ComNet '98, Washington, D.C. -- January, 27, 1998 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced that it is delivering the second phase of its data/voice/video integration strategy, which ultimately will encompass all aspects of corporate enterprise and service provider environments.
During this second phase, Cisco is rolling out New Multiservice, wide-area network (WAN) access products that will help corporate enterprise customers reduce costs, deploy new business applications and improve network performance.
Today's announcement is part of a five-phase, open systems and technology strategy designed to help users integrate data, voice and video - from smaller access locations to larger backbone sites and across private leased-line and public service infrastructures.
Cisco's strategy, the first phase of which was launched Oct. 21, 1997, at Interop Paris
(see http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/1980.html), initially will give customers the ability to reduce costs by avoiding long-distance toll charges and start consolidating their voice and data network infrastructures. In the future, it will enable them to take advantage of new business applications such as intranet/Internet telephony, Web call centers and desktop video. The strategy encompasses voice over Frame Relay, voice over ATM and voice over IP.
"The greatest immediate return on data/voice/video integration in the corporate enterprise network is in the WAN, where costs are highest and alternatives abound," said Craig Johnson, a principal analyst at Dataquest. "With the announcement of these new products and overall strategy, Cisco is in a strong position to help users build intelligent data/voice/video networks today."
New products introduced today represent additional results of Cisco's acquisitions of StrataCom. Inc. in 1996 and Ardent Communications Corp. in 1997.
The new products include the Cisco MC3810 Multiservice Access Concentrator and new features for the Cisco StrataCom IGX Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switch. These IGX features enable data/voice interworking with the MC3810 and enhance the IGX's extensive voice capabilities. Additionally, Cisco today outlined plans to continue its voice-over-IP product rollout, which began with the Oct. 21, 1997 introduction of voice modules for the Cisco 3600 router series.
Cisco MC3810 Seamlessly Integrates Data, Voice and Video
The Cisco MC3810 is the newest member of the Cisco MC3800 series of multiservice access concentrators. It combines Cisco IOS software routing functionality with compressed, switched voice and clear-channel video across popular Frame Relay and ATM services. (See accompanying release, "Cisco Introduces Newest Member of MC3800 Multiservice Access Concentrator Family.") The MC3810 connects to any standard private branch exchange (PBX) or videoconferencing system and is interoperable with all other Cisco internetworking devices.
Using voice compression, the MC3810 transports voice across enterprise infrastructures at a fraction of the bandwidth and cost of traditional multiplexers or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switches. The MC3810, which operates on facilities from 56 kilobits per second (kbps) to 2.048 megabits per second (Mbps), provides maximum flexibility and investment protection, as networking requirements grow.
"The Cisco MC3810 combines data, voice and video in an efficient, standards-based way, at a much lower cost than previous-generation, simple multiplexers," said Bill Hicks, senior product manager for internetworking at Sprint.
Cisco IGX Interworks with MC3810 to Provide End-to-End Voice Capabilities
New Cisco IGX features enable voice and data interworking between the IGX and the MC3810. The IGX wide-area network ATM switch consolidates data, voice and video onto a carrier-class backbone for today's mission-critical enterprise networks. IGX/MC3810 interworking allows enterprise customers to extend backbone capabilities, including quality of service (QoS) and traffic management, to their branch offices.
With the new software, the IGX voice modules compress voice signals at one-half to one-eighth the uncompressed rate. This enables substantial bandwidth and cost savings across the enterprise and seamless PBX dialing between sites.
Cisco Continues to Deliver Voice over IP
The recently announced voice/fax module for Cisco 3600 series routers was the first in a series of voice-over-IP (VoIP) product announcements for 1998.
Service providers have been deploying the multifunctional Cisco 3600 as managed service, customer premise equipment (CPE) for integrating data and voice on the WAN. Based on industry-leading Cisco IOS software, the Cisco 3600 series enables delivery of quality of service for real-time data across IP networks.
Netcom, one of the leading international Internet Service Providers, is currently evaluating VoIP. "We were very impressed with Cisco's 3600 VoIP capability," said Mike Kallet, Netcom's senior vice president of products, technology and business development. "We tested the Cisco equipment over Netcom's backbone between Denver, Colorado and San Jose, California by conducting a business call over the Internet using a speaker phone. The quality of the call was very good."
Cisco also will offer new integration capabilities in enterprise networks by extending voice-over-IP technology into high-density voice gateways to aggregate branch offices and enable packet telephony gateways.
Cisco's voice-over-IP software architecture will be extensible across many existing Cisco platforms and will provide extremely low latency to enable the highest-quality voice-over-IP solutions available.
Cisco Offers Complete Portfolio for Data/Voice/Video Integration
The new multiservice WAN access solutions announced today complement Cisco's existing array of edge devices, which can interface with telephony systems and transport traffic into the backbone infrastructure. These multiservice WAN access devices include MC3800 multiservice access concentrators, Catalyst. 5500 series LAN switches, " + name +""; }); } //////////////End - Executives Landing Page Hot Fixes /////////////