SAN JOSE, Calif. - September 30, 1997 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced a 50- percentprice reduction on its Catalyst. 1900/2820 high-performance Ethernet switches that will enable small and medium-sized businesses to affordably transition from basic hub connectivity to intelligent switching technology.
In a related announcement today, Cisco also announced a new line of Ethernet workgroupswitches, the Cisco Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Enterprise Edition, targeted toward enterpriseworkgroup environments.
New prices for the existing Cisco Catalyst 1900 switch start at a U.S. list price of $74 perport. The new Cisco Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Enterprise Edition switches provide enhancedperformance and scalability starting at a U.S. list price of $99 per port. New features willinclude Fast EtherChannel( links, Inter-Switch Link (ISL) virtual LANs , multiple ATM emulatedLANs, and Web-based management and enhanced security.
"This is significant news," said Tam Dell'Oro, founder of the Dell'Oro Group. "Cisco is clearlycommitted to making Ethernet switching an affordable choice for everyone."
Affordable Switching Solutions for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
With new affordable pricing in place, small and medium-sized businesses can begin takingadvantage of switched Ethernet solutions. The Catalyst 1900 switch provides 12 or 24 switchedEthernet ports, 2 Fast Ethernet links and 1 Ethernet AUI port. The Catalyst 1900 is designed toprovide dedicated 10-Mbps connections to desktop users and high-performance connectivitybetween hub-based workgroups. The Catalyst 2820 switch provides 24 switched Ethernet ports, 1Ethernet AUI port and 2 modular slots, which can support a combination of single or multiportFast Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), and ATM interfaces. The Catalyst 2820is designed for Ethernet workgroups and individual users who need increased performance andflexible, high-bandwidth connections to servers and network backbones. Both switches utilizeembedded Cisco IOS technologies for network management and interoperability.
"At these new lower prices, many customers will now find that high-performance Cisco switchedEthernet solutions cost no more than traditional shared-media networks," said Larry Birenbaum,vice president and general manager of the Small Internetworks Business Unit at Cisco Systems. "This is part of Cisco's strategy to provide small and medium-sized businesses withhigh-performance networking solutions that are easy, flexible and affordable."
New Workgroup Switches
The new Catalyst 1900/2820 Enterprise Edition switches announced separately today include allthe features of the existing Catalyst 1900/2820 switches in the same configurations. Inaddition to connecting local workgroups, however, the Enterprise Edition switches are designedto extend and expand those connections into larger end-to-end networks. The Catalyst EnterpriseEdition switches rely on new customer application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to offeroutstanding performance and Cisco IOS technologies to deliver bandwidth optimization, networkedmultimedia and comprehensive management and security.
The Catalyst 1900/2820 and 1900/2820 Enterprise Edition switches are all part of Cisco'scomplete line of LAN connectivity solutions, including the new auto sensing 10/100-Mbps CiscoCatalyst 2926 and Catalyst 5000 enhancements also announced separately today.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is theworldwide leader in networking for the Internet. athttp://www.cisco.com.
Cisco IOS is a trademark, and Cisco, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems logo areregistered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and certain other countries. All othertrademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
