Cisco Extends the CiscoWorks Management Family; Announcing Tools for Cost Effective Management of the Cisco Wireless and Fixed LAN and Routed WAN Infrastructures

Business Wire, June 17, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 2002

Cisco Systems today announced additions to the CiscoWorks family with the introduction of the CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE), as well as security and operational enhancements to the CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) and Routed WAN Management Solution (RWAN). These solutions offer customers cost-effective management and monitoring tools, which can enhance network resilience as well as the IT staff's productivity.

The WLSE is a specialized appliance for managing Cisco Aironet wireless LAN infrastructures and provides enterprises with a rich set of integrated features to cost-effectively manage these productivity-enhancing infrastructures. It centrally identifies and configures Access Points (AP) in customer-defined groups and reports on throughput and client associations, enabling optimized wireless network performance and overall operational efficiency. WLSE's centralized management capabilities are further enhanced with an integrated template-based configuration tool for added configuration ease and improved productivity.

"With a facility covering more than 2-million square feet, the individual configuration of APs is a challenge," said Kalpesh Unadkat, network engineer at the University of Michigan Health System. "The performance monitoring and utilization reporting capabilities available in the WLSE are of major importance to us for use in capacity planning, and the uniform application of security policies, such as knowing whether WEP is enabled or disabled on the AP, is crucial too. With the WLSE, we can now move ahead with new applications physicians need for our wireless LAN."

The WLSE is designed to provide alerts when unauthorized configuration changes are made to an AP, or if security parameters have been changed, enabling customers to address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. WLSE also provides proactive fault and performance monitoring for APs, bridges, LEAP servers and attached switches, which reduce wireless LAN security vulnerabilities. WLSE enables customers to confidently deploy value-add wireless applications such as Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) applications, supporting wider deployments of wireless infrastructures.

Enhancements to the CiscoWorks Family

The CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) and CiscoWorks Routed WAN Management Solution (RWAN), provide customers with a robust set of tools for management and administration of LAN and routed WAN infrastructures respectively. Both solutions now offer expanded security and operational support for more comprehensive, scalable infrastructure management including new security enhancements, operating system support, expanded Cisco IOS support, and extended device support for over 30 new Cisco devices. Key enhancements to these solutions also include:

-- New Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Secure Shell (SSH) protocol support in
CiscoView helps enable more secure transactions between CiscoWorks
applications, clients and managed devices helping to protect important
enterprise device data over the managed network

-- RME's Software Image Manager (SWIM) has been enhanced to allow dynamic
updating of PIX device images simplifying management of large scale PIX
deployments reducing the time and effort required to maintain and update PIX
software.

-- Support for Windows 2000 Server and Professional and Solaris 2.7 and 2.8.
For more information go to: http://www.cisco.com/warp/pub lic/cc/pd/wr2k/

"These expansions to the CiscoWorks management solution portfolio underscore Cisco's ongoing commitment to the delivery of management solutions that address evolving business resilient network infrastructures," said Jeff Krause, vice president and general manager of the Cisco Network Management technology group. "They are also critical components of AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data), providing customers robust solutions that manage today's business critical networks."

Pricing and Availability

The Wireless LAN Solution Engine is currently available for a list price of $15,995 US. The LMS is currently available for the list price of $19,995. The RWAN is currently available for the list price of $14,995.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at http://www.cisco.com.