Technology News and Progent Solutions

Cisco unveiled innovative solutions targeted specifically for small business IT networks and designed to deliver a high degree of protection and connectivity for a budget-friendly cost. Products announced by Cisco included Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker, the Cisco Small Business series NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems, and the 1.4 version of Cisco's Smart Business Communications System (SBCS).

The Cisco Spam Blocker appliance is a dedicated spam, virus, and phishing filter security product that virtually eliminates email threats with no set up. Cisco's NSS2000 and NSS3000 Small Business Network Storage Systems are economical small-footprint NAS appliances that offer protection for important information and allow workers to share information easily. Cisco's Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4, a full sharing and communications system that easily connects sites, workers, and clients anywhere. Cisco's latest release features the industry's debut of a wireless small-footprint Internet Protocol (IP) handset with Bluetooth support. To see Cisco's press release, visit Cisco Unveils Security and Collaboration Solutions for Small Businesses.

Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker Appliance
The Spam Blocker appliance protects small companies by offering extensive protection against spam, malware and other email attacks to secure your network and business information and simultaneously enhance efficiency. Because the appliance blocks spam right out of the box and stays current on its own, it eliminates the expense and time required for initial configuration and ongoing and administration. By filtering out unwanted email, Cisco's Spam Blocker appliance helps the throughput of network connections, application servers, and workstations. The Spam Blocker appliance represents a comprehensive defense against email attacks by featuring hardware, software, continuous patches, and product assistance in a single package.

Key benefits of Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker appliance are:

• Accuracy: Helps to make sure that email-borne attacks and spam are intercepted while business messages are accepted.
• Continuous self-installed updates: Constant communication with SenderBase services, an online database of email security risks, makes sure that the Cisco Spam Blocker appliance installs the latest updates to protect your corporate email.
• Simple installation and use: User-friendly web-based installation tools allow you to install Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker in almost any network in 15 minutes, delivering immediate protection for your business network.
• Streamlined administration: As soon as you deploys the Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker, you benefit from junk mail and malware filtering with no extra effort demanded of your network support staff.

NSS2000 and 3000 Network Storage Systems
The Small Business NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems provide the robust security and advanced backup features that your business needs, at a cost small businesses can handle. The Cisco Small Business NSS3000 accommodates as much as to four TB of data and as many as 15 concurrent users per enclosure, provides the ideal answer for storing, accessing, and archiving your vital business information. As distinct from entry-level NAS systems, the NSS3000 delivers the state-of-the-art backup, cryptography, user authentication, and high uptime your business needs.

The Cisco NSS3000 4-Bay Gigabit Storage System Chassis handles any certified hard drive. The enclosure offers a wealth of capabilities in a desktop-size footprint designed specifically for small businesses. The Cisco NSS3000 Storage System Chassis also gives you the versatility to deploy the system without any connected disks, to reconfigure the product at any time, and to link multiple chassis with one another, providing a platform that can continually expand with your company.

You can use the NSS2000 or NSS3000 to:

• Intelligently back up important information from each PC and application server on your network
• Provide centralized preservation and sharing of key files
• Employ Continuous Data Protection (CDP) to copy automatically every version of every file archived by employees, allowing your company to recover files with ease
• Store and archive digital video from your video security system

Cisco SBCS
The Smart Business Communications System Release 1.4 is an easy-to-manage and complete collaboration and communications system that enables small companies to connect telecommuters, mobile workers and office workers in disparate locations to improve their ability to interact with customers and colleagues. In the latest release, the affordable system offers enhanced wireless features including the industry's first wireless desktop VoIP handset with Bluetooth technology, the Cisco SPA525G wireless IP device, which allows businesses to expand easily by adding handsets in locations where conventional telephone lines or network wiring is not present or cannot easily be added.

Other innovative components of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System 1.4 version include:

• Cisco's 520 Secure Router product to help guard a small business infrastructure and give workers safe access to the Internet and key business information from either side of the firewall
• The Configuration Assistant Release 1.9 to enable stakeholders to streamline the configuration and installation of solutions designed specifically for certain companies

How Progent's Consulting Experts Can Assist Your Company to Incorporate Cisco Networking Solutions
Progent's Cisco consultants and Cisco CCIE network engineers can assist your company to evaluate new Cisco technologies to understand their appropriateness for your environment, set up Cisco appliances to enhance the protection and performance of your information network, and maintain Cisco products both onsite and online to keep your IT network running smoothly. Progent's consultants can provide a variety of low-cost technical services to enhance the dependability, protection, performance, and manageability of your company's information network:

Immediate Online Access to Cisco Registered CCIE Engineers
Progent is the leading source of convenient, quick, and affordable access to registered CCIE engineers. CCIEs are highly-qualified network experts who earn this prestigious accreditation only as a result of comprehensive examination by Cisco. CCIEs are able to tackle the most complicated issues associated with network design, implementation, troubleshooting, and maintenance. Progent's CCIE experts interact intimately with Cisco in-house staff in analyzing issues with Cisco's IOS platform and devising fixes or acquiring patches to resolve problems. Progent can provide fast contact with a CCIE by phone so you can receive emergency assistance for complex network troubles that are affecting business productivity but are beyond the expertise of your local network service resources. Progent's CCIE support experts can link to your network via advanced remote connectivity technology to deliver fast and cost-effective analysis and remediation of urgent network difficulties.

