SAN JOSE, Calif., November 6, 2007 - As richer interactive and more collaborative applications are becoming the lifeline of business, companies need an uninterrupted information technology (IT) infrastructure and a high-performance integrated network to increase productivity and deliver greater customer support. To meet business demands and simplify operational management, Cisco® today introduced new modular Catalyst® switch offerings that help enable companies to take full advantage of real-time communication and collaboration capabilities.
Today's new innovations in the Cisco Campus Communications Fabric include:
- Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching System (VSS)1440 enabled by the Virtual Switching Supervisor Engine 720 with 10 Gigabit Ethernet: Effectively combining multiple Catalyst 6500 switches into one, the VSS 1440 scales system bandwidth capacity to as much as 1.44 terabits per second (Tbps). It also simplifies operational management by enabling multiple Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches to share a single-point of management, single routing instance and single IP address, as well as eliminating the dependence on spanning-tree and first-hop redundancy protocols like the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP). In addition, it provides investment enhancement through offering two times the previous scalability plus higher availability.
- Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series with CenterFlex technology: Delivering 320 gigabits per second (Gps) and a fourfold increase in per-slot bandwidth using its unique centralized and flexible architecture, the Catalyst 4500 E-Series provides expanded service capacity, flexibility and performance to help enable companies to optimize their unified networks for rich applications, while offering exceptional investment enhancement and protection with a design that maximizes forward and backward compatibility.
Simplifying Operational Management: Cisco 6500 Virtual Switching System 1440
Cisco raises the flagship Catalyst 6500 Series platform to the next level with the Cisco Catalyst 6500 VSS 1440 innovation based on 11 new patented concepts that span software and hardware technologies. Upgrading to the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching Supervisor Engine 720 with integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplinks helps enable existing Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switching investments and multilayer switching architectures to be enhanced with VSS capabilities that doubles system bandwidth capacity.
The Cisco 6500 VSS 1440 innovation allows two Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches to look and act like a single virtual switch, and it scales overall system bandwidth capacity to 1.44 Tbps by activating all available bandwidth across the two Catalyst 6500 switches. It helps increase operational efficiency and simplifies network management by facilitating a single point of configuration and management of the VSS domain. Cisco VSS 1440 also boosts nonstop communications by delivering deterministic, subsecond Layer 2 link recovery through interchassis stateful failovers and the predictable resilience of multichassis Etherchannel technology.
The First American Corp., a leading provider of business information based in Santa Ana, Calif., is evaluating the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series VSS 1440 for a campuswide deployment. With its Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series infrastructure in place, the company is seeking to achieve even higher internal service levels with existing equipment and is planning to upgrade its network with Cisco VSS 1440 to help simplify the network and increase operational efficiency.
"The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Virtual Switching System 1440 fundamentally changes the way we design, build and maintain networks by providing a level of flexibility and scalability that we have not yet seen," said Jake Seitz, enterprise architect for First American. "As we already have a Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series infrastructure, our upgrade path is relatively minimal since all we have to do is swap out the supervisor engines."
The integration of the Cisco Smart Call Home service capability into the Catalyst 6500 Series further advances operational manageability by providing round-the-clock monitoring and real-time troubleshooting and alerts on Cisco Catalyst 6500 systems. Cisco service requests are automatically generated and sent to the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) with associated diagnostics for fastest time to resolution. Smart Call Home is available as part of the award-winning Cisco SMARTnet® Service.
Increasing Performance with Investment Enhancement: Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Series
The Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series with CenterFlex technology is a next-generation extension to the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series delivering nonstop communications with four times the bandwidth per slot improvements, operational control and exceptional investment enhancement.
Cisco CenterFlex technology delivers 320 Gbps, 250 mpps (million packets per second) centralized performance and operational flexibility, which allows customers to fine-tune port-level hardware resources for specific services that enable Unified Communications. CenterFlex technology resulted in the filing of 19 new technology patents enhancing security, quality of service (QoS) and performance with full investment protection in mind.
The Catalyst 4500 E-Series includes the Supervisor6-E, three new E-Series 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 10/100/1000 PoE line cards that quadruple bandwidth per slot, and four new E-Series chassis.
Extensive forward and backward compatibility between Cisco Catalyst 4500 generations allows customers to mix and match existing and E-Series line cards without performance degradation. Upgrading to the new Supervisor 6-E adds CenterFlex features to previously deployed line-card ports. These new CenterFlex features, including IPv6 in hardware, allow customers to meet changing business needs with minimum investment and business disruption.
Haier Group is one of China's top 100 IT companies specializing in technology research, manufacturing industry, trading and financial services. With Cisco Catalyst 4500 and 6500 Series Switches currently installed in its network, the company is deploying the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series Switches to help enable real-time business-critical applications to ensure workforce productivity, profitability and business success.
"The Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series Switches are a lasting investment as their flexibility keeps pace with technology innovations, extending the life of our existing switching investments," said Hu Jun, IT operation director, Haier. "The increased performance, reliability and service capabilities provided by the Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Series enable us not only to scale for today's network requirements but also future-proofs the network for the support of future business needs by providing significant hardware resources and centralized performance for future growth."
"Cisco Campus Communications Fabric solutions demonstrate Cisco's commitment to helping customers optimize their network switching resources while enhancing their existing investment to meet future needs," said Jeff Roback, president and CEO of Praxis Computing, a Cisco Premier Certified and SMB Select Partner. "The Catalyst 4500 E-Series with CenterFlex Technology allows our customers to augment their current network infrastructure to achieve significant improvements in performance and flexibility. The Catalyst 6500 Virtual Switching Systems provides our customers with increased availability and scalability based on existing network investments, complemented by simplified operations. These innovations enable Cisco partners to be in a more compelling position to establish ourselves as a trusted solution provider for the build-out and evolution of their customers' communications networks."
For more information on the Cisco Campus Communications Fabric, visit www.cisco.com/go/ccf/.
Pricing and Expected Availability
| Product | List Price (US) | Scheduled Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching Supervisor Engine 720 10G with IP Services SW image | $38,000 | Now |
| Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching Supervisor Engine 720 10G Chassis bundles with IP BASE SW image | Starting at $31,500 | Now |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series Supervisor 6-E with CenterFlex Technolgy | $19,995 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 48-Port 10/100/1000 PoE line card | $9,495 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 48-Port 10/100/1000 Premium PoE line card | $11,995 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 6-Port 10GbE line card | $24,995 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 3-Slot E-Series Chassis | $995 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 6-Slot E-Series Chassis | $4,995 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 7-Slot E-Series Chassis | $9,995 | November |
| Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series 10-Slot E-Series Chassis | $12,495 | November |
