Cisco Refresh Addresses Borderless Networks Vision

By Charlene O'Hanlon

Making good on its promise to deliver a set of offerings that supports its vision of a future of “borderless networks,” Cisco Systems Inc. has revamped its fixed-switching portfolio to address wired-wireless communications, energy management and the optimized delivery of video applications.

The networking giant also announced the Cisco Catalyst 3560/3750-X Series and 2960-S Series, two new offerings that provide a suite of services offerings and an enhanced limited lifetime warranty.

Cisco announced its Borderless Networks strategy last fall, and last month released its Secure Borderless Networks architecture, which focuses on enterprise endpoints (mobile or fixed), the Internet edge, the data center and policy that is context- and location-aware – all critical components in locking down a network securely.

The Borderless Networks vision is part of an effort to migrate channel partners to an architecture-based selling strategy, according to Cisco.

In addition to the new Catalyst products, Cisco upgraded its line of ISR G2 enterprise routers, tripling its performance and extending the delivery of high-performance video applications and service integration for remote locations. The company also upgraded its ASR-1000 family of routers with new security, unified communications and management capabilities.

Cisco also announced a series of network services for the channel, designed to help partners help their end-user customers realize their vision of a borderless network, according to the company. The network services are being integrated into Cisco’s partner incentive programs.

The first, EnergyWise, utilizes an upgraded version of Cisco’s EnergyWise technology to help end-users control their energy consumption. Enhancements include the EnergyWise Orchestrator, which extends power management to PCs and laptops in addition to Power over Ethernet devices, and the EnergyWise SDK, which enables third-party developers to implement EnergyWise support in their products.

The second network service, Cisco TrustSec, is a security service that allows customers to deploy security policies across all access technologies. It is available on the Catalyst 3560/3750 product portfolio.

Finally, Cisco introduced Medianet, a video endpoint optimization service available with new Catalyst fixed switches and ISR G2 routers.