Wataniya Telecom of Kuwait simplifies and cost-effectively provisions network bandwidth while improving architectural flexibility.
SAN JOSE, Calif., February 8, 2007 - Cisco® today announced two significant innovations to its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture: a Mobile Transport over Pseudowires (MToP) solution and an enhanced Cisco Content Services Gateway.
These Cisco IP NGN innovations will enable mobile service providers to dramatically improve traffic backhaul, ease second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) service convergence, and manage content access and billing more efficiently - while offering greater mobile user personalization capabilities. Both innovations are designed for providers using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Cisco and Apple Reach Agreement on iPhone Trademark
CISCO weds Apple
Cisco® and Apple today announced that they have resolved their dispute
involving the "iPhone" trademark. Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the "iPhone" trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Wireless LAN
- Fundamentals of Wireless LANs is an introductory course that will focus on the design, planning, implementation, operation and troubleshooting of wireless networks. It covers a comprehensive overview of technologies, security, and design best practices with particular emphasis on hands-on skills in the following areas:
- Wireless LAN setup & troubleshooting
- 802.11a & 802.11b technologies, products and solutions
- Site Surveys
- Resilient WLAN design, installation and configuration
- WLAN Security - 802.1x, EAP, LEAP, WEP, SSID
- Vendor interoperability strategies
- Wireless bridging
PDF on Fundamentals of wireless lan
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Switches
Cisco switches help maximize network value by providing optimal support for business requirements while delivering superior investment protection.
Maximum Business Value-:
As Cisco's flagship LAN switching platform, the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switch offers the highest levels of availability and integrated security, strongest support for converged applications, superior operational efficiency, leading scalability/flexibility, and unmatched, long-term investment protection among Cisco switching products designed for medium-sized business, enterprise, and service provider networks. The flexible range of Catalyst 6500 options makes this platform ideal for network-wide deployments, from the data center to the wiring closet.
The Catalyst 6500 Series Switch continues to set the standard for high-end LAN switching with industry-leading innovations, such as:
- Highest Availability
- Highest Level of Integrated Security
- Strongest Support for Converged Applications
- Superior Operational Efficiency
- Leading Scalability and Flexibility
- Unmatched, Long-Term Investment Protection
What are Your Internet Connection Solutions?
Reliability - is the connection available 24/7, or do you get a busy signal?
Speed - at what speeds can a user upload and download files?
Costs - what are the setup and monthly costs for the internet connection service?
Support - is support available 24/7 and is it free or is there a cost associated with it?
Availability - is the desired service available at your location?
Available options with good and bad features include:Local dial up with phone company (local isp) - While this many times is the simplest, often times, they are the most costly and support can be an issue. Speeds are typically the slowest at 26k to 56k connection speeds.
Software file compression-:
If you only have 26k dialup isp connections available to you or you want to speed up your DSL connections, this is an important option you should take a look at. With this type of software you can increase your internet connection speeds by as much as five times for very little money. Popular software products that accomplish this are ActiveSpeed, PropelAccelerator, Dr. Speed, and SuperSpeeder, Highly recommended solution to increasing your browsing experience.
Local dial up with national firm-:
This is by far the most popular with companies like AOL, People PC, Juno, EarthLink, and Netzero providing this service to millions of users. These certainly are the most cost effective and provide excellent 24/7 support. With the high speed upgrade options you can approach 112 k speeds. If the company has a local or toll free number available in your area, then this alternative provides the lowest cost isp internet connection.
Cable connection-:
If cable TV is available in your area, many firms also provide an internet connection for an additional fee. Requires special cable modem. Speeds are anywhere from 512k to 10Mps.
DSL or digital service line-:
Many local phone companies are providing this service to selected areas. Requires installation of DSL modem on your computer and speeds typically are from 512k to 9Mps. The distance from the local hub also affects your speed. You will pay 2 to 3 times the costs of basic dial up.
Broadband-:
Is a term loosely thrown around that is applied to a DSL, cable, wireless, or satellite internet connections. Technically broadband is a minimum of 1.5Mbs but is used to market products with bandwidth as low as 512k. When you hear the term broadband used, think like "health food", an undefined marketing catch word.
Wireless internet connection-:
This option is available in limited area's and requires a wireless modem on your computer. Speeds typically are 2Mbps and this is a flexible approach as you do not need to be hardwired or plugged in. Available in many metro area's.
