Technology News and Progent IT Solutions

Cisco introduced innovative products intended specifically for small company networks and engineered to deliver a high degree of protection and collaboration at a budget-friendly price. Solutions announced by Cisco were Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker, the Small Business series NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems, and the 1.4 version of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS).

The Cisco Spam Blocker is a dedicated email security device that virtually eradicates email-based attacks as shipped. The Cisco NSS2000 and NSS3000 Small Business Network Storage Systems are economical desktop NAS appliances that provide protection for important information and enable workers to share files effortlessly. The Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4, a complete sharing and communications system that seamlessly interconnects sites, workers, and customers however dispersed. Cisco's current release incorporates the industry's first cordless small-footprint Internet Protocol (IP) handset with Bluetooth capabilities. To view Cisco's news release, visit Cisco Introduces Networking Products for Small Companies.

Cisco Spam Blocker
The Spam and Virus Blocker safeguards small businesses by providing extensive protection against spam, viruses and worms as well as other email-borne attacks to secure your system and corporate information while at the same time improve productivity. Because the appliance blocks spam and viruses right out of the box and stays current automatically, it avoids the cost and hassle required for initial configuration and continuing and management. By filtering out spam, Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker helps the throughput of network connections, application servers, and computers. The Spam and Virus Blocker appliance represents a comprehensive solution email attacks by including hardware, software, continuous patches, and technical support in a unified bundle.

Notable benefits of the Spam and Virus Blocker appliance are:

• Efficiency: Helps to ensure that email threats and junk mail are caught while legitimate email is accepted.
• Ongoing self-installed updates: Non-stop communication with SenderBase security, a network database of email security risks, ensures that your Spam & Virus Blocker appliance installs the most current updates to safequard your corporate email.
• Simple installation and operation: Easy-to-use web-based installation tools permit you to install the Spam and Virus Blocker appliance in practically any environment in minutes, providing instant security for your network.
• Effortless management: From the moment you deploys the Cisco's Spam Blocker appliance, you benefit from spam and malware protection with no extra hassle demanded of your IT staff.

Cisco Small Business NSS2000 and NSS3000
The Cisco NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems offer the dependable security and advanced backup features that your company needs, at a cost small companies can afford. The Cisco NSS3000 accommodates as much as to four terabytes of data and as many as 15 concurrent users on each enclosure, offering the ideal solution for storing, accessing, and archiving your mission-critical corporate data. As distinct from less advanced network-attached storage (NAS) systems, the Cisco Small Business NSS3000 delivers the advanced backup, encryption, client validation, and fault tolerance your business needs.

The Cisco Small Business NSS3000 4-Bay Gigabit Storage System enclosure handles any certified hard disk drive. The product provides a range of capabilities in a desktop-size system engineered for small organizations. The Cisco NSS3000 Storage Chassis also provides you the versatility to deploy the product without any attached hard drives, to modify the product easily, and to link several Cisco NAS chassis with one another, offering a solution that can smoothly expand with your business.

Your business can use the NSS2000 or 3000 Network Storage Systems to:

• Automatically back up important data from each desktop and application server in your company
• Offer centralized storage and sharing of key information
• Employ Continuous Data Protection to back up unattended every version of each file archived by workers, permitting you to recover data quickly
• Store and save digital video from your company's video security cameras

Smart Business Communications System (SBCS)
The Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4 is a simple and comprehensive sharing and communications system that allows small businesses to connect telecommuters, mobile workers and office workers in disparate locations to improve their options to communicate with customers and teammates. In the new release, the aggressively priced solution offers improved wireless capabilities including the first wireless desktop IP handset with built-in Bluetooth, the Cisco SPA525G VoIP phone, which enables companies to grow easily by adding handsets in locations where traditional telephone lines or Ethernet wiring is missing or cannot conveniently be run.

Other innovative components of the Cisco SBCS Release 1.4 include:

• Cisco's Model 520 Secure Router product to help protect a small business network and give workers safe connectivity to the Internet and key corporate data from either side of the firewall
• The Configuration Assistant v. 1.9 to permit partners to simplify the setup and deployment of solutions created custom for certain companies

How Progent's Certified Engineers Can Help Your Business to Get the Most Out of Cisco Technology
Progent's Cisco-qualified consultants and CCIE networking experts can assist your company to assess new Cisco products to determine their value for your environment, deploy Cisco security and communication platforms to improve the protection and efficiency of your information network, and provide tech support for Cisco devices both onsite and online to keep your network running smoothly. Progent's consulting experts can provide a variety of cost-effective services to improve the availability, security, speed, and manageability of a small business IT network:

Immediate Online Access to Cisco CCIE Network Engineers
Progent is the premier provider of convenient, immediate, and economical access to registered CCIE consultants. CCIEs are highly-qualified network experts who earn this prestigious classification only as a result of strenuous examination by Cisco. CCIEs can resolve the most challenging issues associated with network infrastructure planning, setup, repair, and support. Progent’s CCIE consultants cooperate closely with Cisco engineers in analyzing issues with Cisco's IOS platform and finding workarounds or acquiring patches to resolve problems. Progent can provide fast contact with a CCIE by telephone so you are able to get emergency help for tough network problems that are impacting worker efficiency but are beyond the expertise of your usual network support resources. Progent's CCIE support professionals can access your environment via state-of-the-art off-site support technology in order to provide fast and affordable diagnosis and remediation of urgent network problems.

