Cisco Announces Management Strategy, Products For Switched Internetworks.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 1995--Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced a comprehensive strategy and product set for managing multi-layer switched internetworks.

The products and strategy fill the growing need to extend network management beyond shared 10BaseT hubs to better manage scalable switched internetworks.

The offerings include an integrated suite of switch management applications -- CiscoWorks(tm) for Switched Internetworks -- plus embedded network agents.

"Cisco is addressing the need for a new generation of management applications, brought on by the rapid adoption of switches at all levels within the organization," states John Morency, principal at the Registry, a Stratham, N.H.-based consultancy. "These applications will provide a much greater degree of configuration, fault and performance management services that are sorely needed for true production implementation of switching technology. Cisco has clearly listened to its users and responded with a set of management tools that will clearly put it in the forefront of switched internetworking management."

Enterprise-wide topology maps for switched internetworks

One of the greatest management challenges in switched internetworks is gaining an accurate view of the network at the physical and logical layers. To provide such a view, Cisco is delivering a multi-layer topology management application. For the first time, network managers can fully understand the physical configuration of links between switches and quickly determine the type of link that connects a series of switches. This enables the network manager to perform "drag-and-drop" configuration functions of these links for fine tuning communications between client/server applications.

At the core of these topology capabilities are intelligent agents that reside within the Cisco Internetwork Operating System software (Cisco IOS(tm)) running on Cisco's multi-layer switches. The agents offer enhanced and detailed topology and traffic management information for detailed analysis.

One of these agents, the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), is a topology discovery and mapping protocol that dynamically discovers the adjacent devices and operates independently within the network.

Other agents include embedded traffic management agents using embedded RMON technology or external switch probes, virtual LAN communication agents and fully compliant SNMP MIB II agents.

Cisco's VLAN communication protocols, including ISL (interswitch link), 802.10 and LAN emulation, facilitate enterprise VLANs across the backbone links. These intelligent agents substantially reduce the amount of traffic typically generated by management applications when performing discovery and configuration functions. Administrative overhead is reduced along with the amount of management attention required for managing, monitoring and configuring switches both physically and logically.

Optimized switched management applications

Essential applications for managing multi-layer switched internetworks include graphical device management, virtual LAN management, traffic management and ATM virtual circuit management tools. The CiscoWorks Switched Internetworks integrated application delivers on these requirements (respectively) with the inclusion of CiscoView, VlanDirector(tm) and TrafficDirector(tm), as well as options for ATM and design management tools.

CiscoView establishes a new graphic management model within the company for graphically configuring and monitoring all Cisco products. With a simple double-click from enterprise topology maps, network administrators can launch a graphical view of switches within the network and change configurations using intuitive field menus. Additionally, the real-time status of each device, including port, traffic and chassis variables, is easily measured and monitored.

VlanDirector leverages the graphical capabilities of CiscoView by adding drag-and-drop virtual configuration functions at both the device and network topology levels. Users are quickly assigned to a VLAN by dragging the ports represented by CiscoView into VLAN configuration windows. VLAN ports and topology view windows offer a filtered approach in which to visualize each specific VLAN. This provides a quick method for understanding how the network is configured at the logical layers. Furthermore, VlanDirector dynamically assigns links between switches that reside within the same VLAN. This substantially reduces the amount of administration required by the network manager to set up VLANs across the enterprise.

TrafficDirector leverages the graphical capabilities of CiscoView with both RMON agent configuration and traffic management application launch capabilities. The configuration of the RMON agents can often be a complex task, especially when there are multiple ports to choose from across a series of RMON groups, with multiple OSI layers from which to monitor. Cisco significantly reduces this complexity by providing a graphic port view of each switch, allowing the network manager to choose quickly from a series of RMON agent options. These options can be applied to an individual port or multiple groups of ports concurrently. TrafficDirector also offers advanced monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities at the link, network, transport and application layers so problems can be quickly identified.

AtmDirector(tm) offers an intuitive interface for creating Permanent Virtual Connections (PVCs) and Permanent Virtual Paths (PVPs) across the ATM network. AtmDirector generates a topology map of the ATM fabric and provides link management and troubleshooting capabilities from this map. In conjunction with CiscoView, network managers can use AtmDirector to obtain status information quickly on any ATM port or module with easy-to-understand, graphical representations.

"While the switch market is growing at a rapid pace, so is the need for control over network resources, particularly as more customers adopt switches within the core of their wiring closets and backbones," said Jayshree Ullal, director of marketing for Cisco's Workgroup Business Unit. "These new applications, packaged as one cohesive switched management system, give users a truly complete view of their topology."

Pricing and availability

The integrated management package, CiscoWorks for Switched Internetworks, will be available on CD-ROM with on-line documentation and help systems in the first quarter of 1996, with a U.S. list price of $7,995. This package will support all major UNIX platforms. Individual applications such as CiscoView and VlanDirector are available now. TrafficDirector and AtmDirector will be available in the first and second quarters of 1996, respectively.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the leading global supplier of internetworking solutions, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access servers and network management software. These products, integrated by the Cisco IOS software, link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks. Cisco news and product/service information are available at World Wide Web site http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: CiscoWorks, Cisco IOS, VlanDirector, TrafficDirector and AtmDirector are trademarks, and Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. All other trademarks, registered or otherwise, are the property of their respective holders.

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