Satellite internet connection-:
This is the perfect solution for remote area's if you require a high speed internet connection. Upload and download speeds are different and in some cases you can only download via satellite and are required to upload via dial up. This is the most expensive alternative, but you can get service basically anywhere in the world. Speeds starting at 500k are available. Contact Directway for dependable and fast satellite internet connections.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Latest series router 12000
Deploy Differentiated Services While Protecting Investments-:
Rapidly deploy new services that can generate new revenue--and reduce your capital and operating expenses--by taking full advantage of the modular, intelligent architecture of the Cisco 12000 Series.
The flexibility to scale the Cisco 12000 Series routers from 2.5-Gbps to n x 10-Gbps capacity per slot helps enable carrier-class IP/MPLS networks while protecting your investments in chassis and line cards.
Also read about the Cisco XR 12000 Series Router, which combines the innovation of Cisco IOS XR Software with the investment protection of the Cisco 12000 Series.
Important Features:
- Cisco I-Flex design--A portfolio of shared port adapters (SPAs) and SPA interface processors (SIPs) that prioritize voice, video, and data services so you can meet your customers' diverse service needs and stringent service-level agreements .
- Advanced silicon and software technologies, for high standards of routing performance and QoS ,
- Comprehensive high-availability support to help avoid planned and unplanned network downtime .
- Integrated core and edge feature set, supporting a wide range of business and consumer services .
- Fully upgradable modular switch fabric and Cisco IOS XR Software upgrade capability, to protect investments and reduce total cost of ownership.
Welcome to a place where we're all connected.
Where remote villages are included. And your PDA is a stadium seat. Where home videos are experienced everywhere at once. And Web applications mash together to create new experiences. On the human network, wonderful things are happening everywhere.
Join us as we work, live, play and learn on the human network. Visit collaborative sites, share network stories, hear podcasts and watch videos, even contribute your thoughts to the human network Wikipedia definition.
Together, we are more powerful than we ever could be apart.
Where remote villages are included. And your PDA is a stadium seat. Where home videos are experienced everywhere at once. And Web applications mash together to create new experiences. On the human network, wonderful things are happening everywhere.
Join us as we work, live, play and learn on the human network. Visit collaborative sites, share network stories, hear podcasts and watch videos, even contribute your thoughts to the human network Wikipedia definition.
Together, we are more powerful than we ever could be apart.
See the human network as defined by everyone in it.
View the Wikipedia Definition
View the Wikipedia Definition
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Cisco Systems is Transforming the Physical Security Industry with Migration to IP-Based Surveillance.
It is important, sometimes dangerous, glamorously depicted in action-based movies and TV shows - and becoming very high tech.
The physical security industry, characterized by the archetypal suited guard peering at a video monitor after hours, now has the opportunity to go IP thanks to technology from Cisco Systems®.
It all follows the April 5, 2006 acquisition by Cisco of SyPixx Networks, a specialist at the forefront of an emerging market for physical security systems based on new technology.
The products that Cisco has acquired with SyPixx include, for example, IP video encoders and networked digital video storage units, as well as software used to control where video goes and who has access to it.
These are a million miles away from the traditional technologies used in physical security, which has barely moved on in technical terms since the invention of the video recorder.
The standard-issue physical surveillance package today consists of a number of fixed and pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) cameras linked to a video matrix switch, an analog switching device.
This in turn is connected to an analogue video cassette recorder (VCR) or in some cases a Tivo-like digital video recorder, display screen, keyboard and joystick for controlling the cameras.Although they have served the industry for years, these systems have a number of obvious drawbacks, including:
Images coming in from the cameras can only be viewed from one point, usually the security desk or control center, which means a single guard cannot monitor them while touring the premises.
Scanning analogue tapes is laborious and time-consuming, creating delays in the event of a query or investigation.
The video images cannot easily be re-purposed or re-transmitted to other departments, wasting a potentially valuable way of measuring queuing times, consumer behavior and so on.
In the Cisco version of the system, the analogue feed from the cameras goes first to an IP Gateway encoder which digitizes the video signal, places it into IP packets and then sends it to a LAN switch for transmission across the network.
The VCR is replaced by a network video recorder (NVR), with capabilities similar to those of the popular TiVo interactive video receiver, which is connected to a traditional monitor and keyboard via a Cisco IP Gateway decoder.
Using low-latency MPEG-4 video compression standard implementation, the system can provide broadcast-quality, high-resolution images at up to 30 frames per second, or lower-bandwidth streams as required.
This comes with multicast and unicast support managed by Cisco Video Surveillance Stream Manager software.
What all this means is that security staff need no longer be tied to a chair in the control room in order to monitor premises, with a corresponding increase in productivity, security and safety.
