Cisco Systems Expert Network Consultants Cisco Catalyst Series Switches Support From CCIE and CCNP Certified Professionals
Cisco's current generation of smart switches are aimed at providing intelligence at the edge of the network, where one network environment communicates with another. The need for intelligence at the network edge is fueled largely by four important trends:
Increase in desktop processing power
Introduction of throughput-intensive applications
Expansion of confidential data on the LAN
Larger variety of appliances, such as IP phones and WLAN bridges
The most recent corporate applications demand more bandwidth and create a need to classify and manage traffic flow. Applications like ERP and VoIP need a higher priority to network bandwidth than less time-sensitive applications such as FTP or, for messaging, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is not any longer acceptable, for example, to have a large download assigned to one port on a switch to increase the delay, and reduce the quality, in voice traffic destined to a different port on a given switch. This situation is avoided by ensuring that voice traffic is appropriately classified and prioritized throughout the network.
Cisco switches deliver exceptional Quality of Service (QoS) to make sure that network traffic is classified and assigned priorities, and that bottlenecks are eliminated. Configuration of Quality of Service (QoS) is dramatically streamlined via automatic Quality of Service, a process that detects Cisco IP phones and sets up the switch for the right classification and exit queuing. This optimizes process hierarchies and system accessibility without forcing your network management group to implement a complicated configuration strategy.
With Catalyst switches for small and medium-size organizations, Cisco allows organizations to get all the benefits of adding intelligent services into their networks. Cisco's Catalyst switches make it possible to deploy features that make the connectivity environment highly available to handle time-critical requirements, scalable to facilitate growth, safe enough to guard sensitive information, and capable of differentiating and prioritizing processes to improve network efficiency.
Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series Switches Cisco Catalyst 2950SX-24, 2950-24 and 2950-12 fixed-configuration, managed 10/100 switches offer basic workgroup networking for small to medium-size organizations. These wire-rate desktop appliances deliver Cisco IOS Software features for basic mixed-media traffic support at the edge of the network.
Cisco Catalyst 2950G-12, 2950G-24, and 2950G-48 switches are stackable switches that provide wire-rate connections to the desktop and Gigabit uplink speed by means of a variety of available Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) products. These appliances, as well as the Catalyst 2950T-24 and 2950C-24 devices, deliver intelligent features such as resiliency, security, and quality of service (QoS) to the network edge by means of the simple CMS web-based utility. These devices also come with Cisco Enhanced Image Software installed to implement smart services.
The Cisco 2950C-24 offers 24 auto-sensing 10/100 ports as well as two dedicated 100BASE-FX ports. The Catalyst 2950T-24 switch provides a smooth migration path to Gigabit Ethernet by using in-place copper wiring infrastructure with 24 10/100 ports as well as two dedicated 10/100/1000 uplinks. Embedded in the Cisco 2950 switch is the CMS web-based utility, which enables you to configure and troubleshoot several Cisco Catalyst desktop switches using a conventional web browser.
Cisco Catalyst 3560 Family Switches The Catalyst 3560 family is a selection of fixed-configuration switches that features IEEE 802.3af and prestandard PoE capability in 10/100 Ethernet and Gigabit implementations. The Catalyst 3560 switch is a proven access-layer switch for small enterprise network connectivity or satellite-offices, combining both 10/100/1000 and PoE configurations for optimal efficiency and investment protection while facilitating the installation of the latest applications such a Voice over IP, wireless access, video surveillance, and building management systems. Customers can activate comprehensive intelligent services such as high-end quality of service (QoS), rate limiting, access control lists, multicast management, and high-performance IP routing with the simplicity of conventional LAN switching.
The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series switch is provided with a robust set of capabilities that permit network expandability and enhanced availability via IP routing as well as a full complement of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) enhancements aimed to maximize availability in an access Layer LAN. Improvements to the standard STP Protocol, including PVST+, Uplink Fast, and Port Fast, as well as advances like as Flex Links, maximize network efficiency. PVST+ supports Layer 2 traffic balancing on backup connections to exploit the extra bandwidth inherent in a redundant design.
