Cisco Network Support Outsourcing

Cisco's latest line of switches are aimed at providing intelligence at the network edge, where one network environment interfaces with another one. The demand for intelligence at the network edge is being driven primarily by four important developments:

• Growth in PC computing power
• Proliferation of bandwidth-intensive programs
• Presence of confidential data on the LAN
• Greater variety of devices, e.g. VoIP phones and wireless LAN access points

Cisco switches deliver exceptional QoS to help ensure that traffic is classified and prioritized, and that congestion is avoided. Set up of QoS is dramatically simplified via automatic QoS, a process that detects Cisco IP phones and automatically configures the switch for the right classification and egress buffering. This optimizes traffic prioritization and system availability without forcing your network management department to implement a complicated configuration strategy.

With Cisco Catalyst switches for small and midsize organizations, Cisco allows companies to get the full advantages of integrating intelligent services into their infratstructure. Cisco's Catalyst switches allow you to install features that make the network infrastructure highly available to accommodate time-critical needs, expandable to support future growth, secure so as to guard confidential data, and capable of classifying and managing traffic flows to improve network operations.

Catalyst 2950 Switches
Catalyst 2950-24 and 2950-12 non-modular, managed 10/100 Ethernet switches provide fundamental small-group connectivity for small to medium-sized businesses. These wire-rate desktop switches deliver Cisco IOS Software features for basic data, video, and voice support at the network edge.

Cisco 2950G-12, 2950G-24, 2950G-48, and 2950G-24-DC Series switches are stackable switches that offer wire-speed connections to the desktop and Gigabit uplink capability using a variety of optional Gbit Interface Converter uplinks. These switches, in addition to the Cisco Catalyst 2950T-24 and 2950C-24 devices, deliver intelligent features such as resiliency, security, and quality of service (QoS) to the network edge using the convenient Cisco Cluster Management Suite web-based interface. The devices also come with Cisco EI Software incorporated to implement intelligent services.

The Catalyst 2950C-24 provides 24 10/100 Ethernet ports plus 2 fixed 100BASE-FX ports. The Cisco 2950T-24 Series offers an easy migration path to Gigabit Ethernet by using existing twisted-pair wiring environments with 24 10/100 Ethernet ports as well as 2 dedicated 10/100/1000 Ethernet uplinks. Incorporated in the Cisco 2950 Series is the Cisco Cluster Management Suite web-based interface, which allows you simultaneously to set up and repair several Catalyst desktop devices utilizing a conventional web browser.

Catalyst 3560 Switches
The Catalyst 3560 Series is a selection of fixed-configuration switches that features IEEE 802.3af and Cisco prestandard PoE functionality in 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet configurations. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 switch is an ideal Layer 2 switch for small enterprise LAN access or local-offices, offering both 10/100/1000 and PoE configurations for maximum productivity and fast ROI while facilitating the installation of the latest technology such a Voice over IP, WiFi, video surveillance, and remote video kiosks. Customers can activate comprehensive intelligent features such as advanced quality of service (QoS), rate management, access control lists (ACLs), multicast administration, and fast IP routing while maintaining the simplicity of traditional LAN switching.

Cisco's Catalyst 3560 Series switch is provided with a powerful array of features that permit network scalability and enhanced resilience through IP routing plus a complete suite of STP enhancements aimed to increase throughput in a Layer 2 LAN. Enhancements to the standard Spanning Tree Protocol, including Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus, and Port Fast, as well as innovations like as Flex Links interfaces, optimize network uptime. PVST+ allows for Layer 2 traffic sharing on backup connections to take advantage of the extra bandwidth associated with a redundant architecture.

Advanced protocols including Open Shortest Path First, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), static routing, and PBR improve system capacity; Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) maximize system resources; and Virtual Route Forwarding Lite (VRFLite) secures traffic. data.

Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches
For midsized organizations and corporate local offices, the Cisco Catalyst 3750 switch simplifies integration of unified applications and adapts to changing business environments by offering setup flexibility, ability to manage converged network patterns, and management-free configuration of intelligent system services. Also, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switch is optimized for high-density Gigabit environments and incorporates a wide selection of switches that meet connectivity, aggregation, or small-network backbone-connectivity requirements.

The Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series switch is available with the IP Base image or the Services image. The IP Base image functions include advanced QoS, rate-management, access control lists (ACLs) access control lists, and simple static and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) routing support. The IP Services image provides a broader set of enterprise network functions, such as sophisticated hardware-based IP unicast and multicast routing.

