Clean switch: Cisco product eases Ethernet management, enhances capacity

Cisco Systems today will announce an addition to its data communications network product line, designed to make managing Ethernet traffic easier while increasing data capacity

The Catalyst 2924M XL DC Ethernet switch is the newer version of Cisco's Catalyst 1924. One of the main differences between the devices is the type of Ethernet ports each has. The 1924 offers 24 Ethernet and two fast Ethernet ports. The 2924 has 24 auto-sensing 10/100 Mb/s ports.

"We saw that we needed something more than the 10 megabit switching that we had," said Wayne Yamaguchi, Cisco's product manager for service provider marketing. "Actually, we're going to start to see - for database servers and even for connecting Ethernet switches together - that we'll need 100 megabit capacity. So we needed a solution that offered 10/100 Ethernet ports."

While this capability exceeds the 1924, the new product should not squeeze out its predecessor, said Karl Whitelock, operations support system program director for Stratecast Partners. "If you are a service provider and you only have a few network elements to deal with, perhaps you only need a couple of the 1924s. The 2924 could actually be overkill."

Yamaguchi agrees. "They are two separate platforms.... They work together," he said, noting the 1924 can plug into the 2924.

The 2924 offers cluster management software that allows for simplified management of switches. Up to 16 Cisco Ethernet switches can be managed by the 2924 Ethernet switch. Through embedded software in the 2924, all 16 switches can be accessed through a single IP address.

"[With other switches], the network manager has to go in, one by one, to configure each switch. With the 2924, you can manage whole clusters at one time," said Mani Dhillon, product manager for Cisco.

The final feature that distinguishes the 2924 from its predecessor will appeal to larger carriers. The product offers fiber, ATM and gigabit Ethernet uplink modules. In a large central office (CO), a carrier might have to place its Ethernet switches on a separate floor. With the fiber uplink modules, switches on different floors can be connected. The fiber uplink allows ground plane isolation within the CO via one contiguous data communications network (DCN) LAN.

The industry should welcome such advancements, Whitelock said.

"Overall, [DCN management] is an area that's been sorely neglected by the service providers," he said. "If you look as some of the [incumbent local exchange carriers] and those who've been around a while, their internal data communications network for the linkage between all of their various network elements and their operation centers... has been kind of the last thing they've worried about. If they had any kind of a network out there at all, that's all that mattered."