Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

News

April 3, 2000

Printer ready
Printer ready
Smoother Convergence Of Voice And Data Networks
Cisco upgrades call-processing software and ip phones for better reliability, scalability

By Jennifer Zaino

Related links:
  • Cisco Moves Into Wireless LAN Market (3/27/00)

  • Sizzling Cisco (2/28/00)
    • And from our sister publications:
  • InternetWeek Cisco's About-Face: A Win For Users (3/27/00)
    • TechEncyclopedia
    Need a definition of a technology term? Look it up here:


    Send Us Your Feedback
    System scalability and availability are key requirements for companies that trust their voice traffic to data networks. Cisco Systems' next-generation voice-over-IP products, introduced last week, are designed to ease concerns about migrating from PBX systems to converged voice and data networks.

    Cisco's upgrade to its IP call-processing software, CallManager 3.0, lets businesses group Cisco Media Convergence Servers into a cluster with failover capabilities that can be managed as one system. A five-server cluster can support up to 10,000 users, and 10 clusters can reside on a multisite network that can support as many as 100,000 phones. The software comes preinstalled on MCS systems, including the new $14,995 MCS 7835

    Cisco will also offer the IP Phone 7960, which lets users scroll through message data (such as callers' names) on its display. The $645 device has a 10/100 Ethernet switch port for a network connection, and users can power the phone from a wall jack or through the LAN from a Cisco switch.

    The products build on Cisco's Architecture for Voice, Video, and Integrated Data, which encompasses a group of convergence technologies it began offering last year. Says VP of enterprise marketing Peter Alexander, "This is a year we show that it works."

    Questions about reliability and scalability have kept many large companies from voice-over-IP deployments, but analysts say that's changing. "Cisco will validate the market," says Jim Burton, an analyst at CT Link.

    Capital Credit Union in Austin, Texas, uses Cisco voice-over-IP phones and says one benefit is that they can be updated automatically from a server. Says systems specialist Casey Bacon, "Employees are constantly moving around and now their phone and extension can follow them."


    Back to This Week's Issue
    Send Us Your Feedback
    Top of the Page