Cisco Systems Inc. continued to beat its Enterprise Content Delivery Network drum with the rollout of a new release of its Cisco Application and Content Networking System software and new ECDN appliances.
With greater focus on boosting the performance of enterprise applications modified for Web-based access from remote offices, enhancements in ACDN System 5.0 emphasize greater scalability and flexibility as well as tighter security and simplified management.
“Any size enterprise looking to manage the prepositioning of content can do that and manage up to 2,000 edge devices from the browser-based Content Distribution Manager,” said Julie OBrien, technology marketing manager for content delivery products at Cisco in San Jose, Calif.
The new release also works with the new integrated content delivery modules for the Cisco 2600, 3600 and 3700 series routers, and it supports direct-attached storage arrays and SAN interfaces. It can also work with MPEG 4 video on demand and HTTP streaming of MPEG 1 and MPEG 2.
Release 5.0 includes a smart content filter that can block objectionable sites as well as block viruses and worms. It also adds user authentication and roles-based access control.
The new content delivery appliances extend the price/performance range of Ciscos ECDN line with a performance boost of some 50 percent over existing Cisco appliances, along with increased memory and storage capacity. The appliances range from the Cisco 510 Content Engine and Cisco 565 Content Engine for branch-office locations to the Cisco 7305 Content Engine and Cisco 7325 Content Engine for large branches and data centers.
Among the integrated router blades, Cisco added two new options that offer 20GB and 40GB disk drives.
In addition to the new appliances and software release, Cisco added new deployment and best practices guides to help customers streamline installation and administration of an enterprise content delivery network.
The new software release is available now on Cisco Content Engine appliances, which range in price from $5,500 to $60,000. The software will be available on the Content Engine Network Modules in April.