but also to run more sophisticated rules and analysis to thwart the latest spam techniques.
Spam continues and as a result, spam filters cannot simply rely on faster hardware to keep pace. The work that Cisco and Intel have been doing with multi-core systems is a great example of the new technologies required to stay ahead of spam.
Available Now
IronPort X1050 and all multi-core systems are available now. Visit www.ironport.com for more details.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
HP targets Cisco dominance with core switch
HP ProCurve has launched a core switch that it hopes will challenge Cisco's market dominance.
The 8212zl, launched on Monday, is a scalable chassis core switch platform with 692Gbps switch capacity and 10Gb Ethernet connectivity. It is also hot-swappable and has redundant management, fabric and power capabilities.
The platform is based on HP's ProVision ASICs, and it links in with ProCurve's security strategy, according to Paul Congdon, ProCurve's chief technology officer. The switch has behavioral-analysis capabilities and can tunnel suspicious traffic to threat-management devices. The switch also accepts plug-in modules, HP said.
The 8212zl is targeted at both medium and larger-sized businesses, according to Congdon. "For mid-market customers, traditionally core products are really expensive, making those customers shy away. Now they have that capability (and they) don't have to deal with the intricacies of dealing with Cisco," he said.
Congdon added that, for larger enterprises, a common configuration is to have a Cisco core with ProCurve at the edge of the network.
John McHugh, ProCurve's managing director, said, "ProCurve has got to a size where the only way to continue to add to the market is to run into our competitor (Cisco). The bulk of our competitive motion will be against that company."
McHugh said that the 8212zl comes with a lifetime warranty--and he said that a product would typically last 12 to 15 years. "This is the first high-availability core with redundant capabilities that has a lifetime warranty," he said.
He claimed that ProCurve has sold more than 100 of the products to beta customers. Customers who have so far expressed an interest in purchasing the switches include the University of Westminster and organizations in the construction and manufacturing, health-care and local government verticals. The product in its basic form costs £14,102 (or about $28,519).
ProCurve on Monday also launched the Wireless Edge Services zl Module, which is a wireless LAN controller. Controllers manage a wireless network in terms of maintaining security policies and governing RF propagation.
The module includes a secure guest portal with guest-account administration and integrated Radius and DHCP services. Security features include an integrated stateful packet-inspection firewall and wireless-intrusion detection.
The 8212zl, launched on Monday, is a scalable chassis core switch platform with 692Gbps switch capacity and 10Gb Ethernet connectivity. It is also hot-swappable and has redundant management, fabric and power capabilities.
The platform is based on HP's ProVision ASICs, and it links in with ProCurve's security strategy, according to Paul Congdon, ProCurve's chief technology officer. The switch has behavioral-analysis capabilities and can tunnel suspicious traffic to threat-management devices. The switch also accepts plug-in modules, HP said.
The 8212zl is targeted at both medium and larger-sized businesses, according to Congdon. "For mid-market customers, traditionally core products are really expensive, making those customers shy away. Now they have that capability (and they) don't have to deal with the intricacies of dealing with Cisco," he said.
Congdon added that, for larger enterprises, a common configuration is to have a Cisco core with ProCurve at the edge of the network.
John McHugh, ProCurve's managing director, said, "ProCurve has got to a size where the only way to continue to add to the market is to run into our competitor (Cisco). The bulk of our competitive motion will be against that company."
McHugh said that the 8212zl comes with a lifetime warranty--and he said that a product would typically last 12 to 15 years. "This is the first high-availability core with redundant capabilities that has a lifetime warranty," he said.
He claimed that ProCurve has sold more than 100 of the products to beta customers. Customers who have so far expressed an interest in purchasing the switches include the University of Westminster and organizations in the construction and manufacturing, health-care and local government verticals. The product in its basic form costs £14,102 (or about $28,519).
ProCurve on Monday also launched the Wireless Edge Services zl Module, which is a wireless LAN controller. Controllers manage a wireless network in terms of maintaining security policies and governing RF propagation.
The module includes a secure guest portal with guest-account administration and integrated Radius and DHCP services. Security features include an integrated stateful packet-inspection firewall and wireless-intrusion detection.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Cisco fortifies 802.11n market
Cisco has announced enterprise solutions based on the 802.11n standard. Cisco's backing of the specification could give firms more confidence about deploying the technology in the interim until the standard on which systems are based – 802.11n – is ratified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Increased speed and performance are two key benefits of the technology Cisco Scotland chief technology officer Richard Moir said, "Organisations deploying 802.11n kit could see a five to ten-fold increase in data transfer speeds and a 2-fold increase in the range at which users could connect to their wireless networks." He added that any changes to the specification would be included in future software updates. "Any changes to the actual 802.11n standard will be addressed", he said.
Butler Group analyst Mark Blowers said that firms could benefit in many ways from the N specification. "Where firms need to have many people wirelessly connected, this technology would be a benefit. There have been reports of 802.11n capabilities eventually leading firms to think about removing wired connectivity at the edge of their networks – 802.11n makes this scenario a lot more feasible" he explained.
