Catalyst 5000 Is Key Platform for Scalable, Switched Internetworks

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NETWORLD+INTEROP, LAS VEGAS, March 28, 1995 -- Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in LAN switching, today announced the first multi-layer modular switch that brings switching, routing and virtual LAN capabilities together, providing customers with a strategic platform for building and managing large networks. The Catalyst 5000 embraces all current and emerging switching technologies, providing high speed connectivity from the wiring closet to network backbones and workgroups.

The Catalyst 5000 integrates routing and switching using the Cisco Internetwork Operating System (Cisco IOS) to facilitate communication across different virtual LANs. It also provides extensions to support new multimedia applications, ATM internetworking and LAN emulation software. Multi-layer switching with the Cisco IOS also ensures network security through firewalls and packet filtering, while enabling users to logically route, manage and control sensitive traffic.

"We've addressed a critical customer need in bringing scalable switching to corporate networks," said Jayshree Ullal, director of marketing for Cisco's Workgroup Business Unit. "Integrating high-performance switching with the Cisco IOS in one platform also helps customers create a secure, manageable environment."

The Catalyst 5000 chassis has five slots. A Supervisor Engine Module controls access to the switching backplane, which can switch more than 1 million packets per second. The module supports local and remote network management and two Fast Ethernet ports, which can be used for connection to a local server or cascading of other Catalyst 5000s. The remaining slots in the chassis can be used for a mix and match of hot-swappable switching modules.

The system will support all the popular and emerging interfaces, including switched Ethernet, 100Base-T Fast Ethernet, Token Ring, 100VG-AnyLAN, ATM or FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface).

Moving From Shared to Switched Environments

Optimized for easy migration from today's shared-media hubs to switched environments, the Catalyst 5000 provides scalability with high port density switching (ranging from 10 to 100 Mbps) and has been architected to support Layer 3 switching. This enables customers to build switching into their networks now, while laying the foundation for large, easily managed switched internetworks.

Unique Traffic Management Capabilities

Embedded traffic management functionality is a critical component of the Catalyst 5000 design. The Catalyst 5000 supports extensive input buffers across its switching modules that function with buffer management software to eliminate packet loss during peak traffic periods.

The Catalyst 5000 architecture supports multiple levels of data prioritization, with each interface separately user-configurable as high or low priority. Maintenance of separate logical queues for each priority class reduces buffering delays, a critical issue with typically bursty network traffic and delay-sensitive traffic types such as voice and video.

The Catalyst 5000 family supports switched port analyzer software. This software gives network managers the ability to track traffic on any one of the 5000's switching ports.

Cisco is the only vendor to support embedded remote monitoring (RMON) across all of its switching platforms. Because RMON is fully integrated with the CiscoView device management application, network managers can view, configure and set alarms on a graphical representation of the switch.

Catalyst 5000 also supports RFC 1271 standard-compliant RMON across all ports, enabling users to centrally manage, administer and control traffic monitoring for all switched LAN segments simultaneously. Offering centralized control that greatly reduces administrative overhead, the embedded RMON agent can save the user up to 80 percent of the cost of using specialized hardware probes on each LAN segment.

Availability is as follows:

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    Product                                   Availability
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    Catalyst 5000 Chassis                     June            
    Redundant Power Supply                    June               
    Supervisor Engine Module                  June            
    24-port Switched Ethernet Module          June            
    12-port Switched Fast Ethernet Module     July            
    ATM LAN Emulation Module                  July            
    FDDI Switching Module                     July            
    Token Ring Switching Module               Q1 1996            
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Cisco Systems, Inc. is the leading global supplier of enterprise networks, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access servers and network management software. These products, integrated by Cisco's Internetwork Operating System (Cisco IOS) link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs, and IBM networks. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and in the U.S. is traded under the NASDAQ symbol CSCO.