Cisco's current generation of switches are aimed at offering intelligence at the edge of the network, where one network communicates with another. The demand for intelligence at the network edge is being driven primarily by four key trends:

• Growth in PC processing ability
• Proliferation of bandwidth-consuming programs
• Presence of highly sensitive information on the LAN
• Greater assortment of devices, such as Voice over IP phones and WLAN access points

Cisco switches implement exceptional Quality of Service to help ensure that network traffic is identified and assigned priorities, and that bottlenecks are eliminated. Set up of Quality of Service (QoS) is dramatically simplified via automatic QoS, a process that senses Cisco IP phones and automatically configures the switch for the appropriate classification and exit queuing. This optimizes process prioritization and network accessibility without requiring your network management department to devise a complex configuration strategy.

With Cisco Catalyst switches for small and midsize businesses, Cisco allows businesses to get the full advantages of integrating smart services into their infratstructure. Catalyst switches make it possible to install capabilities that make the connectivity environment highly available to handle time-critical requirements, scalable to facilitate growth, secure so as to protect confidential data, and configurable for differentiating and managing traffic flows to enhance network efficiency.

Catalyst 2950 Line of Switches
Catalyst 2950SX-24, 2950-24 and 2950-12 fixed-configuration, managed 10/100 switches offer basic small-group networking for small to medium-size companies. These wire-rate desktop switches deliver Cisco IOS Software functions for simple 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 provide wire-rate connectivity to the desktop and Gbit uplink speed using a variety of optional Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) products. These appliances, as well as the Catalyst 2950T-24 and 2950C-24 products, deliver smart features such as availability, protection, and QoS to the network edge using the convenient Cisco Cluster Management Suite Software web utility. These switches also come with Cisco EI Software incorporated to implement smart services.

The Cisco 2950C-24 Series provides 24 10/100 Ethernet ports plus 2 dedicated 100BASE-FX ports. The Catalyst 2950T-24 offers an easy migration path to Gigabit by utilizing in-place twisted-pair wiring environments with 24 auto-sensing 10/100 ports plus two fixed 10/100/1000 Ethernet uplinks. Incorporated in the Cisco Catalyst 2950 switch is the CMS web-based utility, which allows users simultaneously to set up and repair multiple Catalyst desktop appliances using a standard web browser.

Cisco Catalyst 3560 Switches
The Catalyst 3560 Series is a selection of non-modular switches that features IEEE 802.3af and prestandard Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality in 10/100 Ethernet and Gigabit implementations. The Catalyst 3560 Series switch is a proven access-layer switch for small enterprise LAN access or satellite-offices, combining both Gigabit and Power over Ethernet (PoE) options for optimal efficiency and investment protection while facilitating the deployment of new technology including VoIP, WiFi, video monitoring, and remote video kiosks. Customers can deploy comprehensive smart services such as advanced quality of service (QoS), rate limiting, ACLs, multicast management, and fast IP routing with the ease of conventional LAN switching.

The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series is provided with a robust array of capabilities that permit network expandability and higher resilience through IP routing plus a full complement of STP improvements designed to increase throughput in a Layer 2 LAN. Improvements to the standard STP Protocol, including PVST+, Uplink Fast, and Port Fast, plus innovations like as Flex Links interfaces, maximize network efficiency. Per-VLAN Spanning Tree Plus (PVST+) supports Data Link Layer load sharing on redundant connections to efficiently use the additional capacity associated with a redundant architecture.

Efficient technologies including Open Shortest Path First, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), BGP, and static routing improve network capacity; Protocol Independent Multicast optimizes network resources; and VRFLite secures traffic. data.

Catalyst 3750 Series Switches
For midsized organizations and corporate branch offices, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 switch simplifies deployment of unified applications and adapts to evolving business environments by offering configuration flexibility, ability to manage converged network traffic, and management-free set up of smart network services. In addition, Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series is optimized for high-density Gigabit Ethernet environments and incorporates a wide selection of switches that comply with access, aggregation, or small-network backbone-interface demands.

Cisco's Catalyst 3750 Series is available with either the IP Base image or the Services image. The IP Base image functions include industry-leading QoS, rate-limiting, ACLs, and basic static and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) routing capability. The IP Services image offers a richer selection of high-end functions, including advanced hardware-based IP unicast and multicast routing.

