SAN JOSE Calif., May 22, 1995 -- Cisco Systems has introduced a singleproduct that combines access-router and wiring-hub functions, reducing thecost and complexity of connecting small-office Token Ring LANs acrosswide-area links to corporate internetworks or the Internet.
The Cisco 2517 Router/Hub unites Cisco InternetworkOperating System(tm)(Cisco IOS(tm)) routing technology with intelligent unshielded twisted pair(UTP) Token Ring hub media technology from LanOptics Ltd. of Israel. Theunit is the latest product of a 1993 agreement betweenCisco and LanOptics.
The fixed-configuration Cisco 2517 is designed for a branch or remoteoffice needing to link a single Token Ring LAN to a corporate data networkor the public Internet. It has 11 UTP Token Ring hub ports (configurablefor 4- or 16-Mbps speeds), two synchronous serial WAN ports (up to 4 Mbps),and one ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) port (up to 128 Kbps). A low-speedasynchronous WAN port can be used for dial-on-demandrouting (bringing up aWAN link only when necessary) or dial backup (bringing up a secondary linkwhen a primary leased line fails or becomes congested).
Replacing Four Stand-Alone Network Devices
The multifunction single-box solution provides, in a single compactchassis, the functions of four stand-alone network devices: a Token Ringmedia access unit (MAU) concentrator,Simple Network Management Protocol(SNMP) controller, internetwork router and ISDN terminal adapter.Kevin Kennedy, product management director of Cisco's remote accessproducts, said, "The Cisco 2517 is ideal for use by financial institutionsmigrating IBM 3270/SNA networks to distributed client-server applications.SNA traffic can be merged with other traffic (e.g., NETBIOS, IP, IPX) byusing one of the 2517's WAN ports to support legacy equipment viaSDLC-to-LAN translation; the other WAN port can connect to a frame relay,X.25 or leased-line connection back to the company's central office.Bisync support from Cisco also enables the unit to consolidatetraffic from local bisync devices such as automated teller machines."
ISDN BRI Port for Primary Link or Backup
The Cisco 2517's ISDN BRI port can be used as a high-speed dial-up digitallink for supplementary bandwidth or as backup for a failed primary link,Kennedy added.The 2517 supports such packet- and circuit-switched services as framerelay, X.25, X.25 DDN, SMDS, V.25bis and ISDN. Also provided are SDLCtransport and SLDC-to-LAN conversion, Telnet/LAT/X.25 protocol translationand data compression.
Flexible Network Management
Router ports can be configured via Telnet or Cisco's PC-based ConfigurationBuilder software, and managed locally or remotely through the CiscoWorks(tm)suite of management applications and other SNMP-based management systems.Sophisticated Token Ring hub management, including MAC-layer event loggingand control, is available through Cisco's Hub/Ring Manager for Windows.The Cisco 2517 is also manageable via IBM LAN Network Manager, which Ciscohas supported since 1992.The Cisco 2517 comes with a choice of six Cisco IOS feature sets, from abasic IP-specific set to an enterprise set with the full IOS protocol andAPPN suite. All include Cisco AutoInstall for easy remote-siteinstallation, and key IBM featuressuch as remote source-route bridging.
Availability
The Cisco 2517 Token Ring Router/Hub will be available in July. APPNsupport will be available as an IOS option in third quarter 1995. The unitcomes with 4-8 MB of Flash EPROM (expandable to 16 MB) and 2-6 MB of systemDRAM (expandable to 18 MB), depending on IOS feature set.Cisco Systems, Inc.is the leading global supplier of enterprise networks,including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access servers and networkmanagement software. These products, integrated by the Cisco InternetworkOperating System (Cisco IOS) link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs andIBM networks. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and in the U.S.is traded under the NASDAQ symbol CSCO.
Posted: Wed Apr 15 14:22:34 PDT 1998
