Cisco Spruces Up Products

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - News) today announced a new WAN Access Performance Management System designed to allow service providers to achieve substantial savings in platform investments, staffing, IT development costs, and operational support costs, while achieving significant time-to-market advantages. Similarly, enterprise customers will now benefit from improved network availability and reduced WAN support costs, while being able to manage their entire network, including remote international locations.Cisco teamed with Visual Networks, a member of the Cisco Service Provider Solutions Ecosystem Partner Program, to develop this robust integrated solution, which combines Visual Networks' WAN access management solution with the Cisco suite of intelligent Internet OSS products. This solution addresses the challenges of developing and supporting robust managed network services by enabling service providers to easily and cost-effectively deploy Visual Networks' advanced WAN management functions to new ATM and Frame Relay access ports/routers and to their installed base of managed Cisco routers through a simple Cisco IOS® Software upgrade.This integrated performance management solution is built on the Cisco CNS Programmable Network interface that manages network devices through Cisco CNS intelligent engines and agents in Cisco IOS Software. These agents help network devices become intelligent peers in network provisioning and monitoring. Data from these agents is collected via a Cisco CNS gateway and is forwarded to the Cisco WAN Access Performance Management System, which is based on Visual Networks' patented technology. The combined solution enables real-time and historical troubleshooting on access line, access channel and PVC conditions, combined with burst analysis, service-level agreement (SLA) validation reporting and performance monitoring for the customer."Cisco is focused on helping our business partners and customers use the intelligence in Cisco Internet OSS and Cisco IOS Software. With this new solution, our service provider customers will receive the comprehensive functionality they need to maintain the highest-quality managed services for their enterprise customers, while continuing to build out their businesses worldwide," said Anson Chen, vice president and general manager, Network Management and Services Technology Group, Cisco Systems. "By integrating Visual Networks' WAN performance management software, we significantly extend the value of managed router services based on Cisco technology."In a separate release:Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), today announced the Cisco ML-Series interface card, designed to deliver Ethernet/IP multipoint services over the market-leading Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Provisioning Platform (MSPP) at multimillion-packet-per-second performance. The ML-Series interface card is the first technology milestone of the Cisco Multiservice over SONET/SDH (MSOS) Strategy, which is designed to enable high-value data services and greater profitability for service providers.The Cisco Multiservice over SONET/SDH Strategy expands upon the Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport (COMET) optical portfolio to further maximize Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) networks for increased profitability through advanced Ethernet, IP, and storage services; enhanced quality of service (QoS) to achieve target service level agreements (SLAs); packet multiplexing for increased network efficiency and scale; and data optimization of the SONET/SDH transport layer."Multiservice over SONET/SDH solidifies the Cisco commitment to support the data-driven evolution of our service provider and enterprise customers' SONET/SDH infrastructures. Through the MSOS Strategy, we plan to deliver technology innovations that will optimize the SONET/SDH layer to help bring greater profitability to our customers," said Jayshree Ullal, senior vice president, Optical Technology Group, Cisco Systems. "The ML-Series card offers multi-layer Ethernet/IP capabilities at wire-speed forwarding rates for augmenting transmission networks with data services."In a separate release:ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced an upgrade to its Cisco uBR10012 cable modem termination system (CMTS) router. The MC5X20S Broadband Processing Engine is a blend of high-speed Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSISTM) processing, high port density and advanced RF spectrum. Cisco is also introducing the uBR7200-NPE-G1 processor, which more than doubles the performance of the Cisco uBR7246VXR CMTS router. Lastly, Cisco is introducing a number of high- availability features and industry's first integrated OC-48 WAN interface for a CMTS.With the 5X20 BPE, the DOCSIS and EuroDOCSIS 1.1-qualified Cisco uBR10012 CMTS router allows Multiple System Operators (MSOs) to scale from five to 80 thousand modems on a single carrier-class chassis, simplifying operations and reducing overall capital expense. With up to eight 5X20 BPEs in a single chassis, the Cisco uBR10012 is now the densest CMTS platform on the market today, giving operators the opportunity to reach more subscribers and giving each of those subscribers increased bandwidth.New high availability features such as Stateful Switchover (SSO) and the new N+1 inter-chassis failover solution virtually eliminate cutover time N+between processors and provide uninterrupted broadband service to end users. The N+1 failover solution is another industry first for a CMTS. Cisco's carrier-class CMTS line is helping cable operators deploy profitable, communications-grade IP services to growing new markets."As the Cable industry evolves toward increased residential penetration, multiservice capability, and commercial deployments, the ability to deliver service and network integrity and increase operational effectiveness becomes increasingly critical," said Carson Chen, vice president of Cisco's cable business unit. "By taking advantage of our expertise and sustained innovation in the CMTS router market, our cable customers are assured of industry-leading network resiliency, availability and scalability to meet ongoing demand and achieve operational excellence."Cisco Systems Inc.Visual Networks Inc.