Cisco Voice over IP Phone and IP Video Phone Solutions
Progent's Cisco-certified IP phone and video IP phone consultants can help you to configure, manage, and troubleshoot Cisco VoIP phones, video IP phones and wireless IP handsets. Progent can provide support for all models of Cisco's IP phones from legacy VoIP products to the newest media phones. Progent's IP telephony experts can also help you to integrate your IP phones with Cisco Unified CM, formerly named CallManager, or with Cisco Unified CM Express to build a an advanced IP-PBX environment for unified messaging and collaboration. Progent can deliver support with any facet of Cisco IP Phone integration including reviewing dial plans, resolving IP phone registration issues, configuring SIP gateways, deploying ISR G2 routers with CUBE internetworking support, and designing UCS server clustering and Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony systems for survivability. For more details concerning Progent's support for Cisco's Unified Communications solutions, go to Cisco Voice over IP and Unified Communications Consulting Services.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager and CallManager Collaboration
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM), previously named CallManager, operates as the core of Cisco's collaboration solution. Cisco Unified CM and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express (CME) provide a modern IP-PBX by integrating tightly with unified messaging applications that include Cisco Unified CM IM and Presence Service, Unity Connection for voicemail management, Cisco Unified Mobility for Single Number Reach (SNR), and Unified Contact Center Enterprise (Unified CCE) for creating an advanced customer contact solution. Progent's Cisco-certified CUCM consultants can assist with any facet of Unified Communications Manager configuration and debugging in areas that include integrating VoIP phones and video phones, reviewing dial plans, setting up SIP trunking and PSTN support, installing ISR routers with CUBE support, creating UCS server clustering systems for high availability, and integration with Exchange Server and Skype for Business.

Cisco ASA Firewall and PIX Firewall Consulting
Progent's experienced Cisco network security consultants provide expert PIX and ASA Firewall consulting services including architecture, integration, and management of Cisco firewall and Cisco security solutions. The PIX and ASA Security Appliance Series of Cisco firewall products delivers strong user and application policy enforcement, sophisticated attack protection, and secure connectivity services. Ranging from economical, easy-to-install desktop devices for small and home offices to modular enterprise-class products, Cisco PIX Firewall and ASA Firewalls provide a high level of security, performance, and excellent reliability for network environments of all sizes. PIX and ASA Firewalls are based on a proven, purpose-built platform, eliminating common OS-specific security holes.

Security Inventory and Assessment Packages
Progent's GIAC, CISA and CISM-premier security consultants can deliver a variety of cost-effective network security Inventory bundles and network security evaluation service packages designed to give organizations of all sizes a chance to receive a professional look at the strength of their security environment. The packages range from low-cost external security scan and internal security scan packages for small and midsize companies up to a high-end security assessment package for enterprises who have to meet security levels demanded by government agencies or by customers. For every security inventory or evaluation package, consultants with top security credentials analyze and summarize collected data and provide suggestions for efficient improvements.

Cisco SIP Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified SIP trunk consultants and Cisco CUBE configuration consultants can help organizations of any size to design, deploy, maintain, troubleshoot and enhance Cisco's SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) infrastructure solutions and Cisco's CUBE (Cisco Unified Border Element)-based IP PSTN trunks. Progent offers affordable online or on-premises support to assist you to move efficiently to a productive communications environment that offers fast return on investment. Progent's Gold-certified Microsoft collaboration experts can assist you to set up connections between Cisco's CUBE Session Border Controller and Microsoft's rich media applications such as Skype for Business or Lync Server for connectivity to a SIP-based IP PSTN trunk.

Consulting and Support Consulting and Troubleshooting Services for Cisco Wireless Products
Progent can provide a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert or Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) to assist you to develop a comprehensive wireless network design and implementation strategy that integrates a wide range of wireless products and technologies and offers the identical security, expandability, and manageability you demand from a wired network. Progent can assist you to achieve seamless integration between Cisco wireless products and wireless technology from other suppliers to offer your company the features you require as well as the most protected, reliable, and economical WLAN solution available. Progent's CISM and CISSP security professionals can show you how to design security into your WLAN and into your business operations.

Automated Management Solutions for Cisco-based Small Business Network Infrastructure
Progent's Cisco-Certified network management engineers can provide assistance with Cisco's network management utilities along with a range of specialized third-party applications to build a complete network management solution in order to keep your network running smoothly, fully utilize limited resources, guard your data, revive quickly from hardware breakdown or deliberate assaults, and enable you to add or reassign network components intelligently and affordably as your company grows.

To learn more information concerning Progent's consulting and support services for Cisco connectivity and communications technology, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.