Cisco
Systems is updating the Catalyst 6500 Series of switches with
new products and new features designed to improve performance in an market that
is growing ever more competitive. This update is not just limited to a hardware
refresh, but it includes more than 200 software updates.
As
the “workhorse family” of switches that stretches across the entire spectrum of
enterprises, the Catalyst 6500 is in use by more than 25,000 customers, and one
of the most important things Cisco kept in mind in this product refresh was to
protect customer investment so they can continue to use the 6500 products they
already have without having to do a complete rip-and-replace, said Scott
Gainey, director of switching solutions at Cisco.
“We
have and always will be strategically invested in this platform,” Gainey said.
A
switch series that was first launched in 1999, the Catalyst 6500 has a $42
billion install base, and the latest update to the switch series offers
seamless IPv4 and IPv6 support from its platform, new network virtualization
capabilities, integrated services from L4-L7, and new application performance
and visibility monitoring.
The
cornerstone of the updates is the introduction of Supervisor Engine 2T (known
to its friends as Sup2T). SupT2 was designed to increase the throughput capability
of the switch series from 720Gbps to 2Tbps, a threefold increase in performance
over previous versions of Supervisor Engine.
“This
platform is screaming fast,” Gainey said.
He
noted that this is the biggest platform refresh since Cisco launched the Sup1,
Sup2 and Sup720. SupT2 triples the system performance, quadruples the data
plane scalability and provides a 4Tb virtual switching system.
“At
day one, this product will be 40-gig ready,” Gainey said.
As
part of the 6500 refresh, Cisco also announced new 1Gb and 10GbE modules,
including the 6900 Series 8-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module (providing 80Gbps
of capacity), fiber and copper versions of the 16-Port 10G Module and the
48-Port GbE Module, and a 24-Port GbE Fiber Module. One of the keys to the new
modules is distributed forwarding capability, a feature that was historically
only available with an add-on daughtercard. By building the capability into the
modules, customers will see the overall price drop, Gainey said.
Another
key benefit of the modules is that Cisco is building intelligence directly into
them, he said.
Additionally,
Cisco also announced next-generation borderless services. They include the Next
Generation Firewall (ASA-SM), the Application Control Engine (ACE30), the
Network Analysis Module (NAM-3) and the Wireless Services Module (WiSM2).
“With
this release, we are upgrading four of our existing borderless services
modules,” Gainey said.
The
biggest change in the borderless services modules is performance enhancements.
The ASA-SM is a three times improvement over previous firewalls. The NAM-30
sports a 10 times performance enhancement over the previous version of the
module. The WiSM2 provides 802.11n performance and scalability while also
provide the ability to centrally manage up to 500 access points and 10,000
clients from the module.
To
get all of the more than 200 new/enhanced features available on the 6500, all a
business has to do is upgrade the supervisor engine, Gainey explained. The
price tag associated with that is $38,000. In comparison to HP, Gainey said
HP’s solution is almost three times the price and has a third of the
performance.
“We
are literally squeezing the competition here. We’re beating them on price.
We’re beating them on performance,” Gainey said.
The
migration path is fairly simple and seamless, said Kumar Srikantan, vice
president of marketing for Cisco’s Scalable Networks Business Unit (SNBU).
There are both technology and economic factors that come into play in migrating
to the latest technology in the 6500 Series, he said.
From
a technology perspective, the large installed base meant Cisco had to make sure
all the old technology continued to work.
“Now
it’s never perfect, but you can make the new technology integrate and work with
the old linecards, and you can basically preserve 65 to 70 percent of the old
investment,” Srikantan said.
All
of the 6500 technology that businesses have invested in since 1999 will
continue to work.
Economically,
Cisco offers discounts when customers trade in old technology, so they can still
get some value out of their old 6500 linecards if they choose to upgrade.
“I
think that’s worked very well for us. Some customers take advantage of it and
some don’t,” Srikantan said.
For
partners, the opportunity revolves around capitalizing on the existing installed
base by offering customers increased performance at a reasonable price, as well
as by maximizing profitability in doing network assessments and providing
lifecycle management services, said Wenceslao Lada, vice president of
borderless networks in the worldwide partner organization at Cisco Systems.
“With
the introduction of this platform, we have brought a very high level
competitive platform into the marketplace,” Lada said.
Even
though the performance and scalability is shooting skywards, partners are able
to use the resources and skills they’ve already invested in – and in many
cases, have been using for the last decade. Partners already trained and
certified on the 6500 don’t require any additional education to sell the
upgraded technology, which Lada said is something unique to Cisco in this
space.
“It’s
even very important for the partner. To bring this platform to the market, the
partner doesn’t need to go through any technology training or certification or
change the way in how they’ve been constructing the designs of the network,”
Lada said.
