IT Technology News and Progent Solutions

Cisco announced new products intended specifically for small business networks and engineered to deliver exceptional security and collaboration at a budget-friendly cost. Products introduced by Cisco were Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker, the Small Business series NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems, and the newest release of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS).

The Cisco Spam Blocker appliance is a dedicated email security product that virtually eradicates email attacks with no set up. Cisco's NSS2000 and NSS3000 Small Business Network Storage Systems are affordable desktop network-attached storage (NAS) devices that provide security for valuable information and allow employees to share information effortlessly. The Cisco Smart Business Communications System Version 1.4, a full sharing and communications system that seamlessly interconnects offices, workers, and customers anywhere. Cisco's latest version incorporates the industry's debut of a cordless desktop Internet Protocol (IP) phone with Bluetooth wireless capabilities. To view Cisco's news release, refer to Cisco Unveils Networking and Security Solutions for Small Companies.

Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker
The Spam Blocker protects small organizations by providing extensive defense against junk mail, malware as well as other email-borne attacks to guard your system and corporate information while at the same time enhance efficiency. Since the appliance blocks spam and viruses right out of the box and updates on its own, it does away with the expense and hassle required for initial configuration and continuing and administration. By filtering out unwanted email, Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker helps the throughput of networks, servers, and computers. The Spam Blocker appliance represents a comprehensive defense against email-born attacks by featuring a physical appliance, software, continuous patches, and product support in a single package.

Notable features of Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker are:

• Accuracy: Helps to ensure that email attacks and junk mail are caught and legitimate messages are delivered.
• Continuous self-installed updates: Non-stop interaction with SenderBase security, a network database of email security threats, makes sure that the Spam & Virus Blocker incorporates the most current updates to protect your corporate email.
• Easy installation and use: User-friendly browser-based installation tools allow you to install the Spam Blocker appliance in almost any environment in minutes, delivering instant security for your company.
• Effortless management: From the moment you deploys the the Spam and Virus Blocker appliance, you benefit from spam and virus filtering with minimal extra effort required from your IT group.

NSS2000 and NSS3000
The Cisco NSS2000 and 3000 Network Storage Systems offer the dependable security and comprehensive data backup capabilities that your company needs, at a cost small businesses can handle. The Cisco Small Business NSS3000 accommodates as much as to four TB of data and up to 15 concurrent clients per enclosure, offering the ideal solution for holding, sharing, and backing up your mission-critical business data. Unlike ordinary network-attached storage alternatives, the NSS3000 delivers the state-of-the-art backup, encryption, client authentication, and fault tolerance your business needs.

The Cisco Small Business NSS3000 four-Bay Gigabit Storage System Chassis supports any approved hard disk drive. The product offers a wealth of features in a desktop footprint engineered for small organizations. The Small Business NSS3000 Storage System Chassis also offers you the versatility to configure the product without any attached hard disk drives, to modify it at any time, and to chain several chassis with one another, providing a solution that can smoothly grow with your business.

You can utilize the Cisco NSS2000 or 3000 Network Storage Systems to:

• Automatically back up vital data from each PC and server on your network
• Offer centralized preservation and sharing of key information
• Run Continuous Data Protection (CDP) to copy automatically each revision of each file saved by workers, permitting your company to restore data quickly
• Record and archive digital video from your video surveillance cameras

Cisco Smart Business Communications System
The Smart Business Communications System Release 1.4 is an easy-to-manage and comprehensive sharing and communications solution that permits small businesses to interconnect at-home workers, on-the-road workers and office workers in separate sites to improve their options to collaborate with customers and teammates. In the new release, the aggressively priced system has enhanced wireless capabilities including the industry's first wireless desktop IP handset with Bluetooth, the SPA525G wireless IP phone, which allows businesses to expand easily by adding handsets in places where conventional phone lines or Ethernet cables are missing or cannot easily be added.

Additional new components of the Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4 include:

• The Cisco 520 Secure Router product to help protect a small business infrastructure and give workers safe access to the Internet and important corporate information from either side of the firewall
• The Cisco Configuration Assistant Release 1.9 to permit stakeholders to streamline the setup and deployment of solutions designed specifically for individual companies

How Progent's Cisco-certified Professionals Can Help Your Business to Deploy Cisco Networking Technology
Progent's Cisco-qualified support professionals and CCIE accredited engineers can help your company to evaluate new Cisco technologies to determine their business value for your IT system, set up Cisco solutions to improve the protection and efficiency of your network, and provide tech support for Cisco products both onsite and remotely to keep your network running smoothly. Progent's consulting experts offer a variety of affordable support services to enhance the availability, security, speed, and manageability of your company's information network:

Quick Online Access to Cisco CCIE Network Engineers
Progent is the premier provider of easy, quick, and low-cost access to Cisco CCIE engineers. Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts are elite networking experts who are awarded this prestigious accreditation only after intense examination by Cisco. CCIEs can resolve even the most challenging problems surrounding network architecture, setup, troubleshooting, and administration. Progent's CCIE professionals work intimately with Cisco in-house staff in analyzing problems with Cisco's IOS platform and finding fixes or obtaining software updates to resolve problems. Progent can provide quick access to a CCIE by phone so that you are able to receive instant assistance for tough network troubles that are undermining business productivity but are outside the expertise of your ordinary IT service resources. Progent's CCIE consulting experts can link to your network via state-of-the-art remote connectivity tools to deliver fast and affordable diagnosis and remediation of urgent network problems.

