SAN JOSE, Calif., June 21, 1994 -- Cisco Systems hasintroduced a unique software technology that brings fast re-routing all the way to the desktop. The new technology overcomesprevious limitations that host-based network software imposed on"network convergence" -- the ability of the host to adapt tochanges in network topology.
Cisco's Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) allows networktopology changes to be transparent to host systems. This feature,already shipping as a standard part of Cisco's InternetworkOperatingSystem (IOS) router software, will be particularlyuseful in environments where critical applications are running onnetworks designed for fault tolerance. Existing routers coveredby a Cisco software maintenance agreement can be upgraded to thenew software release free of charge.
Paulina Knibbe, Cisco product line manager for routingtechnology, said, "Until now applications have been unable to takefull advantage of the fast re-routing provided by advanced routingprotocols such as OSPF, Enhanced IGRP and Integrated IS-IS. HSRPallows network designers to bring the power of fast re-routing totheir mission-critical hosts in a way that is transparent to thosehosts."
TCP/IP hosts usually are configured to use a default gateway.If this gateway should become unavailable due to scheduledmaintenance, power failure, environmental problems or otherreasons, the TCP/IP host is unable to use an alternate pathwithout manual intervention.
HSRP allows another router to transparently assume thefunctionality of the router that is temporarily unavailable, thusassuring immediate re-routing without any host changes.
HSRP will work on Ethernet, Token Ring and FDDI LANs and runsin conjunction with commonly used routing protocols such as OSPF,IS-IS, and IGRP.
Cisco Systems, Inc., is the leading worldwide supplier ofhigh-performance, multimedia and multiprotocol internetworkingproducts, including routers, bridges, workgroup systems for 10-Mbps/100-Mbps data transmission, ATM switches, communicationservers, and router management software. Cisco technology is usedto build enterprise-wide networks linking an unlimited number ofgeographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM SNA networks. In theUnited States, Cisco is traded over the counter under the NASDAQsymbol CSCO.
Posted: Jun 21 08:35:31 1994
