SAN JOSE, Calif., March 27, 2000 - Continuing its leadership in the IP telephony market, Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced ten new products that fit within its Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID). These solutions bolster Cisco's industry leading Enterprise IP telephony line-up by increasing scalability, availability and intelligence for a truly converged infrastructure, which will result in greater productivity throughout an organization.
Cisco is announcing Enterprise-class solutions for IP Call Processing, second-generation IP Phones, integrated packet telephony features into the Catalyst. 6000 family of switches and additional platforms for gateway functionality. The new solutions include Cisco CallManager (3.0) software, two Cisco IP Phones (7960 and 7910) and a new Cisco Media Convergence Server (MCS 7835). New for the Catalyst 6000 family are integrated gateway interface cards (one analog and two digital) and a 48 port 10/100 Ethernet switch module with integrated QoS and a migration path to in-line power capabilities. For existing installations, Cisco is introducing an Inline Power patch panel, and a standalone, modular analog trunk/station gateway.
"Over the past eight to 12 months, there has been a tremendous amount of interest in IP telephony but one of the stumbling blocks was the perception that the technology was only for small installations and couldn't scale," said David Passmore, director of research at The Burton Group. "Cisco has presented a solid architecture and is now backing it up with a wide range of IP telephony products that are aimed squarely at the large enterprise."
Intelligent Internet Communication Devices
As organizations continue to migrate to a converged infrastructure, they are looking for solutions that make converged communication technology easy to deploy, easy to use, and enhance the productivity of employees. To this end, Cisco is announcing the second generation of Cisco IP Phones.
The Cisco IP Phone 7960 is a dynamic, display-based intelligent IP communication device that integrates both old-world and New World features. The phone has six programmable line/feature buttons and four interactive soft keys that guide a user through call features and functions with an easy to use graphical user interface. Additionally, the 7960 provides intelligent network services for superior voice quality through an integrated 10/100 Ethernet switch port on the back. With this port, users can deploy a single wire to the desktop and still provide Fast Ethernet connectivity to any PC connected to the intelligent IP phones. Thus, the Cisco solution intelligently combines voice and data services into a single easy-to-use appliance.
Unlike the closed, proprietary systems of the Old World, these intelligent IP phone devices can keep pace with emerging applications via simple software updates. This ensures compatibility with a range of converged applications like unified communications, integrated directory services, single-button collaboration, online context-sensitive help and single button access to New World services. These are just a few features that will soon become commonplace.
In addition, Cisco is also announcing the Cisco IP Phone 7910. This entry-level New World appliance provides comparable features and functionality found in high-end legacy digital feature phones at a competitive price point.
Highly Scalable Solutions
"We are excited to work with Cisco, the only end-to-end IP telephony solutions provider in this emerging market," said Brian Bonner, Texas Instruments vice president and chief information officer. "We feel this new technology will give us the ability to provide options for improved service, as well as the insight to prepare for our future needs."
One of the primary differentiators of Cisco AVVID is its distributed nature. Using Internet Protocol technology, Cisco AVVID distributes call processing functionality throughout the network for two key reasons: horizontal scalability and high availability. Cisco IP telephony features are provided through Cisco CallManager software and currently run on Cisco Media Convergence Servers.
Cisco is announcing a new Media Convergence Server, the Cisco MCS 7835. This is a high-end solution aimed squarely at large Enterprises looking for high availability, redundancy and powerful processing for high call volumes.
To further support large enterprise deployments, Cisco is also announcing a high-density 24-port analog (for traditional phone and fax applications) gateway, an eight-port T1 gateway and an eight-port E1 gatewayall of which slot into any of the Catalyst 6000 family of switches.
Cisco CallManager 3.0 is also being announced today. This latest version of intelligent software uses Microsoft Windows. 2000 technology and contains a number of significant features and functionality that provide enhanced scalability, availability and intelligence. One of those features is being able to group multiple Cisco CallManager servers in a single clusterand still manage them as a single entity. Clustering aggregates the power of multiple distributed Cisco CallManagers and enhances the scalability and availability of the servers to phones, gateways, and applications. The new Cisco CallManager 3.0 can today support 10,000 phones in a single cluster of 5 Media Convergence Servers with up to 10 clusters supported throughout an Enterprise network, scaling up to 100,000 users per multi-site system.
