Cisco Intros Convergence
Gear
(07/28/99, 10:42 a.m. ET)
By Salvatore Salamone, InternetWeek
***The products include add-ons for existing
Cisco routers and multiservice platforms, as
well as a new stand-alone platform and a
management gateway.
Specifically, Cisco announced the Digital
T1/E1 High-Capacity Voice Port Adapter
for the Cisco 7200 and 7500 Series routers,***
Cisco on Monday announced five
products that will help IT managers
combine theirvoice, video, and data
traffic onto a single network.
The products include add-ons for existing
Cisco routers and multiservice platforms, as
well as a new stand-alone platform and a
management gateway.
Specifically, Cisco announced the Digital
T1/E1 High-Capacity Voice Port Adapter
for the Cisco 7200 and 7500 Series routers,
Digital T1/E1 Packet Voice Trunk Network
modules for the Cisco 2600 and 3600
Multiservice Platforms, T1/E1 Multiflex
Voice/WAN Interface Card for the Cisco
2600 and 3600 Multiservice Platforms, and
the Cisco 3660 Multiservice Platform.
Additionally, Cisco announced the Multimedia
Conference Manager H.323 Gatekeeper for
Cisco 2600 and Cisco 7200 Series routers.
The gateway provides management and
quality of service for voice and video traffic.
All of the products are aimed at corporations
that want to reap the benefits of a converged
network.
"I'm just starting to look at my options for
[voIP]," said Andrew Goldstone, network
administrator at the medical supply company
Avalon. "For me, the main reason to move
some internal traffic to VoIP is to simplify
matters."
He said the cost savings for moving to VoIP
doesn't seem that compelling since his
company is paying in the range of 3.5 to 4
cents a minute for voice. Goldstone said his
real incentive for using VoIP in the future is to
converge the voice and data networks into a
single managed network.
While some companies will certainly use
packetized voice for its cost savings,
Goldstone's sentiment about a single network
for all traffic seems to be shared by other IT
managers and industry experts. Cisco's
approach, to voice-enable existing
data-networking equipment, has a lot of
appeal because it offers a simple migration
path.
"Cisco equipment is widely deployed in
corporate wide-area networks," said
Christopher Nicoll, director at consultancy
Current Analysis. "Now [IT managers] can
easily upgrade to accommodate voice traffic."
In fact, these new products give IT managers
a lot of choice in how they merge their voice
traffic onto a data network.
For instance, the T1/E1 voice port adapter
and network module let companies using
Cisco equipment like the 2600 or 3600
Multiservice Platform lines or the 7200 or
7500 Series router lines add voice support to
those devices. Similarly, the new 3660
Multiservice Platform lets an IT manager
support voice and data traffic for sites that
previously did not have routers.
These products can support up to 48
simultaneous voice calls in the 2600 Series, up
to 288 calls on the 3600 Series, and up to 720
calls on the 7200 or 7500 Series.
Additionally, these port adapters and network
modules support Cisco's Multiservice
Interchange, which supports mixed voice
environments that include traditional TDM
voice, VoIP, and voice over frame relay.
Previously, Multiservice Interchange support
was only available on the 7200, so these new
products extend the features to a broader
range of Cisco's enterprise router line.
All products will be available in August.
Pricing will be available at that time.
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