The Catalyst Compact Switch gives you the the flexibility of connecting and powering networking devices without running long Ethernet cables from the wiring closet. It is a small form factor switch that can be powered over Ethernet, and is silent, secure and resilient. Amongst other verticals, the compact switch has been very successful in diverse environments in retail, hospitality and enterprise. A new Lippis Report details how the compact switch extends the borderless network services to the furthest endpoints. Read More »

Tags: Cisco Catalyst, Compact Switch, humor, video

In the next few weeks we have a couple great webinars coming up, we’ve recently been investing in our community, the Unified Access Challenge was extended until April 26, and the Supervisor 720 Engine for the Catalyst 6500 turned 10 on Sunday! Read More »

Tags: Catalyst 6500, community, Conquer the Cloud, iPad, unified access, Webinars

Or in IPv6 speak, you’re an “A”, for Awesome

Today Supervisor 720, the most widely deployed Catalyst 6500 Supervisor Engine, turns 10-years old.

Supervisor 720 was launched on March 31, 2003. It enabled me to be the first modular switch to support true 10G Ethernet . Supervisor 720 has brought extensive feature set such as MPLS, VPNs, and VSS over the last 10 years.  If has also spread throughout the world over the last 10 years as the graphic (created using Tableau) shows. Read More »

Tags: 10 years, birthday, cat6k, Catalyst 6500, infographic, Sup 720, switch

On March 12^th,  Cisco announced the ISR-AX and how Cisco is changing the game, reducing complexity and making it simpler for enterprises to deliver and manage application delivery to users. Cisco is expanding the role of our Integrated Service Routers (ISRs) to deliver application-centric networks that provide granular visibility, control, and optimization without additional devices or bandwidth upgrades -- Cisco^® Application Experience (AX) Router family is now a part of the ISR family of routers!  The Cisco ISR-AX Routers directly integrate Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), Application Visibility and Control (AVC), Data/IPBase and Security services into a platform that is simple to order, configure, and deploy for secure, optimized cloud connectivity and branch-office routing.  The Cisco ISR G2 and ISR-AX Routers are based on the same hardware and software that you know and love and are deploying today. Today I wanted to go into the technical details of each of the components. Read More »

Tags: Application Experience Router, Application Visibility and Control, AVC, Cisco 19xx, Cisco 29xx, Cisco 39xx, cisco ios, ISR, ISR G2, ISR-AX, NBAR2, netflow, PfR, router, secure routing, vpn, waas, wan opt, WAN Optimization, What is the ISR-AX?

I have been working for Cisco for over 15 years, much of that time as a Consulting Engineer for Routing and Switching. 

I understand strengths and weakness of routing, the value of a good hierarchical design…. But what’s worse than having an end-user having problems with one of his business application and being unable to provide an answer? Yes we have traceroute, ping and other fancy networking tools but nowadays we have to deal with applications and user experience. We have to move forward and take into account the performance of an application rather than just forwarding packets based on static cost metrics. It’s not just about connectivity anymore.

Therefore I’ve moved to the Application Visibility and Control (AVC) group in Engineering. It’s like jumping from standard L3 to advanced L4-L7 kind of routing.

I know what you may be thinking when you read these lines … yet another new acronym. We have the good old routing protocols, why should I care about this new AVC? Read More »

Tags: Application Visibility and Control, AVC, IP routing, performance routing, PfR