Cisco Unveils LAN Switching Solution to Ready Mid-Sized Companies and Branch Offices for IP Telephony Deployment - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, June 5, 2000

Cisco Systems, Inc. Tuesday announced a high performance local area network (LAN) switching solution that will ready midmarket customers -- mid-sized companies and branch offices with 250-1000 employees -- for deployment of IP telephony and other converged applications.

An extension of Cisco's Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID), the new solution provides a path to future-proof LANs for Internet business applications, including IP telephony, and other integrated voice, video and data applications. This LAN infrastructure solution enables companies to take advantage of New World applications that enhance competitiveness by cutting costs and improving productivity.

The LAN switching solution consists of the new Cisco Catalyst 3524-PWR XL model that features inline power together with updated software functionality for the Catalyst 3500 series XL and 2900 series XL desktop switches. The software update includes enhanced quality of service (QoS), high availability, integrated management capabilities and security.

"Convergence has made the network a dynamic entity. As today's midmarket companies make networking decisions, they must map a course for their LAN infrastructures to support new applications," said Bill Rossi, senior director of marketing for the Desktop Switching Business Unit at Cisco Systems, Inc. "With Cisco's high performance LAN switching capabilities, mid-sized companies can take the first step toward converged applications."

Through adoption of IP-based applications, companies are able to improve business processes by increasing customer focus, satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, companies deploying an IP-based infrastructure will enjoy reduced phone costs, greater control over the network and the ability to deploy new IP applications that will save time and costs while providing more flexibility for the workforce and customer base.

"Cisco is sending a clear signal to midmarket companies that they must prepare their LANs for converged applications, such as IP telephony," said Michael Speyer, director, Small & Medium Business Communications at the Yankee Group, a Boston, Mass.-based research firm. "By offering a robust switching solution to support IP telephony, Cisco is providing companies that are looking to enjoy the business benefits of a single, converged network with the option of a phased migration path, starting with the LAN."

Optimized Switch for Converged Applications

Cisco's new Catalyst 3524-PWR XL switch includes features making it ideal for customers that expect to deploy converged applications. The new switch, the latest addition to the Catalyst 3500 series XL is a single rack unit (RU) switch featuring 24 10/100 switched ports with integrated inline power and two Gigabit Interface Connector (GBIC)-based Gigabit Ethernet ports that accommodate a range of industry-standard GBICs, including the Cisco GigaStack GBIC, and 1000BaseSX, 1000BaseLX/LH and 1000BaseZX GBICs.

With integrated inline power, the Catalyst 3524-PWR XL automatically detects the type of IP device on each port, such as an IP phone, and powers it directly, using 48-volt DC power over standard Category 5 unshielded twisted pair cable. Thus, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or separate wall power is not required for each IP phone.

The Catalyst 3524-PWR XL is compatible with Call Manager 3.0 and the new Cisco IP Phones announced in March of this year, and with the Cisco Integrated Communications System 7750 announced this month.

Prioritizing Network Traffic

All Catalyst 3500 and 2900 series XL switches support LAN edge QoS based on IEEE 802.1p class of service (CoS). In addition, the Catalyst 3524-PWR XL supports the added feature of port-based reclassification, allowing users to change the switch CoS settings of tagged packets on a per port basis. These features enable users to prioritize mission critical traffic, such as voice traffic ahead of file transfers or Web surfing.

Enhanced Network Availability and Reliability

Catalyst 3500 and 2900 series XL switches include hardware- and software-based high availability features that optimize network uptime and prevent network outages from disrupting network availability. Network administrators can ensure that power outages don't affect a building's telephony connections by implementing the Centralized Power Provisioning system, which consists of the Catalyst 3524-PWR XL with inline power, a Redundant Power Supply (RPS) and a UPS system to back it up in secured wiring closets.

There are also a number of redundancy features that can be built in via the network design. With a redundant switched design that includes standby routing in the backbone, physical redundant links and optimized recovery features, network uptime can be enhanced. Also, dual gigabit uplinks on Catalyst 3500 switches provide a redundant uplink in case the primary link goes down, eliminating the possibility of network disruption. The Catalyst 3500 and 2900 series XL switches utilize intelligent Layer 2 functions such as VLANs, fast convergent Spanning Tree, and other high availability features to enhance overall network stability and reliability.