The Cisco offering uses its Catalyst 6500-based wireless LAN controller together with the Unified Wireless Network release 4.2 firmware, with 802.11n functions being delivered using new Cisco Aironet 1250 series access points (APs).
The new Aironet 1250 series AP will be available next month priced around £650 + VAT, with Power-over-Ethernet support using Cisco's Catalyst switches scheduled for launch later this year. Cisco's Unified Wireless Network release 4.2 firmware will be available this October.
Increased speed and performance are two key benefits of the technology Cisco Scotland chief technology officer Richard Moir said, "Organisations deploying 802.11n kit could see a five to ten-fold increase in data transfer speeds and a 2-fold increase in the range at which users could connect to their wireless networks." He added that any changes to the specification would be included in future software updates. "Any changes to the actual 802.11n standard will be addressed", he said.
Butler Group analyst Mark Blowers said that firms could benefit in many ways from the N specification. "Where firms need to have many people wirelessly connected, this technology would be a benefit. There have been reports of 802.11n capabilities eventually leading firms to think about removing wired connectivity at the edge of their networks – 802.11n makes this scenario a lot more feasible" he explained.
The Cisco offering uses its Catalyst 6500-based wireless LAN controller together with the Unified Wireless Network release 4.2 firmware, with 802.11n functions being delivered using new Cisco Aironet 1250 series access points (APs).
The new Aironet 1250 series AP will be available next month priced around £650 + VAT, with Power-over-Ethernet support using Cisco's Catalyst switches scheduled for launch later this year. Cisco's Unified Wireless Network release 4.2 firmware will be available this October.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Cisco launch Linksys One range for SMBs
Cisco has launched a range of routers designed to provide small businesses with packaged routing and switching for voice and wireless applications.
The Linksys One Services Routers (SVR200 and 3500) combine broadband or T-1 connectivity with Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. The software included provides firewall, VPN, remote network management and monitoring and device detection for IP phones.
For small business with a staff of about 10 people, the SVR200 includes ADSL and Ethernet WAN links and built-in 802.11g wireless LAN connectivity. The SVR3500, which is aimed at larger offices with more than 100 staff, has dual T-1 connections and a 24-port PoE switch.
The products launched under the Linksys One brand include its Linksys One Service Router, Wireless Services Router, Gigabit Smart Switch and the Cisco Service Node for Linksys One XA Series.
Linksys has included capabilities that let users transfer more calls from IP phones to a cell phone, as well as improved automatic customer provisioning capabilities.
The Linksys One Services Routers (SVR200 and 3500) combine broadband or T-1 connectivity with Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. The software included provides firewall, VPN, remote network management and monitoring and device detection for IP phones.
For small business with a staff of about 10 people, the SVR200 includes ADSL and Ethernet WAN links and built-in 802.11g wireless LAN connectivity. The SVR3500, which is aimed at larger offices with more than 100 staff, has dual T-1 connections and a 24-port PoE switch.
The products launched under the Linksys One brand include its Linksys One Service Router, Wireless Services Router, Gigabit Smart Switch and the Cisco Service Node for Linksys One XA Series.
Linksys has included capabilities that let users transfer more calls from IP phones to a cell phone, as well as improved automatic customer provisioning capabilities.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Cisco announces new product, application for effective biz
Cisco today announced new products and applications that allow organizations to use their network as a platform for more effective and more personalized business collaboration.
Cisco Unified Communications system 6.0 is a comprehensive communications system for voice, video and data. This new release introduces capabilities that will dramatically improve the productivity of mobile employees and cost-effectively deliver Unified Communications to small and medium-sized businesses. It also extends new collaboration features and third-party application integration across the portfolio. The system integrates wired, wireless and mobile devices to create a secure solution for the entire organization, regardless of a worker's location.
Further, marking the next major evolution of its small and medium-sized business (SMB) strategy, Cisco® today introduced several advancements designed to help maximize business efficiency and improve customer and employee collaboration. The advancements include the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition which combines key Unified Communications applications for mid-sized businesses (100-500 person) on a single platform with common provisioning and management and the Cisco Smart Business Communications System for small businesses.
A few highlights of the Cisco UC System 6.0 are:
- Mobility
- Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
- Collaboration
- A New Way of Communicating for Small Businesses
More >>
Cisco Unified Communications system 6.0 is a comprehensive communications system for voice, video and data. This new release introduces capabilities that will dramatically improve the productivity of mobile employees and cost-effectively deliver Unified Communications to small and medium-sized businesses. It also extends new collaboration features and third-party application integration across the portfolio. The system integrates wired, wireless and mobile devices to create a secure solution for the entire organization, regardless of a worker's location.
Further, marking the next major evolution of its small and medium-sized business (SMB) strategy, Cisco® today introduced several advancements designed to help maximize business efficiency and improve customer and employee collaboration. The advancements include the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition which combines key Unified Communications applications for mid-sized businesses (100-500 person) on a single platform with common provisioning and management and the Cisco Smart Business Communications System for small businesses.
Cisco Unified Communications System 6.0
A few highlights of the Cisco UC System 6.0 are:
- Mobility
- Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
- Collaboration
- A New Way of Communicating for Small Businesses
More >>
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