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Cisco Routers
Cisco systems have a full product range of routers, switches, voice solutions, and management software from the small SOHO
router to the enterprise wide VPN management solutions. As the product portfolio is too large to detail in this section find below a overview of some key features of their small office router product range.
If you require assistance or help in deciding which Cisco product will suite your requirement please call on 0870 421
4023 . Where a Cisco Qualified sales expert will be on hand to help you. Who will be able to listen to your requirements, do some initial data gathering and then advise you on exactly which products you need,
whether it be a Cisco Pix security solution in fail over mode, a switched infrastructure solution with VLAN configuration, or an enterprise wide VPN design. As a Cisco Systems partner our team's in depth product
knowledge will most certainly impress you.
Cisco Series Routers: Next-Generation Internet and Intranet Access for Small Offices
Market Overview
Companies seeking competitive advantage through the strategic use of information technology are increasingly confronted by
a bewildering array of products and rapidly changing technologies. In such a world of constant change, small offices require flexible and affordable Internet and intranet access solutions. They also require advanced
end-to-end security to safeguard their data, along with end-to-end quality of service to take advantage of emerging multimedia applications that integrate data, voice, and video. And they need access solutions that
are easy to use, deploy, and manage.
Until now, most products targeted at the small office Internet/intranet access market either were designed for larger
environments, making them too full-featured and costly, or were designed for home use, thereby lacking important features and flexibility for the small office. Customers need solutions designed specifically for
small offices, offering flexibility, end-to-end security, end-to-end quality of service, low cost, and ease of use, deployment, and management. To meet these needs, Cisco Systems developed the next
generation of Internet/intranet access routers.
Figure 1: A Cisco Branch Office Router
Modularity for Flexibility and Investment Protection
Cisco series routers connect small offices with Ethernet LANs to the Internet and to company intranets using
several wide-area-network (WAN) technologies: Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL),
asynchronous serial, and synchronous serial such as Frame Relay, leased lines, Switched 56, Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS), and X.25.
Figure 2: Rear View of Cisco Series Router with WAN Interface Card and Flash Memory PC Card
The WAN interface card slot allows customers to change and/or add WAN interface cards as their WAN requirements change or as service-provider WAN offerings and pricing change. Thus, the Cisco series offers more flexibility and
investment protection than other products in this class.
End-to-End Security
Extensive end-to-end security and data privacy features in the Cisco series ensure the safety of customers' information
throughout and across their networks. This includes advanced features not commonly available in small-office routers:
firewall, router/route authentication, Lock and Key, generic routing encapsulation (GRE) virtual private network (VPN) tunneling, and 168-bit encryption.
End-to-End Quality of Service
A new breed of interactive and time-sensitive applications, such as distance learning and desktop videoconferencing,
which integrate data, voice, and video on the same network, is emerging. This new type of traffic requires end-to-end
quality of service (QoS), such as guaranteed bandwidth and delay contracts, to ensure that all the required information
arrives in time to be useful. The Cisco series routers, with key Cisco Internetwork Operating System (Cisco IOS) features
such as Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), IP Multicast, and AppleTalk Simple
Multicast Routing Protocol (SMRP), provide the end-to-end QoS and multimedia support not offered by any other small-office routers today.
Enhanced Internet/Intranet Access Features
The Cisco series enhances Internet/intranet access for the small office with several unique leadership features. Network
Address Translation (NAT) allows a privately addressed network to access public registered networks such as the Internet
without requiring a registered subnet address. This eliminates the need for host renumbering and allows the same IP
address range to be used in multiple intranets. IPeXchange IPX-to-IP gateway allows all users on a NetWare LAN
to access the Internet without having to install IP on each PC or workstation. Both the NAT and IPeXchange features
require only a single IP address, thereby conserving address space. GRE tunneling enhances the creation of VPNs and intranets over the public Internet by tunneling traffic between networks.
Ease of Use and Deployment
Cisco series routers are designed to be "plug-and-play" devices: nontechnical personnel can install the products easily
and quickly while ongoing administration can be performed through a central site. Preconfigured software can be stored on
a Flash memory PC card (formerly known as PCMCIA card) at a central site and then sent to remote sites, where users
can simply insert the Flash card into the router. ClickStart initial configuration and monitoring software enables users
to quickly install and configure the Cisco router using any Web browser. The AutoInstall feature allows software upgrades
and configuration modifications to be downloaded over the WAN from a central site.
WAN Optimization: Reduced Cost of Ownership
Recurring WAN costs typically account for the majority of the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of an access router.
The Cisco series provides best-in-class WAN-optimization features to reduce WAN costs, with features such as
dial-on-demand routing (DDR), bandwidth-on-demand (BOD), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)-on-demand circuit, Snapshot Routing, compression, filtering, and spoofing.
Efficient Network Management
The Cisco series supports a wide range of platforms and applications to monitor and manage company-wide data
networks. CiscoWorks and CiscoView applications, running on Windows XP/2000, and UNIX platforms, provide leadership
capabilities in configuration and security management, as well as performance and fault monitoring. The Cisco series
allows for centralized administration and management via Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Telnet, or through the console port.
The combination of features described above---ease of use and deployment, WAN optimization, and network
management---give the lowest total cost of ownership (the sum of deployment costs, administrative costs, and WAN costs) in this class of products.
Please call 0870 421 4023
for pricing information and to find out more about the full Cisco Systems product range, or e-mailcisco.team@Whitehelm.com requesting more information. Alternatvely fill out our request information/quotation form.
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