Cisco's latest generation of smart switches are aimed at offering intelligence at the edge of the network, where one network environment communicates with another one. The need for intelligence at the edge of the network is fueled primarily by four key trends:

• Growth in desktop processing ability
• Proliferation of throughput-intensive applications
• Expansion of highly sensitive information on the network
• Greater assortment of appliances, such as IP phones and wireless LAN bridges

Cisco switches deliver exceptional QoS to make sure that traffic is identified and prioritized, and that congestion is eliminated. Configuration of Quality of Service is dramatically simplified through automatic QoS, a feature that detects Cisco IP phones and automatically configures the switch for the right categorization and egress queuing. This enhances traffic hierarchies and system accessibility without forcing your network management department to implement a complicated configuration strategy.

With Catalyst switches for small and midsize businesses, Cisco enables companies to realize the full advantages of adding intelligent services into their infratstructure. Catalyst Series switches make it possible to deploy features that make the network infrastructure highly available to accommodate real time needs, scalable to facilitate future growth, safe so as to protect sensitive information, and capable of differentiating and prioritizing processes to optimize network efficiency.

Cisco Catalyst 2950 Family
Catalyst 2950SX-24, 2950-24 and 2950-12 fixed-configuration, managed Ethernet switches provide fundamental small-group connectivity for small to medium-sized businesses. These wire-rate desktop appliances deliver IOS Software functions for basic data, video, and voice control at the network edge.

Catalyst 2950G-12, 2950G-24, 2950G-48, and 2950G-24-DC switches are stackable devices that offer wire-rate connections to the desktop and Gbit uplink connectivity using a variety of available Gbit Interface Converter products. These appliances, as well as the Cisco Catalyst 2950T-24 and 2950C-24 products, offer intelligent features such as resiliency, security, and quality of service to the edge of the network by means of the convenient Cisco Cluster Management Suite web-based interface. These switches also include Cisco Enhanced Image Software incorporated to support smart services.

The Cisco Catalyst 2950C-24 Series offers 24 10/100 ports as well as 2 dedicated 100BASE-FX ports. The Catalyst 2950T-24 switch offers a smooth migration solution to Gigabit Ethernet by utilizing in-place twisted-pair wiring infrastructure with 24 10/100 ports plus two dedicated 10/100/1000 uplinks. Embedded in the Catalyst 2950 is the Cisco Cluster Management Suite (CMS) web-based interface, which enables users simultaneously to configure and repair multiple Cisco desktop switches using a conventional web browser.

Catalyst 3560 Switches
The Catalyst 3560 family is a selection of non-modular switches that includes IEEE 802.3af and Cisco prestandard Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality in Fast Ethernet and Gigabit implementations. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 switch is an ideal Layer 2 switch for small enterprise LAN connectivity or local-offices, combining both Gigabit and Power over Ethernet (PoE) options for optimal productivity and fast ROI while facilitating the installation of the latest applications such a IP telephony, wireless connectivity, video monitoring, and building management systems. IT managers can activate networkwide intelligent features such as high-end quality of service, rate management, access control lists, multicast administration, and broadband IP routing while maintaining the simplicity of conventional network switching.

The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series switch is provided with a powerful set of capabilities that permit network expandability and enhanced resilience via IP routing as well as a complete suite of Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) enhancements aimed to increase availability in an access Layer LAN. Enhancements to the conventional Spanning Tree Protocol, including Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+), Uplink Fast, and Port Fast, as well as innovations such as Flex Links Layer 2 interfaces, maximize network efficiency. Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+) supports Layer 2 load sharing on redundant connections to exploit the extra capacity associated with a redundant design.

Efficient routing mechanisms including OPSF, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol, Border Gateway Protocol, static routing, and PBR improve network capacity; Protocol Independent Multicast maximize system resources; and Virtual Route Forwarding Lite (VRFLite) protects traffic. data.

Cisco Catalyst 3750 Family Switches
For midsized businesses and corporate local offices, the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series simplifies deployment of unified applications and accommodates changing competitive needs by offering configuration versatility, support for unified network traffic, and automatic configuration of smart system functions. In addition, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switch is engineered for high-density 1000 Ethernet deployments and incorporates a wide selection of switches that meet connectivity, aggregation, or small-system backbone-interface requirements.

The Cisco Catalyst 3750 switch is offered with either the IP Base or the Services image. The IP Base image capabilities include advanced quality of service (QoS), rate-limiting, ACLs, and basic static and Routing Information Protocol routing capability. The IP Services image offers a broader set of high-end features, including advanced built-in IP unicast/multicast routing.

