IT Technology News and Progent IT Solutions

Cisco announced new products targeted specifically for small company IT networks and designed to deliver exceptional levels of security and connectivity for a budget-friendly cost. Solutions introduced by Cisco included the Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker, the Cisco NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems, and the latest version of the Cisco SBCS.

The Cisco Spam Blocker appliance is a dedicated email security device that essentially eradicates email threats as shipped. Cisco's NSS2000 and NSS3000 Small Business Network Storage Systems are economical small-footprint network-attached storage (NAS) devices that offer security for valuable information and enable employees to exchange information effortlessly. The Cisco SBCS Version 1.4, a complete collaboration and communications solution that seamlessly interconnects offices, employees, and clients anywhere. The latest version features the first cordless desktop IP handset with Bluetooth support. To see Cisco's press release, visit Cisco Announces Networking and Security Solutions for Small Businesses.

Cisco Spam Blocker Appliance
The Spam and Virus Blocker appliance protects small businesses by providing extensive defense against junk mail, viruses and worms as well as other email threats to secure your network and corporate information while at the same time improve productivity. Because the appliance stops spam with minimal set up and updates automatically, it eliminates the expense and time with setup and continuing and management. By filtering out spam, Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker increases the performance of network connections, application servers, and computers. The Spam and Virus Blocker represents a comprehensive defense against email threats by including a physical appliance, software, continuous updates, and product support in a unified package.

Notable features of the Spam Blocker appliance include:

• Precision: Helps to ensure that email threats and spam are caught while legitimate messages are delivered.
• Continuous self-installed patches: Constant interaction with SenderBase security, a network library of email security risks, ensures that your Spam & Virus Blocker appliance installs the latest patches to safequard your corporate email.
• Simple installation and use: Easy-to-use web-based installation tools permit you to configure the Spam Blocker appliance in almost any network within 15 minutes, delivering instant security for your business network.
• Streamlined management: From the moment you installs the Cisco's Spam Blocker appliance, you benefit from junk mail and malware filtering with no additional effort required of your network support staff.

NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems
The Cisco NSS2000 and 3000 Network Storage Systems provide the robust protection and comprehensive backup features that your business needs, at a price small companies can handle. The Cisco NSS3000 accommodates up to four TB of data and up to 15 simultaneous clients per chassis, provides the optimal solution for storing, sharing, and backing up your mission-critical corporate data. As distinct from less sophisticated network-attached storage systems, the NSS3000 delivers the advanced backup, encryption, client validation, and fault tolerance your organization needs.

The NSS3000 4-Bay Gigabit Storage enclosure handles any certified drive. It offers a wealth of features in a desktop system engineered for small companies. The Small Business NSS3000 Storage enclosure also gives your business the flexibility to configure the system without any attached drives, to modify it at any time, and to link multiple Cisco NAS chassis with one another, providing a solution that can continually expand with your company.

Your business can utilize the NSS2000 or NSS3000 Network Storage Systems to:

• Intelligently back up important information from each PC and application server on your network
• Provide unified storage and distribution of key files
• Employ Continuous Data Protection to copy automatically each revision of each file saved by employees, allowing you to restore files quickly
• Record and archive digital video from your video surveillance system

Cisco Smart Business Communications System
The Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4 is an easy-to-manage and complete sharing and communications solution that allows small organizations to interconnect telecommuters, mobile workers and employees in separate sites to improve their options to interact with clients and teammates. In the new release, the aggressively priced solution has improved wireless features such as the industry's first wireless desktop IP phone with Bluetooth, the SPA525G IP phone, which enables companies to grow easily by adding phones in places where conventional telephone wires or network cables are not present or cannot easily be run.

Additional new pieces of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System 1.4 version include:

• The Cisco Model 520 Secure Router product to help guard the company's network and provide employees safe connectivity to the Internet and important corporate information remotely or locally
• The Configuration Assistant Release 1.9 to enable partners to simplify the configuration and installation of solutions designed specifically for certain companies

How Progent's Cisco-certified Professionals Can Assist Your Company to Get the Most Out of Cisco Technology
Progent's Cisco-qualified consultants and CCIE engineers can assist you to assess the latest Cisco products to determine their business value for your IT system, deploy Cisco solutions to enhance the protection and performance of your network, and maintain Cisco products both in person and remotely to keep your network operating dependably. Progent's consulting experts offer a variety of cost-effective technical services to enhance the dependability, security, performance, and manageability of a small business information system:

Immediate Access to Cisco CCIE Certified Network Engineers
Progent can provide convenient, immediate, and low-cost support from CCIE support professionals. Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts are recognized network experts who are awarded this top-level certification only after intense testing by Cisco. CCIEs can resolve the most complicated issues surrounding network infrastructure architecture, configuration, troubleshooting, and support. Progent's CCIE professionals work intimately with Cisco in-house staff in analyzing problems with Cisco's IOS software and developing workarounds or obtaining patches to correct problems. Progent can provide immediate contact with a CCIE by telephone so that you are able to get urgent help for complex network troubles that are impacting business productivity but are beyond the expertise of your local network service providers. Progent's CCIE consulting professionals can access your network using state-of-the-art off-site connectivity technology in order to provide fast and affordable diagnosis and remediation of critical network difficulties.

