CISCO ENHANCES 2600 SERIES ROUTER WITH FAST ETHERNET AND VLAN.

Cisco Systems, Inc. has enhanced the Cisco 2620 and 2621 modular access routers, adding 10/100 Fast Ethernet and Virtual LAN (VLAN) capabilities to the company's popular 2600 series multiservice solutions that deliver cost-effective data access, data/voice integration, and dial access services to branch offices of enterprises and mid-sized businesses.

Cisco has also introduced a new high-performance data compression option that allows customers to reduce recurring WAN costs and advanced firewall capabilities that provide an integrated solution for secure access to the Internet or Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

With models that support Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Token Ring, and mixed LAN environments, the Cisco 2600 series is a key component of the Cisco multiservice data/voice integration offering, allowing customers to consolidate data, voice, and video traffic to reduce costs, enable new business applications, and improve network efficiency. Because the Cisco 2600 series is modular, customers can easily add new services or capacity as their needs change over time, providing maximum investment protection and simplifying the deployment of new network services.

"The Cisco 2620 and 2621 provide a new, cost-effective option for customers who have standardized on 10/100 Ethernet or who are deploying VLANs to reduce the cost of PC adds, moves and changes," said Don Proctor, director of product marketing in the Cisco Multiservice Access Business Unit. "The new data compression and firewall options extend the core value proposition of the Cisco modular access router family to provide maximum investment protection and reduce network life cycle costs by integrating the functions of multiple devices on the remote office network."

"We selected the Cisco 2600 because of its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, and because it supports our plans to deploy voice over IP in the future, providing us with a strong competitive advantage in the retail industry," said Gary Schweikhart, vice president of public relations, Office Depot. "The Cisco 2600 will become a core component of our network which links over 650 stores nationwide. We're pleased that Cisco is offering us a solution that meets our needs today and prepares us for the future."

Fast Ethernet Models for the Cisco 2600 Series

As part of Cisco's comprehensive end-to-end networking solution, the Cisco 2600 series allows businesses to extend a cost-effective, seamless network infrastructure to the remote branch office and now offers Fast Ethernet and VLAN capabilities in new Cisco 2620 and 2621 models. The Cisco 2620 features one autosensing 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port and the Cisco 2621 features two autosensing 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports.

Both models also have two WAN Interface Card (WIC) slots, one network module slot, and an internal Advanced Integration Module (AIM) slot. The Cisco 2620 and 2621 offer WAN-service flexibility and investment protection by supporting the same WAN interface cards available for the Cisco 1600 series, 2600 series, 3600 series and the recently announced Cisco 1720 VPN access router, supporting a variety of serial, Integrated Services Digital Network Basic Rate Interface (ISDN BRI), and integrated channel service unit/data service unit (CSU/DSU) options for primary and backup WAN connectivity.

Network Modules available for the Cisco 2600 series support a broad range of applications, including multiservice data/voice integration, analog and ISDN dial access, and serial device concentration. Powered by a high-performance RISC processor, the Cisco 2620 and 2621 offer the performance required to support high-speed software-based data encryption, data compression, and inter-VLAN routing.

The Fast Ethernet interfaces on the Cisco 2620 and 2621 support the Cisco Inter-Switch Link (ISL) protocol for interconnecting multiple VLAN switches. Since VLAN membership is defined in software, users can be added to the network or moved to a new location more cost effectively, regardless of their physical location.

Data Compression Module

The Cisco 2600 series' new data compression Advanced Integration Module (AIM) allows customers to deploy new network services such as voice without increasing WAN bandwidth and maximizes the benefit of advanced Cisco IOS software bandwidth management features such as the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) and IP Precedence.

Because the data compression AIM uses the Cisco 2600's internal AIM slot, external slots remain available for additional network interfaces and services. Unlike external data compression devices, it can be easily managed as an integrated part of the Cisco 2600 router solution.

Advanced Firewall and VPN Access Capabilities

With the addition of the Cisco IOS Firewall feature set, the Cisco 2600 and 3600 series join the growing family of Cisco firewall solutions, offering integrated options for providing secure Internet and VPN access without the cost of deploying and maintaining separate third-party firewall devices.

With available support for IPSec data encryption and multiprotocol routing, the ICSA-certified Cisco IOS Firewall feature set offers customers a high-performance option for performing advanced security functions such as Context-based Access Control (CBAC), Java blocking, protection from denial-of-service attacks, real-time alerts, and comprehensive audit-trail logging.

As more businesses realize the cost advantages of implementing VPNs for connecting to branch offices or business partners over the Internet, the Cisco IOS Firewall features enable customers to deploy a complete VPN solution using the Cisco 2600 and 3600 series. As companies move more of their traffic to VPNs to leverage these advantages over time, the Cisco 2600 will scale with their requirements through the addition of a hardware-assisted encryption module in the future.

Price and Availability

The Cisco 2620, 2621 and data compression AIM are immediately available. Pricing for the products is as follows: Cisco 2620 lists for $2,395 with IP software; Cisco 2621 lists for $3,095 with IP software; data compression AIM for the Cisco 2600 is $750. The Cisco IOS software Firewall feature sets list from $1,200 for the Cisco 2600 series and from $2,500 for the Cisco 3600 series, and are available immediately.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) is a leader in networking for the Internet. News and information are available at http://www.cisco.com.

For more information, call 408/527-0600.