Cisco StackWise technology is a mechanism optimized for Gigabit Ethernet. Cisco StackWise is intended to react to additions, deletions, and redeployments while maintaining consistent performance. StackWise combines up to 9 individual switches into a single functional device, using special stack-interconnect cables and software. The individual switches can be any mix of the Catalyst 3750 Series and Cisco's Catalyst 3750-E switches. The stack behaves as an individual switching device that is managed by a master switch, elected from among the stack of switches. The master switch intelligently creates and updates all the switching and optional routing databases. A running stack can accommodate new devices or remove existing devices with no service discontinuity.

Catalyst 4500 Family Switches
Catalyst 4500 switches are designed for enterprise LAN access, local offices, Layer 3 distribution locations, small and midsize businesses (SMBs), and metropolitan (metro) Ethernet installations. The Cisco's Catalyst 4500 family comprises a selection of chassis ranging from 3 to ten expansion slots and a line of supervisor mechanisms delivering up to 136 Gbps of layer 2 through layer 4 switching. Cisco's Catalyst 4500 Series switches support an extensive set of line cards, including high-density 10/100 Ethernet, 10/100/1000BASE-T (both with 802.3af availability), 100BASE-LX10, 100BASE-BX-D, plus 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

The Catalyst 4500 Series offers a price-performance range of chassis: Cisco Catalyst 4510R (10 expansion slots) with backup supervisor option), Catalyst 4507R (seven slots) with backup supervisor option), Catalyst 4506 (six slots) and Cisco's Catalyst 4503 (three expansion slots).

Catalyst 4948 Family Switches
The Catalyst 4948 switch is a wire-speed, low-latency, layer 2 through layer 4, 1 rack unit (RU) fixed-configuration unit for server aggregation. Utilizing the proven Catalyst 4500 switch hardware and software architecture, the Catalyst 4948 Series provides exceptional throughput and reliability for low density aggregation of high performance servers and desktops. High performance and scalability of intelligent system functions is made possible with specialized mechanisms called ternary content addressable memory. Ample TCAM resources (64,000 entries) support high function density, offering wire-speed routing/switching throughput with simultaneous provisioning of services that include QoS and security. This helps ensure expandability for today's network requirements with plenty of capacity for future expansion.

The Catalyst 4948 offers 48 ports of wire-rate 10/100/1000BASE-T with four alternative wired ports that can accommodate 1000BASE-X Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) CWDM transponders. Industry-leading reliability and maintainability are provided with available internal 1 + 1 hot-swappable fault-tolerant power supplies and redundant fans.

The Catalyst 4948 switch can separate discrete Layer 2 network traffic simultaneously, while preserving IP address space. The Catalyst 4948 Series can defend against man-in-the-middle and IP spoofing attempt to the rest of network with no modification of the server configuration.These attacks can be recorded by the Catalyst 4948 Series switch for analysis.

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Family Switches
The Cisco Catalyst 6500 switch is a high-throughput modular switch/router designed for consolidation of data center, campus, and Wide Area Network in one system. Enterprise WAN, Internet connectivity, data center connectivity features such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), high availability, QoS, and security together with Cisco IOS Software modularity provide investment protection in the Local Area Network and expand that advantage to the WAN.

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switches offer a wide array of connectivity protocols spanning from DS0 to OC192/STM64, 10Mbps to 10 Gigabit line cards. Catalyst 6500 Series switches form the core of enterprise WAN architectures by providing leading IP routing, hardware-enabled IPv4 and 6, Multiprotocol Label Switching, and top-level throughput incorporated in a single device. The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series is the premier Cisco Layer 3 switching platform for the enterprise Wide Area Network, connectivity, aggregation, and core edge of the corporate network with benefits in scalability and flexibility such as 720 Gbps fabric capacity with Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 720, the ability to expand as high as 400 million packets per second performance with intelligent forwarding, 32 Gbps design for slower WAN aggregation, a fast processor for Layer 3 interface convergence and stability, as well as expandable IP routing and MPLS functions enhanced in hardware without performance deterioration.

How Progent's Experts Can Assist You with Cisco Switching Solutions
Progent's CCIE qualified engineers can show you how to choose and integrate switches in a way that make sense for your existing business requirements and your strategy for downstream expansion. Progent's Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts offer enterprise-class troubleshooting for complex connectivity problems, and Progent's remote service specialists can monitor your network traffic and detect incipient trouble spots and repair them before they seriously disturb your network. Progent's CISM and CISSP qualified security consultants can help you design a comprehensive security plan and implement Cisco switches so they help support your protection plans.

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