SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 10, 1996 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced anew series of multiprotocol routers that delivers the performance, portdensity and availability typically associated with high-end systems - atper-port prices up to 40 percent less than competing routers. The Cisco7200 series, which consists of the four-slot Cisco 7204 and six-slotCisco 7206, supports the full suite of Cisco IOS(tm) softwareservices, enabling users to manage access to network resources, allocatequality of service (QoS) among applications and provide new, value-addedsecurity and traffic accounting capabilities.
"When you talk about price, performance and port density, the gap betweenmid-range and high-end routing systems has been increasing," said RolfMcClellan, senior consultant at Strategic Networks Consulting, Inc. inRockland, Mass. "The Cisco 7200 series should fill this gap nicely. Itdelivers the punch and port density needed in regional office anddistributed backbone environments at aggressive per-port prices."
Cisco's new 7200 series breaks new ground in port density/price byproviding as many as 48 Ethernet, 24 Serial, or 24 Token Ring ports. Thesehigh-density options enable users to drive costs down to as little as$1,285 per port.
The Cisco 7206, available now, has a system capacity of 600 Mbps and ispowered by a RISC-based, 150-MHz system processor that can switch 140,000packets per second. The Cisco 7204 will ship in the third calendar quarterof 1996. With Cisco's recently announcedNetFlow(tm)Switching software, available in the third quarter for the Cisco7200 series, switching performance can scale to 150,000 packets per second.
NetFlow Switching is a Cisco IOS software switching mechanism thatidentifies traffic flows between internetwork hosts and then, on aconnection-oriented basis, switches packets in these flows at the same timethat it applies relevant services. (Traffic flows are uni-directionalstreams of packets between a given source and destination, both defined bynetwork-layer IP address and transport-layer port number.) Thisstreamlined way of handling packets will enhance overall system performanceon the Cisco 7200 series and increase performance for Cisco IOS servicesproviding access control and traffic accounting information.
"Our cost-effective and powerful 7200 series will enable customers toextend new Cisco IOS services and bring the stability, security and controlof Layer 3 switching to a much wider range of network configurations andenvironments," said Frank Marshall, vice president and general manager ofCisco's Core routing Business Unit.
Scalable Switched Networks
The Cisco 7200 series provides users with the routing capabilities that areessential in building reliable, scalable switched networks and movingtraffic between virtual LANs (VLANs). With Cisco IOS software, it supportsthe widest range of routing protocols available, including IP, IPX,AppleTalk and DECnet. In addition, it supports Cisco's Inter-Switch Link(ISL) protocol for transporting VLANs across Fast Ethernet and the IEEE802.10 standard for transporting VLANs over FDDI.
Customers with the 7200 series have a cost-effective platform that iswell-suited to handling large volumes of high-speed, inter-VLAN datatraffic. Featuring an embedded Fast Ethernet port, the 7200 series can beused in combination with Cisco's Catalyst LAN switches to deliveradditional speed and port density in a cost-effective package. Thus,customers can take advantage of full, Layer 3 routing functionality inswitched LAN environments, which do not need the high-end bandwidth andperformance provided by the Cisco 7500 series.
Internet and WAN Access
By combining high performance with support for large numbers of WANconnections (up to 24 serial ports), Cisco 7200 systems give remote-officeusers faster, more cost-effective access to the Internet and to resourcesat corporate headquarters.
The new routers also will support Cisco IOS network encryption services,which enable traffic to be encrypted using private Data Encryption Standard(DES) and public key mechanisms. Consequently, remote users can safelytransport mission-critical or confidential data across corporate networksor the Internet. With Cisco's new encryption port adapter, available inthe fourth quarter of 1996, and with NetFlow Switching, users can boost theperformance of these services and can selectively apply encryption to justthe applications which require it. This improves overall networkperformance and is less expensive than encrypting all traffic on each link.
Cisco's new 7200 series provides similar benefits to service providers.They can offer greater WAN concentration at remote points of presence andfull routing capabilities without having to deploy high-end systems atthose locations. Further, service providers can use the 7200 routers forcost-effective frame relay concentration.
IBM Campus and Regional Office Environments
Cisco 7200 series routers offer more Token Ring ports (up to 24) than anycompeting platform, which is critical in IBM campus and regional officeenvironments. Additionally, these new systems provide the high performancerequired for data-link switching plus (DLSw+) or advanced peer-to-peernetworking (APPN).
Customers can maximize network scalability and minimize cost by using Cisco7200 series routers as DLSw+ peers or APPN network nodes. The 7200 seriesoffers the high performance required for these functions, as well as thedensity to support large numbers of serial interfaces. This makes it anideal WAN access solution for integrated IBM and multiprotocol routers.
Modular Design Offers Unmatched Flexibility
Based on a modular design, the Cisco 7200 series supports the same portadapter modules used with Cisco 7000 and 7500 series Versatile InterfaceProcessor cards (VIPs), which protects customer investments and minimizesspare parts inventories. With its compact, 5 1/4-inch tall package, theCisco 7200 series offers more than double the port density in half the rackspace used by Cisco's 7010 router.
When the Cisco 7204 and 7206 first ship, they will support Ethernet, FastEthernet, Token Ring, FDDI and serial port adapter modules in variousdensities. (See following list.) ATM, ISDN, 100VG-AnyLAN and high-speedserial (HSSI) interfaces for the 7200 series will be introduced later,beginning in the fourth quarter of 1996.
Users can customize their systems by choosing from a selection of chassisand I/O controller types. What's more, the Cisco 7200 series will be veryeasy for customers to use and manage. With the new routers, Cisco isintroducing management tools based on the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)standard. HTML support enables network mangers to monitor and manage theCisco 7200 through a Web browser installed on a remote personal computer.For example, administrators can check the status of all interfaces andmodify the configuration.
Reliability and Serviceability
To ensure that mission-critical applications are always available whenusers need them, the Cisco 7200 series features dual load-sharing powersupplies and supports on-line insertion and removal of port adapters. Toenhance serviceability, each element of the Cisco 7200 system, includingthe backplane, is field replaceable.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the leading global supplier ofinternetworking solutions for corporate intranets and the global Internet.Cisco's products, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up accessservers and network management software, are integrated by the Cisco IOSsoftware to link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks.Company news and product/service information are available at World WideWeb site http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif.Posted: Mon Jun 10 13:19:39 PDT 1996