Cisco VoIP Phone and IP Video Phone Integration
Progent's Cisco IP phone and video IP phone consultants can help you to integrate, manage, and debug Cisco IP phones, desktop video IP phones and wireless IP handsets. Progent can provide expertise for all versions of Cisco's IP phones from legacy Voice over IP products to the latest media phones. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to integrate your VoIP phones and video IP phones with Cisco Unified CM, previously branded CallManager, or with Cisco Unified CM Express to build a an advanced IP-PBX environment for unified messaging and company-wide collaboration. Progent's consultants can deliver support with all aspects of Cisco VoIP Phone integration including reviewing dial plans, resolving QoS, configuring SIP gateways, deploying Cisco ISR routers with CUBE internetworking capability, and designing UCS server clustering and Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony solutions for high availability. For additional details concerning Progent's services for Cisco's collaboration technology, read Cisco IP Telephony and Unified Communications Professional Help.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager and CallManager Collaboration
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), originally named CallManager, acts as the core of Cisco's communications and collaboration portfolio. Cisco Unified CM and Cisco Unified CM Express offer a modern IP-PBX solution by integrating closely with unified messaging apps that include Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service, Cisco Unity Express for voicemail, Cisco Unified Mobility for Single Number Reach, and Unified Contact Center Enterprise (Unified CCE) for creating an advanced customer contact solution. Progent's CCIE-certified Cisco Unified CM experts can help with any facet of CUCM support and troubleshooting in areas such as integrating Cisco VoIP phones and video phones, designing dial plans, configuring SIP connections and PSTN calling, installing ISR routers with CUBE support, creating UCS server failover systems for survivability, and integration with Exchange and Skype for Business.

Cisco ASA and PIX Firewall Consulting
Progent’s experienced Cisco IT security consulting professionals provide high-level PIX Firewall and ASA Firewall consulting support covering infrastructure design, integration, and management of Cisco firewall and Cisco security technology. The PIX and ASA Security Appliance Series of Cisco firewall products delivers robust user and application policy enforcement, sophisticated attack defense, and secure connectivity services. Ranging from economical, plug-and-play desktop devices for small and home offices to modular enterprise-level products, Cisco PIX and ASA Firewalls provide a high level of security, performance, and high reliability for IT systems of any size. PIX Firewalls and ASA Firewalls are based on a hardened, purpose-built operating system, minimizing common OS-specific security holes.

Network Security Inventory and Evaluation Packages
Progent's GIAC, CISA and CISM-certified security consultants can provide a variety of cost-effective security Inventory service packages and network security assessment service packages designed to offer organizations of any size an opportunity to receive a professional opinion about the quality of their security environment. The packages vary from ultra-affordable external security scan and internal network security scan options for small and midsize companies up to a high-level security assessment package for institutions who need meet security standards required by state agencies or by vendors. For every security assessment bundle, consultants with top security credentials evaluate and summarize collected information and make recommendations for efficient improvements.

SIP Infrastructure Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Consulting
Progent's Cisco-certified SIP infrastructure consultants and CUBE integration consultants can assist your business to design, deploy, manage, debug and upgrade Cisco's SIP connectivity solutions and Cisco's CUBE-connected SIP trunks. Progent can provide cost-effective online or onsite expertise to help companies to migrate efficiently to an advanced communications environment that offers accelerated return on investment. Progent's Gold-certified Microsoft unified communications experts can help you to configure connections between Cisco's CUBE Session Border Controller and Microsoft's VoIP and IP video applications like Skype for Business Server and Lync Server for access to a SIP PSTN trunk.

Consulting Consulting and Troubleshooting Expertise for Cisco Wireless Technology
Progent can provide a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) or certified CCNP to help you to develop a comprehensive wireless network design and implementation plan that incorporates a broad range of wireless devices and technologies and provides the identical security, scalability, and manageability you demand from a wired network. Progent can assist you to achieve transparent integration between Cisco wireless technology and wireless devices and software from third-party suppliers to give your company the features you need as well as the most protected, reliable, and economical wireless networking solution available. Progent's CISM and CISSP security professionals can advise you about how to build protection into your WLAN and your company's operations.

Automated Management Tools for Cisco-powered Small Business Network Infrastructure
Progent's Cisco-Premier network management engineers can provide help with Cisco's network management tools alongside a variety of powerful third-party applications to build a comprehensive management automation solution in order to keep your environment running smoothly, conserve limited resources, guard your information, recover quickly from device breakdown or malicious attacks, and allow you to expand or repurpose valuable resources sensibly and affordably as your business grows.

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