Observation: "Integrated Service" in the new realm of high-end Switches"

For this year's IT market, vswitches are undoubtedly a rare highlight. From price wars to feature wars, from low-end to high-end, many manufacturers have joined hands to create a golden market. However, throughout this year's switch market, we can find that the most competitive market is the mid-and low-end switch market. Compared with the fierce low-end market, the high-end switch market seems a bit silent. What causes such high-end silence?

In the face of such imbalance, many manufacturers think that technology is the main reason. It is true that the technical threshold is the most solid barrier, but objectively speaking, many manufacturers today, especially domestic manufacturers, have made great strides in technological mastery, it should be said that the technical threshold is not insurmountable. On the other hand, the large division of labor in socialization makes the mastery of pure technology no longer insurmountable, and switches are more like the fruits of social cooperation. In fact, the reason for high-end competition silence is that some vendors are not very familiar with the overall trend of switch development.

On September 19, December 26, Cisco, the world's leading provider of internet devices and solutions, launched its "simplified, traditional, and innovative" Winter product, cisco not only launched a series of broadband convergence products, wireless phones, IP phones, and other new products and solutions, cisco also made a very good answer to the development trend of high-end switches for many switch manufacturers-Cisco believes that "Integrated Services" are an inevitable trend in the development of high-end switches.

Integration Service-required for high-end Switches　

With the development of enterprise informatization, various network-based applications are becoming more and more abundant. To give full play to the advanced functions of the network and support new Web applications, it is imperative for enterprises to optimize the existing network and avoid increasing operating costs due to various problems. Cisco believes that, while fully utilizing the existing network resources of an enterprise, it can simplify the network structure and develop a variety of network applications to further increase productivity and reduce costs, improving enterprise competitiveness is the most fundamental demand in today's IT market.

High-end switches must follow the integration service path to win customers and win the market. Most of the switches on the market do not have the "Integrated Service". They only focus on the implementation of basic data forwarding functions and cannot meet the needs of a wide range of network applications. To meet the business development needs of enterprises, how to improve the performance and running performance of existing networks is the first choice for enterprises to build networks and optimize networks. Cisco's Integrated Service simplifies the network structure, providing customers with an integrated multi-service exchange platform, thus improving network operation efficiency.

The "integration service" will be necessary for high-end switches. Cisco believes that the customer's network needs are an organic whole. as the core of the network, switches should not only consider data forwarding, but also the customer's requirements for other network applications, such as network security, content service, and network traffic management. The switch should try to integrate the actual applications required by the customer to achieve convenient management, instead of allowing the customer to separately purchase the device as needed and then integrate it with the switch. Vswitches must be fully considered in terms of ease of use, scalability, and security. This requires vswitch manufacturers to organically integrate these services into a low-cost, high-performance, simple and easy-to-use overall solution.

In terms of ease of use, in the past, high-end switches were weak in terms of ease of use. With the rapid growth of network scale and speed, people have realized the cost of network operation and management, the cost of network devices is greatly exceeded. At the same time, in order to enable the optimal configuration and performance of the vswitch, network administrators should also configure the vswitch according to the specific requirements in the application, and require the vswitch management, configuration simplicity, and convenience, user-friendly and easy to expand.

In terms of scalability, due to changes in the surrounding environment and business, new requirements will be constantly generated. The application of the network is a process of continuous development, and there is no one-step saying. In the past, the customer was relatively simple in terms of network applications. Nowadays, the customer's network needs multiple applications at the same time. Many unknown situations may occur from time to time, which may affect the customer's work. From the past, only data transmission and email can be used to transmit videos and voice over the network, so that various applications can run smoothly and quickly, you need to add necessary service modules to the network infrastructure to ensure. The customer's investment in the network is a continuous process. Network investment is a high-cost investment. Objectively speaking, vswitches must be scalable to meet not only current needs, but also for a long time to come. Therefore, the scalability of vswitches is extremely important.

In terms of security, security has become a top priority in the network field. With the rapid expansion of the network scale and the increasing number of applications in the network, it is necessary to start from the network infrastructure, strengthen access control within the network, and restrict illegal user communication, this ensures the security of the entire network. For example, the security management of devices in the campus network, the requirements of the resident network for secure access, and the isolation of various businesses in the enterprise network.

Ease of use, scalability, and security reflect the development trend of switch integration services. Of course, the integration service must be based on understanding the customer's business analysis and environmental requirements.

6500 series-modular integration service

Under the guidance of the concept of integrated services, Cisco has made every effort to launch a well-crafted Cisco Catalyst 6500 switch. The Catalyst 6500 series is a modular multi-layer switch that provides end-to-end services for campuses, WAN, and MAN. The main application modules of Cisco Catalyst 6500 series switches include security module, content exchange module, and network analysis module.

Network security has become an issue that must be considered in network construction. The Catalyst 6500 series not only helps users expand security services, but also enables security functions to be used in a wide range of IP services, thus improving the security of the entire network. Cisco Catalyst 6500 series switches improve network security through four new high-performance security business modules, including the Catalyst 6500 Firewall service module, secure plug-in layer SSL), IP Security Virtual Private Network IPSec VPN) service module and network analysis module NAM ). Industry experts believe that by adding these security services on the Catalyst 6500, You can ensure the security of the existing network infrastructure, improve network performance and manageability, and reduce costs.

The Cisco Firewall Service Module FWSM is not only applicable to the edge distribution layer of the data center and external network, but also to the network management layer. It is the highest-performance firewall solution in the industry. the throughput of each module can be expanded to 5 Gb or more. With multiple modules, the bandwidth can be up to 20 GB. FWSM fully supports VLAN and provides dynamic routing, which can be fully integrated into Cisco Catalyst 6500 series switches. Based on superior Cisco PIXTM Firewall technology, FWSM provides the same security and reliability as the Cisco PIXTM security device series. FWSM uses a network processor technology that enhances the features of software downloads to maximize future needs and features.

Other Cisco Security Modules also include security plug-in layer SSL, IP Security Virtual Private Network IPSec VPN) service module and network analysis module NAM ). Cisco Secure plug-in layer SSL) service module can improve the performance and security of Web applications, provide integrated and Secure Content Networking, and ensure optimal customer experience. The Cisco IPSec VPN service module is a high-speed module designed for Cisco Catalyst 6500 series switches and Cisco 7600 series Internet Routers. It can provide infrastructure-integrated IPSec VPN services and not only provide strong connections, you can also increase the bandwidth. The IPSec VPN service module provides cost-effective VPN performance on the Cisco Catalyst 6500 series and is suitable for multiple deployments. The new high-performance Cisco network analysis module NAM-1 and NAM-2 provides enhanced traffic monitoring at gigabit speeds for scalable exchange environments, embedded Web-based traffic analyzer provides comprehensive traffic monitoring and data acquisition functions for data, VoIP, and QoS. It is ideal for data centers, enterprise edges, and distribution layers. It can also be used as the access layer for key services on the network, providing application-level visibility for the network, real-time traffic analysis, performance monitoring, and troubleshooting are implemented in a gigabit environment.

Cisco combines these security modules with the existing intrusion detection system module IDSM and content exchange module CSM to apply these modules to the high-performance switch Cisco Catalyst 6500, it further helps customers implement a variety of innovative applications centered on network security in network infrastructure to better meet customer needs and improve network utilization efficiency.

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