Cisco enhances collaboration with new router

Networking specialist Cisco has announced its Borderless Networks architecture and a five-phase plan to address the IT needs of a distributed and collaborative workforce.

The company claims its new solutions will help the delivery of services and applications to users who can seamlessly, reliably, and securely access them anywhere, on any device, anytime they want.

Greater cost savings

Cisco's ISR G2 is the second generation of its Integrated Services Router, and it serves as a natural part of the company's Borderless Networks architecture. The product has been designed to help both businesses and service providers simplify and scale delivery of on-demand, networked business services at branch offices.

Borderless Networks allow information technology managers to more easily manage, scale, govern, and protect networks. It also helps them to form better synergy between users, devices, applications and business processes.

The Cisco ISR G2 portfolio offers as much as five times the performance of its widely deployed predecessor, the Cisco ISR. The product includes many features such as video-ready architecture and new video digital signal processors that help the delivery of medianet capabilities important for the borderless networks experience.

The ISR G2 allows businesses to dynamically deploy services in branches without expensive onsite support. Cisco offers the ISR G2 Services Module with up to one terabyte of on-board storage, which is useful for video surveillance deployments. As the Borderless Networks architecture delivers Cisco EnergyWise across multiple platforms, organisations can better manage their power consumption and costs through increased visibility and policy-based controls.

Focus on core competency

The full portfolio of Cisco ISR G2 routers can cost-effectively deliver a range of concurrent services and with world-class security.

"Networking has always been at the core of Cisco's business. We have a long history of excellence and innovation in networking and we continue to bring customers new capabilities, including new technologies enabling video, collaboration, virtualisation and mobility," said Brett Galloway, senior vice president for Cisco's wireless, security and routing technology group. "Our ISR G2 router line significantly increases our customers' ability to capitalise on these key business and technology trends. Our core networking business remains as strategic and as vitally important to us, as it does to those we serve."

According to Cisco, Mike Marcellin, vice president -- global managed solutions, Verizon, observed that growing companies focus on delivering new IP-enabled capabilities all of their corporate locations.

Its new ISR G2 can deliver multi-functional capabilities to support the needs of today's highly-distributed enterprise. Marcellin said this launch will be especially useful for retailers that are using new applications to build store traffic and brand loyalty.

Verizon Business already shares a successful business relationship with Cisco and according to Marcellin, will now offer a managed version of this new platform that will centralise ongoing support and management.

"By coupling the features of Cisco's next-generation global ISR with Verizon's extensive managed services expertise, enterprises will benefit from a low-touch, all-in-one solution," he added.

Telstra is another company that welcomes this launch. Philip Jones, product management executive director, Telstra said the company intends to build these managed services on the Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2. With this move, it hopes to offer customers a new high-performance and collaboration experience across time zones and devices that will help increase their workforce productivity.