The capability of clustering multiple call-processing servers throughout a campus network is an innovation unmatched in the industry and highlights Cisco's distributed intelligence, which ensures the system can scale from a small branch office up through a large Fortune 100 Enterprise.
High Total System Availability
Cisco's clustering technology also provides overall high levels of system availability. Distributed processing and robust IP protocols will dynamically adapt to changing network conditions guaranteeing that user services continue without interruption. This is achieved by deploying multiple CallManagers over a converged infrastructure to eliminate any single point of failure in the system.
Customers must also address the requirements for powering IP telephony solutions to ensure high availability. Cisco provides a range of choices to provide power from the network to the IP telephony device.
The first option is a 48-port 10/100 QoS-enabled line card for the Catalyst 6000 family that can accommodate an Inline Power daughter module. This high performance line card can be deployed in any Catalyst 6000 series chassis and through a field-upgradable module, can provide the necessary 48 volts of DC power down the Category 5 Ethernet cable to the intelligent IP phones.
The second option is the Inline Power patch panel. This device enables customers with existing QoS-enabled Catalyst solutions to deploy Inline Power without a forklift upgrade. Thus, customers who have already deployed intelligent 10/100 switching solutions based on platforms like the Catalyst 5500 with advanced QoS capabilities, can use the Inline Power patch panel to provide network power to their IP phones.
However, before sending the power through either option, the intelligent network takes advantage of Cisco's phone discovery feature. With phone discovery, the Catalyst 6000 switch automatically detects the presence of an intelligent IP phone and supplies inline power. The phone discovery mechanism is intelligent enough to differentiate between an IP phone and a network interface card and will not supply inline power to any other device not designed to use inline power. This means that network administrators can maintain centralized control without the need to manually enable each port to supply inline power.
By deploying Catalyst gear with uninterruptable-power-supplies (UPS) in secured wiring closets, network administrators can ensure that power outages do not affect network telephony connections.
Complete End to End Solutions and Support
With more than 50 products now announced under Cisco AVVID, customers have a wide range of options to build out their converged infrastructure. These solutions range from the intelligent Catalyst 6000/6500 family of switches and Cisco Voice Manager software to the versatile Cisco 7200 VXR router with new voice-enabled port adapters and integrated gateways.
To ensure that customers' investments are protected, Cisco is also announcing the Cisco VG200. This modular gateway supports the same wide range of interfaces in voice-enabled Cisco 2600 and 3600 routers and gateways. Both the Cisco VG200 and Cisco 7200 VXR digital voice port adapters allows customers to connect Cisco IP telephony solution products such as IP phones to the PSTN or to a PBX.
With customers deploying more and more converged solutions, Cisco continues to share its best practices and award winning expertise by providing a range of proactive service and support offerings specifically tailored to the IP Telephony market. Cisco AVVID service and support solutions enable rapid deployment and high availability of IP Telephony solutions across the entire network lifecycle. Components of the program include presales network audit planning, design consulting, network implementation, operational support, network optimization, and interactive knowledge transfer solutions. Through its IP Telephony Specialization Program, Cisco also offers its partners, resellers and VARs the opportunity to address this booming market.
Pricing, Availability and Further Information
List price follows each product. Availability is set for these new products for Q2, CY2000 except where otherwise noted.
Cisco IP phone 7960 ($495 plus license), Cisco IP Phone 7910 ($145 plus license), Cisco CallManager 3.0 (software upgrade is free to SMARTNET customers. For new customers, CallManager 3.0 comes preinstalled on any MCS platform), Cisco MCS 7835 ($14,995), Catalyst Inline Power patch panel ($4,995), Inline Power field-upgrade module for Catalyst 6000 ($3,995), VG200 (starts at $2,495), 24-port analog gateway ($9,995) and the T1 or E1 digital gateways ($19,995 ea.).
Shipping now is the Catalyst 6000 48-port 10/100 card for the Catalyst 6000 family with open Inline Power module slot. It is available for $12,995. For further information on Cisco's enterprise data, voice and video solutions, please see the new Cisco AVVID web page at www.cisco.com/go/CiscoAVVID .