StackWise technology is an architecture designed for 1000 Ethernet. StackWise is intended to respond to installs, deletions, and redeployments while maintaining consistent operation. StackWise combines as many as 9 individual switches into a single functional device, using special stack-interface cables and stacking utilities. Each of the switches can be any combination of Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switches and the Cisco Catalyst 3750-E Series switches. The stack behaves as an individual switching unit that is managed by a master switch, selected from among the member switches. The control switch intelligently builds and keeps current all the switching and optional routing tables. A deployed stack can accept new devices or delete old members without service interruption.

Catalyst 4500 Series Switches
Catalyst 4500 Series switches are designed for corporate LAN connectivity, branch offices, Network Layer distribution points, small and midsize businesses, and metropolitan (metro) Ethernet installations. The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series consists of a selection of chassis containing from 3 to 10 expansion slots and a set of supervisor mechanisms offering as high as 136 Gbps of layer 2 through layer 4 switching. Catalyst 4500 Series switches accept an extensive variety of interface cards, including dense 10/100BASE-T, 10/100/1000 (either one with PoE availability), 100BASE-FX, 100BASE-BX-D, Gigabit Ethernet, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

The Catalyst 4500 Series has a value-oriented selection of enclosures: Cisco Catalyst 4510R (10-module capacity) with redundant supervisor capability), Catalyst 4507R (seven slots) with backup supervisor option), Cisco Catalyst 4506 (six slots) and Catalyst 4503 (3 expansion slots).

Catalyst 4948 Series Switches
The Cisco Catalyst 4948 Series is a wire-rate, low-latency, layer 2 through layer 4, one rack unit fixed-configuration switch for rack-optimized server switching. Utilizing the proven Catalyst 4500 Series switch hardware and software architecture, the Cisco Catalyst 4948 Series switch provides high performance and dependability for multilayer aggregation of fast servers and desktops. Speed and scalability of intelligent system functions is made possible with specialized resources known as ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). Ample TCAM resources (64,000 entries) enable high function density, offering wire-speed routing and switching throughput with concurrent support of services such as QoS and security. This helps ensure scalability for current network needs with plenty of room for future expansion.

The Catalyst 4948 Series provides 48 ports of wire-speed 10/100/1000 Ethernet with four available wired ports that can support 1000BASE-X Small Form-Factor Pluggable CWDM transponders. Industry-leading reliability and maintainability are delivered with optional internal 1 + 1 hot-swappable fault-tolerant power units and redundant cooling fans.

The Catalyst 4948 can separate discrete Layer 2 community traffic at the same time, while conserving IP address capacity. The Catalyst 4948 Series can prevent man-in-the-middle attempt to the rest of community with no modification of the server configuration.These attempts can be recorded by the Cisco Catalyst 4948 switch for security analysis.

Catalyst 6500 Switches
The Cisco Catalyst 6500 switch is a high-performance modular switch/router engineered for consolidation of data center, corporate campus, and Wide Area Network in a single device. Enterprise Wide Area Network, Internet access, data center connectivity functions including Multiprotocol Label Switching, resilience, quality of service, and security combined with IOS Software scalability provide fast ROI in the Local Area Network and extend that advantage to the WAN.

Catalyst 6500 switches offer a broad array of connectivity options ranging from DS-0 to OC-48, 10BASE-T to 10-GE line cards. Catalyst 6500 Series switches act as the core of corporate WAN infrastructure by providing leading IP routing, built-in IPv4 and 6, Multiprotocol Label Switching, and high-performance integrated in one platform. The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series is the top Cisco Layer 3 switch for the enterprise WAN, access, aggregation, and core edge of the enterprise network with advantages in scalability and versatility that include 720 Gbps fabric capacity with Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 720, the ability to scale up to 400 Mpps switching/routing performance with distributed forwarding, 32 Gbps bus-based architecture for low-speed Wide Area Network aggregation, a high-speed processor for Layer 3 interface convergence and consistency, plus scalable IP routing and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) operation enhanced in silicon with no performance impact.

How Progent Can Assist You with Cisco Catalyst Products
Progent's CCIE certified consultants can assist you to select and integrate Cisco switches in a manner that make sense for your present business needs and your strategy for future growth. Progent's CCIE can provide world-class technical support for the most challenging connectivity problems, and Progent's on-line support professionals can monitor your system operations and uncover early-stage problems and repair them so they don't seriously impact your network. Progent's CISA and CISM qualified network security engineers can help you create a comprehensive security plan and set up Cisco Catalyst switches so as to help support your security plans.

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