Cisco Voice over IP Phone and IP Video Phone Integration
Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified VoIP phone and video IP phone consultants can assist you to configure, manage, and troubleshoot Cisco VoIP phones, video IP phones and wireless IP phones. Progent offers expertise for all versions of Cisco's IP phones from legacy VoIP products to the newest HD media phones. Progent's consultants can also help you to integrate your VoIP phones and video IP phones with Cisco Unified Communications Manager, previously named CallManager, or with Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CME) to create a an advanced IP-PBX environment for unified messaging and collaboration. Progent's consultants can provide support with all aspects of Cisco VoIP Phone integration including reviewing dial plans, solving IP phone registration issues, setting up SIP trunking, installing Cisco ISR routers with CUBE VoIP networking capability, and creating Cisco UCS server clustering and Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony solutions for survivability. For more details concerning Progent's support for Cisco's Unified Communications technology, visit Cisco VoIP and Unified Communications Engineering Help.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco CallManager Unified Messaging
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), originally named CallManager, acts as the foundation of Cisco's communications and collaboration solution. Unified CM and Unified CM Express (CME) provide a modern IP-PBX by integrating with unified messaging apps like Unified CM IM and Presence Service with Jabber support, Cisco Unity Connection for voicemail, Cisco Unified Mobility for Single Number Reach (SNR), and Cisco Contact Center Express (Unified CCX or CCX) for creating a highly automated customer contact center. Progent's CCIE-certified CUCM consultants can help with any aspect of CUCM setup and troubleshooting in areas such as integrating Voice over IP phones and video phones, reviewing dial plans, configuring SIP trunking and PSTN support, deploying ISR G2 routers with CUBE support, creating UCS server failover solutions for high availability, and integration with Microsoft Exchange Server and Skype for Business.

Cisco ASA Firewall and PIX Firewall Consulting Expertise
Progent's experienced Cisco IT security consultants provide expert PIX Firewall and ASA Firewall consulting support covering architecture, configuration, and support of Cisco firewall and Cisco security technology. The PIX and ASA Series of Cisco firewalls delivers strong user and software policy enforcement, sophisticated attack protection, and safe access services. Ranging from economical, plug-and-play desktop devices for small and home offices to scalable gigabit appliances, Cisco PIX Firewall and ASA Firewalls offer a high level of protection, high throughput, and excellent availability for network environments of all sizes. PIX Firewalls and ASA Firewalls are based on a proven, purpose-built platform, eliminating possible OS-specific security holes.

Security Inventory and Evaluation Packages
Progent's GIAC and CISA-certified security consultants can deliver a range of cost-effective network security Inventory bundles and network security assessment service bundles designed to offer businesses of any size an opportunity to receive an independent look at the effectiveness of their security environment. The packages vary from ultra-affordable external network security scan and internal network security scan packages for small companies up to a high-end network security assessment package for corporations who need comply with security levels required by state regulators or by customers. For every security inventory or evaluation package, consultants with high-level security accreditations analyze and report on scanned information and provide suggestions for efficient remediation.

SIP Connectivity Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
Progent's Cisco-certified SIP trunk consultants and CUBE configuration experts can help organizations of any size to design, deploy, maintain, troubleshoot and enhance Cisco's SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) connectivity solutions and Cisco's CUBE (Cisco Unified Border Element)-based IP PSTN trunks. Progent offers affordable online or onsite support to assist you to migrate smoothly to a modern communications ecosystem that delivers fast return on investment. Progent's Gold-certified Microsoft collaboration consultants can assist you to establish connections between Cisco's CUBE Session Border Controller and Microsoft's VoIP and IP video applications such as Skype for Business and Lync for access to a SIP PSTN trunk.

Consulting and Support Consulting and Troubleshooting Expertise for Cisco Wireless Infrastructure
Progent can give you access to a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert or Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) to help you to develop a comprehensive wireless network design and implementation plan that incorporates a wide array of wireless devices and technologies and offers the identical protection, scalability, and manageability you expect from your wired environment. Progent can assist you to implement transparent interoperability between Cisco wireless products and wireless technology from other vendors to give your business the functionality you need plus the most secure, reliable, and economical wireless networking solution available. Progent's CISA and ISSAP security professionals can show you how to design security into your WLAN and into your company's operations.

Simplified Management Solutions for Cisco-based IT Networks
Progent's Cisco-Premier network management engineers can provide assistance with Cisco's management tools alongside a selection of specialized third-party applications to build a comprehensive network management strategy in order to keep your network running reliably, conserve expensive resources, guard your information, recover rapidly from hardware breakdown or malicious attacks, and enable you to expand or reassign network components sensibly and economically as your company grows.

To learn more details concerning Progent's support for Cisco connectivity and communications products, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.