SAN JOSE, Calif. -- June 15, 1998 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced the modular Catalyst. 8510 and Catalyst 8540 Multiservice ATM switch router (MSR) series for enterprise and metropolitan area networks. These new multiservice ATM solutions for the Catalyst 8500 series enable customers to further scale their campus backbones whether they are using ATM, Ethernet or a mixture of both.
The new 5-slot Catalyst 8510 MSR and 13-slot Catalyst 8540 MSR platforms support high-density OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 ATM switching with advanced quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities, voice and video support and the ability to integrate routed and switched 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet ports in a single platform.
The Catalyst 8500 MSR series implements Cisco IOS. software to provide a variety of network services including reliability, security, management, a full suite of routing protocols and the latest ATM Forum specifications like Hierarchical PNNI and Tag Switching (IETF Multiprotocol Label Switching), with additional support for CiscoAssure Policy Networking. The Catalyst 8500 series supports all the routing protocols that are used today in both campuses and the Internet.
"Some vendors are focusing on switching capacity alone, but that's only part of the equation," said Ron Jeffries, principal at Jeffries Research. "Users need to look beyond wire speed performance for excellent resiliency, security and management features."