For use with such rapidly growing technologies as HD video and online collaboration, Cisco Systems is unveiling the next generation of its hugely successful ISR router family, the ISR G2. Cisco officials say the new routers are the first steps in the company's Borderless Networks strategy, which calls for being able to deliver any service to any user anywhere and on any device.
The business world has changed dramatically since 2004, when Cisco Systems
launched its highly successful first-generation Integrated Services Router.
Now the networking giant is rolling out the next-generation ISRs aimed at
addressing the strongest trends, from Internet video traffic to online
collaboration to the rapidly growing presence of consumer technology in the
workplace.
Cisco on Oct. 20 unveiled the ISR G2, the first step in what officials are
calling the Borderless Network architecture, based on the idea of being able to
deliver services and applications to anyone anywhere and on any device.
The ISR G2 devices are designed to make it easier to deliver such networked,
on-demand services as video and collaborative applications at branch offices,
an area that promises continued growth over the next few years and will be a
key area for such technologies as video conferencing and on-demand
applications.
"In this economy, there's still a significant amount of branch office
growth," Richard Palmer, senior vice president and general manager of
Cisco's Routing Access Group, said in an interview.
Cisco has estimated that there will be 17 percent branch growth during 2010,
indicating that a growing number of employees will be working outside of their
companies' main offices.
The ISR G2 portfolio offers businesses five times the performance of the
first-generation family, according to Cisco. New capabilities include support
for business video; the Services-Ready Engine, which enables businesses to
deliver virtualized services into branch offices without the need for on-site
support; new EnergyWise-compliant switch modules for greater energy efficiency
and operational cost savings; and the ability to take on-base services and extend
them out to users, regardless of the user's or application's location.
These capabilities are going to be important, given the current trends,
Palmer said. By 2012, 90 percent of the bandwidth for consumer traffic will be
video-based. In addition, employees in greater numbers are bringing in their
consumer devices-such as iPhones or their own laptops-and expecting the same
level of access to enterprise applications that they'd receive from
company-issued devices.
"The consumerization of enterprise IT is a huge challenge for IT,"
Palmer said, citing the various management and security issues involved.
And all such issues are going to need to be addressed by IT departments that
will continue to have tight budgets to work with.
The 3900 Series ISRs offer scalability and investment protection while
providing the integration of such technologies as unified communications,
video, WAN optimization and application services. The midrange 2000 Series
offers similar capabilities, while the 1900 Series is a compact modular router
with a host of connectivity options, including 802.11n.
In addition, the ISR G2 products ship with Cisco's IOS Release 15 and are
ready for "the medianet," which Cisco officials say will be the
delivery platform for next-generation high-definition video and other
media-rich applications.
Despite all that, Palmer said Cisco will continue to sell the
first-generation ISRs. The company has sold more than 7 million units of ISR
products in the past five years.
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