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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (19674)	12/3/1998 10:37:00 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77400

Interesting Post from Telecom Technology Channel Cisco Bridges IP/ATM Gap Posted December 02, 1998 10:00 AM PST Cisco wants to bridge the quality-of-service gap between Internet protocol (IP) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks. To achieve its goal, the router manufacturer has begun integrating an IP/ATM class-of-service capability into its IOS software, with the ultimate aim of providing class-of- service guarantees throughout a multiprotocol network. The San Jose, Calif.-based company's IP-ATM Class of Service (CoS) capability is designed to help network service providers manage the flow of mission-critical data through wide-area networks (WANs) that use Cisco IOS software. "IP and ATM are poorly aligned throughout the entire network," says Keith Travis, product line manager for IOS. "We can make more consistent decisions for preserving the traffic class, and we're protecting that all the way through the fabric." Without this capability, service can be guaranteed only within a pure IP or ATM environment, he notes. Similar to service classes in airline travel--where business class customers receive better service than coach customers and first class travelers receive better service than individuals in business class--Cisco's new IP-ATM CoS capability categorizes network traffic by priority. The solution is designed to ensure Cisco's customers that "first class" traffic on IP is also treated in a first class manner on ATM. As a result, critical traffic types and users can maintain peak performance even during periods of high network usage and congestion, while non-critical traffic can be restricted in its network usage. Cisco's new capability aims to help service providers, telcos and geographically dispersed enterprise customers better manage their network resources. The idea is to give customers the flexibility to provide a improved quality of service for mission-critical traffic while also enhancing the cost structure of their network. For the first time, network service providers are able to classify various type of traffic over multiple networks. Cisco's solution is likely to appeal to customers that find themselves juggling increasingly precious network resources. "The ability to differentiate between traffic classes is a next step in the management of network resources, such as bandwidth," says Becca Nitzan, a network engineer for Berkeley, Calif.-based ESnet, a nationwide computer data communications network managed and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Research (DOE/OER). "Cisco's IP-ATM CoS facility will help us provide service classes to our customers by ensuring their critical data flows through our network predictably and without loss due to congestion from other, less critical traffic." "IP differentiated services, based on Cisco developments, is the type of technology France Telecom Transpac is planning to use in the RAIN network on both ATM and SDH trunks," says Dominique Delisle, a network laboratory director at France Telecom CNET's research center in Issy les Moulineaux, France. "We plan to use this technology in order to provide different class of services for different customer needs." The IP-ATM CoS facility runs on existing wide-area ATM network infrastructures. The new capability permits a phased deployment to Tag Switching/MPLS networks. The IP-ATM CoS facility is available now for Cisco 7500 series routers. ____________________ By John Edwards. Mr. Edwards is a freelance technology writer based in Mount Laurel, N.J.