Cisco StackWise technology is a stacking architecture designed for 1000 Ethernet. Cisco StackWise is designed to react to additions, deletions, and relocations while providing consistent performance. StackWise combines as many as nine individual switches into a single logical device, using custom stack-interface cables and utilities. Any of the switches can be any combination of the Catalyst 3750 switches and the Catalyst 3750-E Series. The stack operates as an individual switching appliance that is managed by a control switch, selected from among the stack of switches. The control switch intelligently creates and updates all the switching and optional routing tables. A running stack can accept new members or remove existing members without operational interruption.

Catalyst 4500 Series Switches
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series switches are designed for large company LAN connectivity, branch offices, Layer 3 distribution locations, small and medium-sized businesses, and metropolitan Ethernet installations. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 family comprises a selection of chassis containing from three to 10 slots and a line of control mechanisms delivering up to 136 Gbps of layer 2 through layer 4 switching. Cisco's Catalyst 4500 Series switches accept an extensive set of interface cards, including dense 10/100 Ethernet, 10/100/1000 (both with 802.3af availability), 100BASE-FX, 100BASE-LX10, plus 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

The Catalyst 4500 family has a price-performance selection of enclosures: Cisco's Catalyst 4510R (10 expansion slots) with redundant supervisor capability), Catalyst 4507R (seven expansion slots) with redundant supervisor option), Catalyst 4506 (6 slots) and Cisco Catalyst 4503 (3 slots).

Cisco Catalyst 4948 Series Switches
The Catalyst 4948 Series switch is a wire-rate, low-latency, layer 2 through layer 4, single rack unit fixed-configuration switch for the data center. Based on the proven Cisco Catalyst 4500 switch design, the Catalyst 4948 Series switch provides high throughput and dependability for low density, multilayer aggregation of fast servers and desktops. Speed and scalability of smart system functions is made possible with dedicated mechanisms called TCAM. Ample TCAM resources (64,000 entries) enable high function density, offering wire-rate routing and switching performance with simultaneous support of features that include Quality of Service and security. This allows scalability for today's network needs with ample capacity for future growth.

The Catalyst 4948 provides 48 ports of wire-speed 10/100/1000 with four available wired ports that can accommodate optional 1000BASE-X Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) CWDM transponders. Exceptional dependability and serviceability are delivered with optional internal 1 + 1 hot-swappable fault-tolerant power supplies and redundant fans.

The Catalyst 4948 Series can isolate discrete data link layer traffic at the same time, while preserving IP address capacity. The Cisco Catalyst 4948 switch can prevent man-in-the-middle assaults to the remainder of network with no modification of the server configuration.Such attempts can be logged by the Catalyst 4948 switch for auditing.

Catalyst 6500 Switches
The Catalyst 6500 Series is a high-performance modular switch and router designed for convergence of data center, corporate campus, and Wide Area Network in a single system. Corporate Wide Area Network, Internet access, data center access functions including MPLS, resilience, quality of service, and security together with IOS Software scalability provide investment protection in the LAN and expand that value proposition to the WAN.

Catalyst 6500 switches offer a wide array of interface protocols ranging from DS0 to OC192/STM64, 10BASE-T to 10 Gigabit modules. Cisco Catalyst 6500 switches act as the core of corporate Wide Area Network architectures by offering advanced IP routing technologies, hardware-enabled IPv4, IPv6, MPLS, and top-level throughput integrated in a single platform. The Catalyst 6500 Series is the premier Cisco Layer 3 switching solution for the corporate Wide Area Network, connectivity, aggregation, and core edge of the enterprise infrastructure with benefits in expandability and versatility such as 720 Gbps switch fabric capacity with Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 720, the power to expand up to 400 Mpps switching/routing performance with distributed forwarding, 32 Gbps design for slower WAN aggregation, a high-performance processor for Layer 3 interface convergence and consistency, as well as expandable IP routing and MPLS functions enhanced in hardware without performance deterioration.

How Progent's Experts Can Assist You with Catalyst Products
Progent's CCIE qualified support professionals can assist you to select and deploy Cisco switches in a way appropriate for your current business needs and your strategy for downstream expansion. Progent's CCIE offer world-class troubleshooting for the most challenging connectivity problems, and Progent's on-line support specialists can monitor your system traffic and uncover early-stage problems and repair them before they seriously impact productivity. Progent's CISA qualified security specialists can assist you to create a comprehensive security plan and deploy Cisco switches so they help enforce your security strategy.

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