Cisco Harnesses Internet to Deliver End-to-End Network Management; New Internet-Based Technology and Integrated Support Model Increase Availability, Performance and Security for Enterprise Networks

Business Wire, Sept 22, 1997

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 1997--Cisco Systexpertise to deliver enterprise- wide network availability, performance and security. ANS ties together all Cisco network management applications, online knowledge bas Internet to support managing enterprise networ ks in three areas: infrastructure management, service level mepository of networking expertise and knowled ge, Cisco helps customers solve network management problems. TJim Herman, vice president of Northeast Consulteratio ns, Cisco is now ex tending its leading Internet business practices to its enterprise network managemenents, Web-based electronic services, best prac tices, and professional services to meet the network management needs of enterprise customers.

Evolving Infrastructure Management Through Internet Technologies

Cisco currently offers robust infrastructure network management products providing complete multidevice end-to-end management. These products include CiscoWorks, CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks (CWSI), Cisco Enterprise Accounting (CEA), Cisco Netsys Service-Level Management Suite and Cisco Resource Manager (CRM). Under the ANS initiative, Cisco will evolve these products and their respective functionality using Internet technologies. CRM and CWSI are Cisco's first efforts at building ANS from the ground up with Internet technologies - rather than simply adding a Web interface to legacy products. Though Cisco has been delivering Web-based device management for over 12 months, the ANS initiative raises the bar for infrastructure management by delivering Internet-based network management in the following ways:

-- Asynchronous delivery of new management functionality

-- Dynamic, contextual access to Cisco's networking knowledge base

-- Cross-platform manageability and Standards-based integration

To provide the tight integration required for delivering assured network services, ANS offers a common software foundation. This software foundation includes user interface, database, Cisco Connection Online (CCO) (Cisco's online support service for back-end services integration), agents for device integration and object- oriented interprocess communication technology for application integration. This software foundation will tightly integrate with Cisco's baseline manageability requirements that span across all Cisco routers and switches.

Cisco is making ease-of-use for all ANS infrastructure management applications a priority. An advanced task-based management paradigm simplifies infrastructure management by organizing management activities into step-by-step, wizard-assisted tasks that closely map to routine infrastructure management processes users must perform, such as software image management and distribution. By delivering products on the Windows NT platform, ANS will further reduce the overall complexity typically associated with traditional network management systems.

Products and services in ANS are based on network management and Internet standards, including SNMP, RMON, Java, CORBA, and HTTP/HTML. The next-generation products also leverage manageability features embedded in Cisco IOS(TM) software. Cisco will continue to play a leading role in the development of standards such as those proposed by the WBEM initiative and CIM. ANS applications will support a "standalone/stand-alongside" position relative to management platforms offered by Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Tivoli and Computer Associates. ANS will exploit the many synergies where a platform exize push-and-pull technologies to bring customers closer to the information they need to efficiently manage their networks. This allows transparent links to CCO to automatically provide software updates, patches and important data based on customized network profiles. Customers also benefit from the automation of best practices, which wilo success. Embedded intelligence in switches, routers and network probes are important sources of informati the ability to monitor if networks conform to their defined policies and indicates corrective action for failure to meet the required policies. The new CWSI, Version 2.1VLAN authentication facilities exemplify policy-based management by offering campus mobility. User verification, location authentication and tracking, and quality of network services are provided in CWSI to assist customers in administering their dynamic networks. CEA for NetFlow delivers end-to-end accounting and auditing solutions helping organizations control and decrease the cost of their networks.

Network management products under the ANS initiative will continue to exhibit a blending of current and future product features through the common management foundation. Through this delivery model Cisco offers end-to-end management solutions that simplify network management tasks and improve usability issues.

"Success today is defined by a globally networked business model and Cisco is best prepared to offer world-class online service and support, end-to-end infrastructure management across all enterprise devices and sophisticated service-level management tools," said Stephen DeWitt, general manager and vice president of network management for Cisco Systems. "We are delivering a new management initiative that takes advantage of today's Internet technologies and Cisco's wealth of networking expertise. These next-generation enterprise network management products will meet the challenges that traditional solutions simply cannot address."