Efficient routing protocols such as Open Shortest Path First, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol, BGP, and static routing increase network scale; Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) maximize system resources; and Virtual Route Forwarding Lite secures traffic. data.
Catalyst 3750 Series Switches For midsized businesses and enterprise local offices, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switch simplifies deployment of converged technologies and adapts to evolving competitive environments by offering setup versatility, support for converged network traffic, and management-free set up of smart system functions. Also, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series is optimized for high-volume Gigabit deployments and incorporates a diverse range of switches that meet connectivity, aggregation, or small-system backbone-connectivity demands.
The Cisco Catalyst 3750 switch is offered with either the IP Base or the Services image. The IP Base image functions include advanced quality of service, rate-limiting, ACLs, and basic static and RIP routing support. The IP Services image provides a richer set of high-end functions, including advanced built-in IP unicast/multicast routing.
StackWise technology is a mechanism optimized for Gigabit Ethernet. This technology is designed to respond to installs, deletions, and redeployments while providing constant operation. Cisco StackWise combines as many as 9 separate switches into one logical unit, using special stack-interconnect cables and stacking utilities. The individual switches can be any mix of the Catalyst 3750 Series and the Catalyst 3750-E switches. The stack operates as a single switching device that is managed by a master switch, chosen from one of the member switches. The control switch intelligently builds and keeps current all the switching and user-selected routing tables. A running stack can accommodate new switches or delete old members with no operational discontinuity.
Catalyst 4500 Series Switches Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series switches are designed for enterprise LAN access, local offices, Layer 3 distribution points, small and midsize businesses (SMBs), and metro Ethernet deployments. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 family consists of a selection of chassis containing from three to 10 expansion slots and a line of control mechanisms delivering as high as 136 Gbps of Layer 2-4 switching. Catalyst 4500 family switches accept an extensive set of interface cards, including dense 10/100, 10/100/1000 Ethernet (either one with 802.3af Power over Ethernet [PoE] options), 100BASE-LX10, 100BASE-BX-D, plus Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
The Cisco's Catalyst 4500 Series offers a price-performance range of enclosures: Cisco's Catalyst 4510R (10 slots) with backup supervisor capability), Catalyst 4507R (seven expansion slots) with backup supervisor capability), Cisco's Catalyst 4506 (6 slots) and Cisco's Catalyst 4503 (three slots).
Catalyst 4948 Series Switches The Cisco Catalyst 4948 Series is a wire-speed, low-latency, layers 2 through 4, single rack unit fixed-configuration device for the data center. Based on the proven Catalyst 4500 Series switch design, the Catalyst 4948 Series switch provides high throughput and reliability for low density, multilayer aggregation of fast servers and desktops. Speed and expandability of intelligent network services is made possible through specialized resources called ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). Ample TCAM resources (64,000 entries) support high feature density, offering wire-speed routing and switching throughput with simultaneous support of features such as Quality of Service (QoS) and protection. This allows expandability for today's network needs with ample capacity for future growth.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 provides 48 ports of wire-rate 10/100/1000BASE-T with four alternative ports that can accommodate 1000BASE-X SFP optics. Exceptional reliability and maintainability are provided with available AC or DC 1 + 1 redundant hot-swappable fault-tolerant power units and redundant cooling fans.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 Series can isolate discrete data link layer network traffic concurrently, while conserving IP address capacity. The Catalyst 4948 switch can defend against IP spoofing assaults to the remainder of network with no adjustment of the server setup.These attempts can be logged by the Catalyst 4948 for security analysis.
Catalyst 6500 Series Switches The Catalyst 6500 Series is a high-throughput modular switch/router engineered for consolidation of data center, corporate campus, and WAN in a single device. Corporate Wide Area Network, Internet access, data center connectivity features such as Multiprotocol Label Switching, resilience, quality of service, and security together with IOS Software modularity provide fast ROI in the LAN and extend that advantage to the Wide Area Network.
