Cisco Router Boot Sequence

Cisco systems this week will introduce a new line of routers with integrated services that combine concurrent data, security, and voice features in one system.

The new systems are designed for both small businesses and large enterprises and are scalable depending on the application. “We have had services in routers before, but here we have strengthened and embedded security and added wire-speed concurrent data, voice, and video services,” said Robert Checketts, senior manager of product marketing at Cisco’s enterprise routing group.

At the high end, Cisco will offer the 3825 and 2845 routers, starting at $9,500 arid designed as enterprise branch routers. These systems offer T3 and E3 rates with all the services being used. In terms of security, the routers feature onboard encryption and firewalls. Voice features include onboard DSP (digital signal processing) slots with support for as many as 240 IP phone lines.

The new 2801, 2811, 2821, and 2851 routers are designed for the converged branch office. These routers start at $1,995 and include onboard encryption and firewalls. They also include onboard DSP slots for as many as 96 IP phone lines.

For the small and medium business or secure branch office, Cisco is introducing the 1841 router. It starts at $1,395 and also offers onboard encryption and firewalls but doesn’t include the telephony features of the other models.

The systems include a new application services module that offers network analysis and support, voice mail, HTTP caching and URL filtering, video distribution, and intrusion detection for enhanced performance and a lower overall cost,

For the new systems, Cisco is also offering an update to its Router and Security Device Manager with simplified management features and a built-in graphical user interface. “Our customers have been very. clear that they want better control over their networks,” Checketts said.

The new routers fit into the current trend of offering additional services on routers. That is particularly true with security, which has grown recently as IT managers have used secure routers for corporatewide rollouts of broadband VPNs. This summer Cisco expanded its high-end offerings in the router market with the CRS-1, designed for the telecom market.

Cisco is not the only company to recognize this trend. Competitor Juniper Networks, for instance, last year acquired NetScreen Technologies, a muter company strong in security features. “The traditional enterprise router market is evolving into an IP-centric market where enterprise routers are supporting VoIP in addition to security features,” said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.

According to research company Dell’Oro Group, the total router market was $260 million in the second quarter of 2004, a 13 percent increase over the first quarter.

CISCO SYSTEMS INC. Is introducing new carrier-grade routers in its 12000 series to double the capacity of core networks, and it is unveiling upgrades to its 7600-series routers to support new high-bandwidth services.

The enhancements to the 7600 series will make it easier to deliver a wide range of high-reliability, enterprise-level services over one network, said Brendan Gibbs, senior manager of product management at the San Jose, Calif., manufacturer. By consolidating parallel networks built for ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), frame relay and IP services, carriers can reduce both capital and operating expenses, he said.

The upgrades include a new system processor called Supervisor Engine 720-3BXL, an enhanced WAN module that doubles service performance, and support for additional Layer 2 and Layer 3 MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) VPN and IPv6 services.

By focusing on service delivery at the edge of the network, providers will be better positioned to offer emerging services such as voice over IP, video and Ethernet VPN, Gibbs said.

The 7500 routers satisfied a large portion of Cisco’s customer base, Gibbs said, but a subset sought higher bandwidth and additional performance. The enhanced 7600 routers will let service providers offer more varied levels of bandwidth with stronger service-level agreements.

“Reliability is going to be key. We’re trying to help service providers craft the nonstop network,” Gibbs said. “Instead of being locked into the SONET [Synchronous Optical Network]-type hierarchy, you can scale gracefully, starting at 10MB per second going up to a gigabit. Customers can get quality of service tied to that.”

The new 12800 router will enable service providers to double the scale of their IP/MPLS networks without having to forgo investments already in place. It allows the merging of ATM and frame relay services with IP services, leading to reduced costs, said Suraj Shetty, senior manager of Routing Technology Group Marketing at Cisco.

“One of the strategies is to converge all this edge access and put it over the core. In the same box, you can do not only IP services but frame and ATM,” Shetty said.

The new and upgraded routers will be available this month.

CISCO SYSTEMS INC. last week released an iSCSI/Fibre Channel over IP storage router that analysts say maps out the company’s direction in the storage networking marketplace.

The Cisco SN 5428 storage router will allow enterprise workgroups to create storage-area networks (SAN) using a combination of Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet and SCSI over IP (iSCSI) protocols over an IP network.

The 5428 is Cisco’s second foray into the storage over IP market. In April 2001, Cisco released the 5420, a gateway device that connected Fibre Channel storage devices over an IP network. That, said analysts, was a trial balloon in the Fibre Channel connectivity marketplace that proved to have few takers.

The 5428, priced at $11,995, comes with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, eight Fibre Channel ports and three management ports.

A Midpoint Release
Tony Prigmore, an analyst at Enterprise Storage Group Inc. in Milford, Mass., said the 5428 router is a midpoint iteration between the 5420 and the upcoming release of a multiprotocol, highly intelligent storage switch from San Jose-based Andiamo Systems Inc., a storage networking vendor that’s mostly owned by Cisco.

The Andiamo project, according to industry experts, is still in stealth mode.

Mike Kahn, chairman of The Clipper Group in Wellesley, Mass., said Cisco’s foray into the storage space is driven by the evolution of iSCSI as much as anything else.

ISCSI takes SCSI commands and data and encapsulates them in IP packets for transport over networks. Cisco and other storage over IP vendors, such as San Jose-based Nishan Systems Inc., are still awaiting the release of the iSCSI standard. It’s expected to be out by the end of the summer.

Also, iSCSI network interface cards have yet to be released in quantity. Without such cards, the burden of off-loading the TCP/IP commands falls on the server, eating up enormous amounts of CPU cycles.

But Kahn said Cisco’s new router “could ease some of the problems that are driven by direct-attached storage.

“What we’re tackling here is the next tier of data [such as e-mail traffic] that needs to be maintained but for whom laying a lot of Fibre Channel does not justify the expense,” Kahn said.

SAN Plan THE SN 5428 OFFERS:
• Eight 1G or 2G bit/sec. Fiber Channel ports
• Two iSCSI ports for midrange servers to extend the SAN to low-cost servers
• Logical unit number mapping and masking
• Support for 10 to 40 servers running midrange applications such as e-mail and relational databases