Innovative Policy-Based Routing Solves Administration Issues
San Jose, CA (August 28, 1995) -- Cisco Systems Inc. today announced aseries of new software features to help users easily apply corporatepolicies to their network, further reduce their WAN costs and provideintegrated security capabilities. All of these new capabilities residewithin the
"We are striving to provide new and current customers with an ideal set ofsoftware which can be individually tailored," said Christine Hemrick,director, product marketing, Cisco IOS software. "With increased activityover a corporate internetwork, users need the ability to not only save costbut protect the network's integrity. Now, network managers can deploybroad-based protection and apply corporate policies to their routing whilesimultaneously reducing line costs."
Policy Routing
Network managers are increasingly being asked to superimpose legal,contractual or organizational policies over their central-site and remoteoffice network operations. This requirement is often driven by mandates tocentralize WAN services or guarantee service for time-sensitive multimediatraffic and would help network managers meet the growing need of handlingdata differently based on traffic (e.g. source, destination or TCP port)and pre-existing corporate policies. Now users have these valuable toolsin a new IP Policy-Based Routing feature which can address many variablesincluding the administrative selection and data prioritization of InternetExchange Carrier (IXC) traffic and internal data paths for Internet accessand other specific applications. This Cisco IOS software feature will helpnetwork managers truly mesh their corporate policies with their networkservice offerings.WAN Optimizing Features
The economical scaling of corporate networks is the primary goal of growingcompanies who continually open remote or branch office sites to best meetlocal or regional business needs. These businesses are now seeing thebusiness value of having these sites connected to their corporate networkfor information sharing on a real-time basis. New WAN software featuresallow for faster, cost-effective access to a wealth of internet resourcesincluding publishing, commerce, broadcasting, advertising and educationdata. Cisco IOS software innovations in this area now include NovellSequenced Packet Exchange (SPX) spoofing, AppleTalk Name Binding Protocol(NBP) filters and Floating Static Routes (Vines and AppleTalk).To dramatically reduce communication costs associated with dial-on-demandcircuits between remote offices, Cisco is implementing SPX spoofing. Thiscapability sits above the Novell IPX protocol and receives,recognizesand acknowledges both server and client SPX "keep-alive" packets inuser-defined intervals on one end of a WAN link. SPX spoofinginteroperates with all Novell and third-party applications.
New AppleTalk features include NBP filters that limit dial-on-demand use,diminish security breaches, check WAN costs and lower overhead traffic.Users can deploy this feature to help build firewalls, dial-on-demandtriggers and traffic queuing options. AppleTalk NBP filters also offerpolicy routing capabilities including controlled network access ofAppleTalk resources (e.g. printers, file servers and applications).
For bulletproof dial back-up capabilities, Cisco IOS software will offerfloating static routes to provide corporations with the ability to designand build very flexible and robust routing technologies. One importantapplication of floating static routes is to provide backup routes intopologies where dial-on-demand routing occurs. A floating static routeserves as a default path when no dynamic routing information is available.This new feature is supported in AppleTalk and Vines environments inaddition to previously announced IP and Novell IPX capabilities.
Scalable Security
For corporate facilities, physical security is frequently based uponsecurity guards, closed circuit television, and card-key entry systems.With these measures in place, organizations feel confident that withintheir physical facilities, assets are protected, and high user productivityis maintained. New Cisco IOS security features help networks gaincomprehensive security with route authentication and IP access control list(ACL) violation logging.Route authentication helps customers protect against forgery or messagemodification by authenticating routing update information. Many customerswith mission-critical networks, such as service providers, are activelyseeking ways to reduce the opportunity for external message modification orforgery.
IP ACL reporting tools help managers by providing attempted violationinformation and prevention at the network perimeter. Network managersactively receive suspicious log information as attempted ACL violationsoccur.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the leading global supplier of enterprisenetworks, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up accessserversand network management software. These products, integrated by the
http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose,California.
Posted: Aug 29 09:03:27 1995