Catalyst 6500 Series switches offer a broad array of interface technologies spanning from DS-0 to OC-48, 10Mbps to 10-Gbps line cards. Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switches act as the core of enterprise Wide Area Network architectures by providing advanced IP routing technologies, built-in IPv4 and 6, Multiprotocol Label Switching, and outstanding speed integrated in a single device. The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switch is the premier Cisco Layer 3 switch for the corporate WAN, connectivity, aggregation, and core edge of the enterprise infrastructure with benefits in scalability and versatility such as 720 Gbps fabric capacity with Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 720, the ability to scale up to 400 million packets per second switching/routing performance with distributed forwarding, 32 Gbps bus-based architecture for slower WAN aggregation, a high-speed processor for Layer 3 protocol convergence and consistency, as well as expandable IP routing and MPLS operation accelerated in hardware without throughput deterioration.
How Progent's Consultants Can Assist You with Catalyst Products
Progent's CCIE certified service experts can help you select and deploy Cisco switches in a manner that make sense for your present IT requirements and your strategy for future expansion. Progent's CCIE can provide enterprise-class troubleshooting for complex connectivity problems, and Progent's on-line service professionals can monitor your system traffic and detect early-stage trouble spots and resolve them before they seriously impact productivity. Progent's CISM and CISSP certified security engineers can help you develop a company-wide security plan and configure switches so as to help support your protection strategy.
To see more information about Progent's consulting help for Cisco technology, choose a subject:
Cisco Catalyst 2950SX-24, 2950-24 and 2950-12 fixed-configuration, managed 10/100 switches offer basic workgroup networking for small to medium-size organizations. These wire-rate desktop appliances deliver Cisco IOS Software features for basic mixed-media traffic support at the edge of the network.
The Catalyst 3560 family is a selection of fixed-configuration switches that features IEEE 802.3af and prestandard PoE capability in 10/100 Ethernet and Gigabit implementations. The Catalyst 3560 switch is a proven access-layer switch for small enterprise network connectivity or satellite-offices, combining both 10/100/1000 and PoE configurations for optimal efficiency and investment protection while facilitating the installation of the latest applications such a Voice over IP, wireless access, video surveillance, and building management systems. Customers can activate comprehensive intelligent services such as high-end quality of service (QoS), rate limiting, access control lists, multicast management, and high-performance IP routing with the simplicity of conventional LAN switching.
For midsized businesses and enterprise local offices, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switch simplifies deployment of converged technologies and adapts to evolving competitive environments by offering setup versatility, support for converged network traffic, and management-free set up of smart system functions. Also, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series is optimized for high-volume Gigabit deployments and incorporates a diverse range of switches that meet connectivity, aggregation, or small-system backbone-connectivity demands.
Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series switches are designed for enterprise LAN access, local offices, Layer 3 distribution points, small and midsize businesses (SMBs), and metro Ethernet deployments. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 family consists of a selection of chassis containing from three to 10 expansion slots and a line of control mechanisms delivering as high as 136 Gbps of Layer 2-4 switching. Catalyst 4500 family switches accept an extensive set of interface cards, including dense 10/100, 10/100/1000 Ethernet (either one with 802.3af Power over Ethernet [PoE] options), 100BASE-LX10, 100BASE-BX-D, plus Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 Series is a wire-speed, low-latency, layers 2 through 4, single rack unit fixed-configuration device for the data center. Based on the proven Catalyst 4500 Series switch design, the Catalyst 4948 Series switch provides high throughput and reliability for low density, multilayer aggregation of fast servers and desktops. Speed and expandability of intelligent network services is made possible through specialized resources called ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). Ample TCAM resources (64,000 entries) support high feature density, offering wire-speed routing and switching throughput with simultaneous support of features such as Quality of Service (QoS) and protection. This allows expandability for today's network needs with ample capacity for future growth.
The Catalyst 6500 Series is a high-throughput modular switch/router engineered for consolidation of data center, corporate campus, and WAN in a single device. Corporate Wide Area Network, Internet access, data center connectivity features such as Multiprotocol Label Switching, resilience, quality of service, and security together with IOS Software modularity provide fast ROI in the LAN and extend that advantage to the Wide Area Network.
