isco Systems rolled out a router module last week for its
high-end LAN switches, the Catalyst 5000 and 5500. It also introduced router software that's designed to enhance the ability to analyze and manage traffic.
The Route Switch Module (RSM), priced at $19,995, is based on the same processor that Cisco routers use, and runs Cisco's Internetwork Operating System. It also runs Cisco's NetFlow software, which speeds network throughput and collects data about network usage.
Cisco is bowing to a trend toward switches with router capabilities, known as Layer 3 switches, even at the risk of cannibalizing demand for Cisco routers. Dell'Oro Group, a Portola Valley, Calif., market-research firm, reported recently that the router market slid 2% in revenue terms in the first quarter of 1997, its first decline ever, although the number of units sold rose.
Several analysts expect Cisco to add more routing functionality to its switches, relegating its high-end 7500 standalone routers increasingly to the periphery of the LAN to handle WAN links. Gartner Group Inc., an
IT advisory firm in Stamford, Conn., predicts that by the end of 1998, Layer 3 switches will have replaced 60% of standalone routers used for LAN segmentation.
Many analysts also expect the 7500s used by Internet service providers to be displaced by Cisco's 12000 line of megarouters, which are expected to ship this fall. But Alan Marcus, director of technical marketing, says Cisco is committed to the 7500s. "We're definitely not turning our back on routers," he says.
Trey Layton, network systems engineer at Eastman Kodak Co., has been testing the RSM on a Catalyst 5500 for two months at an R&D site. The RSM is taking the place of a Cisco 7513 router and connects to three other Cat 5500s. "It performs all the regular routing functions," he says. "It's basically a router in a switch."
Meanwhile, Cisco rolled out enhancements to NetFlow, including tools for managing traffic and billing customers based on levels of service. The tools include Flow Collector, which gathers data about traffic, and Flow
Analyzer, for displaying and interpreting data.
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isco Systems rolled out a router module last week for its
high-end LAN switches, the Catalyst 5000 and 5500. It also introduced router software that's designed to enhance the ability to analyze and manage traffic.
