Cisco Advances Networking to Tackle Most Challenging IT Tasks: Secure Access for Any Device, Unified Management, High-Quality Video Anywhere

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - Apr 19, 2011) - Furthering its leadership in networking, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today introduced new security, management, and video solutions to its Borderless Networks portfolio to help information technology departments more efficiently manage the proliferation of mobile devices, ongoing changes in workforce habits, and the impact of video on the network.

The Cisco Connected Technology World Report (2010) found that the demand to work from anywhere with the user's device of choice is increasing dramatically, as is the demand to use video to enhance communications. Responding to those demands, Cisco is delivering networking technology and services from Cisco and our partners that enables IT professionals to centrally manage and automate security and access control for any device across the organization, as well as supporting embedded video and voice for emerging business practices.

Key Highlights
Cisco's Borderless Networks is a comprehensive architecture that incorporates routing, switching, mobility, security and wide-area network optimization. This announcement adds several key products and services to that portfolio. They include the following:

Cisco® Identity Services Engine, the centralized policy engine for the Cisco TrustSec® solution, enables organizations to efficiently define and manage security policies across the organization.

The Cisco ISE:

• Solves the "any device" challenge by enforcing a context-aware access security policy.
• Distinguishes between organization-owned devices and personal user devices.
• Automates security across the organization with network-enforced access policies and encryption.
• Simplifies IT operations by enabling policy definitions that mirror business rules based on user, device, application and location.
• Integrates with Cisco Prime™ solutions for the enterprise to provide endpoint connectivity management.

Cisco has added support for ISE to the TrustSec Planning and Design Service. This service provides policy review, analysis and design expertise to help customers extend the Borderless Networks TrustSec solution throughout their network.

Cisco Prime for Enterprise enables IT departments to more effectively manage their networks and network services. Cisco Prime for Enterprise is built on a service-centric foundation and a set of common operational attributes. It delivers an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience across Cisco architectures, technologies and networks to simplify network management, improve operational efficiency, speed troubleshooting, and increase network services predictability. Key features include the following:

• Converged user and access management for wired and wireless networks provide endpoint and policy visibility for faster troubleshooting and increased operational efficiency.
• Intelligent media diagnostics are used to monitor, troubleshoot and report on Cisco TelePresence® sessions and media paths via embedded network intelligence.
• Advanced analytics and optimization capabilities enable sophisticated monitoring and speed the troubleshooting of network applications and performance.
• Integrated workflows manage from the application layer down to the infrastructure, simplifying the provisioning and management of services such as Cisco EnergyWise, Cisco TrustSec and medianet optimization, reducing errors and speeding deployments.

Cisco Medianetand Video Conferencing optimizes video delivery by embedding media and network intelligence into endpoints and network elements. Using capabilities within Cisco Medianet enables organizations to reduce costs, save time, and make better decisions for network and video application planning. Key highlights include:

• Cisco Media Services Interface and AutoConfiguration embeds network intelligence into Cisco video endpoints so that networks and endpoints exchange information and automatically optimize configuration and performance.
• Cisco Media Monitoring on the Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2, the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, and Cisco Catalyst® Switches, which provides enhanced network visibility for video with real-time monitoring, accelerated troubleshooting, pre-deployment assessment and enhanced network decision-making.
• Cisco ISR G2 integrated video conferencing, which optimizes the quality of ad hoc video communications for branch offices, reducing wide-area network traffic for local branch office video applications.
• Medianet Readiness Assessment Service assesses customers' network infrastructure and its ability to successfully support rich media.

A series of new validated design guides and enhanced SBA offerings enables partners and customers to take advantage of Cisco's best practices and system testing as they design, implement, optimize and manage their borderless network deployments.

Additionally, Cisco offers its newest smart service innovation, Collaborative Professional Services. CPS leverages Cisco expertise to help partners build their professional services practices around Borderless Networks architectures to offer customers a true borderless network experience.

Supporting Quotes

• Marie Hattar, vice president, Borderless Networks marketing, Cisco
  "The demand for anytime, anywhere, any-device network access has become a workplace mandate but has also introduced new, complex IT challenges. By using Cisco's architectural approach, the enhancements announced today span Cisco's switching, routing, security, wireless, network management and services to simplify IT support of this mandate while maintaining corporate security. With the innovations announced today, IT professionals now have the tools available to address the network demands that come with the proliferation of diverse devices within their organizations as well as handle the growth of video."
• Timothy Abbott, senior network engineer, San Antonio Water System
  "The Cisco Identity Services Engine integration with wireless has been a huge hit within our organization. As a result of the widespread proliferation of personal wireless mobile devices, we have needed a solution to restrict network access for some time. The Cisco ISE allows us to establish an overarching access policy by device type, including wireless and wired; it was easy to implement, is very responsive, and has a clean, clear user interface."
• Simon Cobb, chief operating officer, North Carolina Center for Automotive Research
  "Our goal is to be a national center for the development of visionary automotive concepts, and in order for us to be successful, our customers and staff need to access live data from multiple locations using an array of devices. Our Cisco Borderless Network Architecture, which incorporates advanced wireless and security solutions, remote connectivity, and dynamic voice and video services, is a major reason why we're making our vision a reality."
• Dennis Crowe, director of network engineering, Apollo Group Inc.
  "When students come to our campuses, they expect an outstanding learning environment. We owe it to them to provide reliable and steady network service, wherever they need it and however they choose to access it. Our Cisco Borderless Network Architecture, built on end-to-end Cisco routing, switching, security and wireless solutions has really helped us get there."
• Derek Drury, chief information officer, IT Services, University of Salford
  "We aim to offer our students the very best career prospects by ensuring that our new Arts and Media faculty at MediaCityUK mirrors the most advanced facilities used by broadcasters, anywhere in the world. Not only did we have to extend the campus, we had to ensure it could scale to meet future needs, especially for supporting rich media. That's why we chose a Cisco Borderless Network architecture with Medianet capabilities. It enables us to deliver the quality of user experience we demand, provides the tools to best manage and monitor the network, and gives us a flexible foundation to build on."
• Patrick Bizeau, head of Information Technology, Swisscom Strategy & Innovation
  "We have been working very closely with Cisco during the evaluation of the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) in our environment. We are impressed with the product's flexible policy model. We are looking to check the identity and security level of Windows devices across wired, wireless and in the future VPN connections and so have been testing Cisco ISE against different use cases. Cisco ISE's flexible authentication policy allows us to identify devices by certificates and users from Active Directory, Cryptocard and our in-house radius-based identity tools."

Supporting Resources

• Borderless Networks case studies
• Follow the Cisco enterprise wireless team on Twitter, Facebook, and the Cisco Mobility blog
• Visit the Cisco Security Blog. Follow us on Twitter @CiscoSecurity, become a fan on Facebook
• Cisco TrustSec and Cisco Security products and services

Tags/keywords: Cisco, routing, switching, security, wireless, mobility, Wi-Fi, ScanSafe, access policy, Medianet, video, network management, ISR G2, Catalyst switches, TrustSec, SecureX, IronPort, VPN, virtual private networks, AnyConnect, TrustSec, secure mobility, mobility, network security, firewalls, spam, virus, malware, software-as-a-service, SaaS, security as a service, enterprise security, security appliance, Prime.

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