SAN JOSE, Calif. -- June 11, 2002 --Cisco Systems, Inc. today took another step in bringing intelligent services to the mid-sized network edge with enhanced security services on the Cisco Catalyst. 3550 and 2950 Series Intelligent Ethernet Switches.

These capabilities underscore Cisco's commitment to establishing enforcement points across the wide area and local area networks, thus enabling customers to benefit from pervasive security. They also extend the best practice guidelines in SAFE, the security blueprint for Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data), enabling mid-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices to maximize security while successfully taking advantage of Internet business applications.

"To conduct business successfully, companies are striking a balance between sharing information among customers, partners, and employees while keeping confidential information and network assets secure," said Kathy Hill, Vice President and General Manager of the Cisco Desktop Switching Business Unit. "With a strong base of security capabilities across the Cisco Catalyst switching portfolio, customers have a trusted foundation for delivering consistent security services throughout the network - enabling greater control over critical information resources and allowing more effective policy management."

Secure LAN Networking with Cisco Catalyst 3550 and 2950 Series

• More Secure Network Administration - Secure Shell (SSH) and SNMPv3 encrypt administrator traffic during telnet and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) sessions for added protection against unauthorized access to password and configuration information.
• Stronger User Authentication
  • IEEE 802.1x authentication-based security allows network administrators to control user access to the network at the edge port level.
  • Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Interface Tracker provides the physical switch and port location of a user to the DHCP server for user tracking.
  • A complete set of port-based, Virtual LAN-based, and router interface-based Access Control Lists (ACLs), enables network administrators to restrict network access based on multiple criteria and improve user segmentation capabilities.
• Improved Security Management - Embedded in the Catalyst 3550 and 2950 Series, Cisco Cluster Management Suite (CMS) Software allows users to simultaneously configure and troubleshoot multiple Catalyst desktop switches using a standard Web browser. The Security Wizard enables an administrator to restrict user access to specific servers or segments of the network in a few simple steps.

Cisco also introduced a new Cisco Catalyst 3550 24-port switch for 100BaseFX multimode fiber environments and a new 1000BaseT Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC). The Catalyst 3550-24-FX-SMI provides 24 100BaseFX multimode fiber ports and 2 GBIC-based Gigabit Ethernet ports in a rack unit (RU) stackable form factor. The new 1000BaseT GBIC is compatible with the full range of Cisco modular and desktop switching products. The new GBIC can be used in Catalyst 3550 Series, 2950 Series, 3500 Series XL, 2900 Series XL, 4000 Series and 6500 Series switches today.

In addition, Cisco updated its Cisco Secure User Registration Tool (URT) with Web-based logon capabilities for the most commonly used client operating system platforms as well as authentication support for both lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) and Remote Access Dial In User Service (RADIUS) directories such as Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS).

"Cisco's new security features offer a powerful arsenal for network administrators in today's security-conscious environment," said Benjamin Hockenhull, network administrator for Webster University, an international liberal arts college headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, and serving 18,000 students in 95 locations in the U.S. and abroad. "Webster has deployed the Cisco Catalyst 3550 and 2950 Series at the edge to support multicast, wired and wireless applications now and video on demand in the future. Using Secure Shell (SSH) to manage our switches has made a significant improvement in our network security."

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