Cisco VoIP Phone and IP Video Phone Solutions
Progent's Cisco IP phone and video IP phone experts can assist your business to integrate, manage, and debug Cisco VoIP phones, desktop video IP phones and wireless IP handsets. Progent can provide expertise for all models of Cisco's IP phones from discontinued VoIP products to the latest media phones. Progent's consultants can also help you to integrate your IP phones with Cisco Unified CM, originally named CallManager, or with Cisco Unified CM Express (CME) to build a an advanced IP-PBX environment for unified messaging and company-wide collaboration. Progent can deliver support with any facet of Cisco VoIP Phone integration including designing dial plans, solving IP phone registration issues, configuring SIP trunking, installing Cisco ISR routers with CUBE internetworking support, and creating UCS server clustering and Cisco SRST systems for high availability. For additional information about Progent's offerings for Cisco's Unified Communications solutions, refer to Cisco VoIP and Unified Communications Consulting Help.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco CallManager Unified Messaging
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), originally branded CallManager, operates as the foundation of Cisco's communications and collaboration platform. Unified CM and Unified CM Express (CME) provide a location-independent IP-PBX solution by integrating with unified messaging apps that include Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Service, Unity Connection for voicemail, Cisco Unified Mobility for Single Number Reach (SNR), and Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise for building an advanced customer contact center. Progent's Cisco-certified CUCM and CallManager experts can assist with any facet of CUCM setup and troubleshooting in areas that include integrating Cisco VoIP phones and video phones, designing dial plans, setting up SIP trunking and PSTN calling, installing ISR routers with CUBE networking support, creating UCS server clustering solutions for survivability, and integration with Exchange Server and Skype for Business.

Cisco ASA and PIX Firewall Consulting Expertise
Progent's certified Cisco network security consultants provide expert PIX and ASA Firewall consulting services covering architecture, integration, 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 defense, and safe connectivity services. Ranging from compact, easy-to-install desktop devices for small and home businesses to modular enterprise-level appliances, Cisco PIX and ASA Firewalls provide advanced security, performance, and excellent availability for network environments of any size. PIX and ASA Firewalls are based on a hardened, specially designed platform, minimizing possible OS-specific security holes.

Network Security Inventory and Evaluation Packages
Progent's CISM and CISSP-premier security consultants can provide a variety of budget-friendly security Inventory bundles and security assessment service packages created to offer organizations of all sizes a chance to get an independent opinion about the effectiveness of their security profile. These packages vary from low-cost external security scan and internal network security scan packages for small and midsize businesses up to a high-end network security evaluation package for corporations who need meet security standards demanded by government agencies or by vendors. For each security assessment package, consultants with high-level security accreditations analyze and report on collected data and make recommendations for efficient improvements.

Cisco SIP Connectivity Solutions: SIP Trunks and CUBE Integration Consulting
Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified SIP infrastructure experts and CUBE integration consultants can help your business to design, deploy, manage, troubleshoot and upgrade Cisco's SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) infrastructure solutions and Cisco's CUBE-connected SIP trunks. Progent can provide affordable remote or onsite support to assist you to move smoothly to a productive communications environment that offers accelerated ROI. Progent's Gold-certified Microsoft collaboration consultants can assist you to set up connections between Cisco's CUBE Session Border Controller and Microsoft's VoIP and IP video platforms like Skype for Business Server or Lync Server for connectivity to a SIP PSTN trunk.

Consulting and Support Consulting and Troubleshooting Expertise for Cisco Wireless Technology
Progent can provide a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) or Cisco Certified Network Professional to help you to develop a comprehensive wireless network design and implementation strategy that incorporates a wide array of wireless devices and technologies and provides the same security, expandability, and ease of management you expect from your wired network. Progent can help you to implement seamless integration between Cisco wireless technology and wireless products from third-party suppliers to give your business the features you require plus the most secure, reliable, and cost-effective WLAN solution possible. Progent's CISA and ISSAP security professionals can advise you about how to build security into your wireless network and your business operations.

Automated Management Solutions for Cisco-based Small Business Network Infrastructure
Progent's Cisco-Certified network management consultants can provide help with Cisco's management utilities alongside a variety of specialized third-party applications to create a complete network management strategy in order to keep your environment running smoothly, fully utilize limited resources, protect your information, recover rapidly from hardware failure or deliberate attacks, and enable you to add or repurpose network components sensibly and affordably as your business evolves.

To learn more details about Progent's consulting and support services for Cisco connectivity and communications solutions, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.