The camera feeds can be viewed from anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection, including WiFi-enabled handheld devices that security guards or other authorized personnel can carry around with them when at home, doing their rounds or at remote locations.
Integration with 'video analytics' software increases the capabilities of the surveillance system by allowing digital cameras to react to particular types of images, such as people loitering suspiciously in sensitive parts of a building or an object left in a particular area, and send alerts to the security surveillance team.
Other benefits include the ability to re-use video images elsewhere in the organization, transforming video surveillance from a single-use facility operation system into a business tool for data mining and other purposes.
Moreover, Cisco video surveillance products provide the ability to use equipment from a wide range of vendors-including IP camera companies, storage providers and access control firms.
This last consideration is an important one because physical security is usually seen as an unavoidable overhead.
The fact that most systems are proprietary currently prevents many organizations from picking and choosing equipment in order to make the most of their budgets or building best-in-class physical security and video surveillance systems and applications.
Cisco allows security departments to hold onto their existing investment in analog cameras, monitors and keyboards, while moving to a more flexible network-enabled system.
For security departments that want to go the extra mile, though, there is the option of going all-IP from the camera to the recorder. Experience from sectors such as retail and banking has shown that this can be a major factor in helping security move from being seen entirely as a cost center.
This could be, for example, by allowing sophisticated marketing and customer relationship management applications to be tied to in-store or in-branch activity, such as automatically calling extra staff up for checkout duties if queues exceed a certain length, or by analyzing customer 'loiter time' in front of sales displays.
Another example would be in achieving regulatory compliance. Businesses such as banks and casinos are mandated to securely capture and store video. Moving to network-based video improves the efficiency of both video capture and storage.
The market for IP video surveillance is growing rapidly and its application has helped Cisco, for example, to save USD$700,000 a year.
And there is already significant interest from a number of markets where security is of prime importance, including retail, gaming and the public sector.
So the department that usually protects the safety and security of people and an organization's assets could soon be an important data provider for other business user groups as well.
Jason Deign is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.
The physical security industry, characterized by the archetypal suited guard peering at a video monitor after hours, now has the opportunity to go IP thanks to technology from Cisco Systems®.
It all follows the April 5, 2006 acquisition by Cisco of SyPixx Networks, a specialist at the forefront of an emerging market for physical security systems based on new technology.
The products that Cisco has acquired with SyPixx include, for example, IP video encoders and networked digital video storage units, as well as software used to control where video goes and who has access to it.
These are a million miles away from the traditional technologies used in physical security, which has barely moved on in technical terms since the invention of the video recorder.
The standard-issue physical surveillance package today consists of a number of fixed and pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) cameras linked to a video matrix switch, an analog switching device.
This in turn is connected to an analogue video cassette recorder (VCR) or in some cases a Tivo-like digital video recorder, display screen, keyboard and joystick for controlling the cameras.Although they have served the industry for years, these systems have a number of obvious drawbacks, including:
Images coming in from the cameras can only be viewed from one point, usually the security desk or control center, which means a single guard cannot monitor them while touring the premises.
Scanning analogue tapes is laborious and time-consuming, creating delays in the event of a query or investigation.
The video images cannot easily be re-purposed or re-transmitted to other departments, wasting a potentially valuable way of measuring queuing times, consumer behavior and so on.
In the Cisco version of the system, the analogue feed from the cameras goes first to an IP Gateway encoder which digitizes the video signal, places it into IP packets and then sends it to a LAN switch for transmission across the network.
The VCR is replaced by a network video recorder (NVR), with capabilities similar to those of the popular TiVo interactive video receiver, which is connected to a traditional monitor and keyboard via a Cisco IP Gateway decoder.
Using low-latency MPEG-4 video compression standard implementation, the system can provide broadcast-quality, high-resolution images at up to 30 frames per second, or lower-bandwidth streams as required.
This comes with multicast and unicast support managed by Cisco Video Surveillance Stream Manager software.
What all this means is that security staff need no longer be tied to a chair in the control room in order to monitor premises, with a corresponding increase in productivity, security and safety.
The camera feeds can be viewed from anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection, including WiFi-enabled handheld devices that security guards or other authorized personnel can carry around with them when at home, doing their rounds or at remote locations.
Integration with 'video analytics' software increases the capabilities of the surveillance system by allowing digital cameras to react to particular types of images, such as people loitering suspiciously in sensitive parts of a building or an object left in a particular area, and send alerts to the security surveillance team.
Other benefits include the ability to re-use video images elsewhere in the organization, transforming video surveillance from a single-use facility operation system into a business tool for data mining and other purposes.
Moreover, Cisco video surveillance products provide the ability to use equipment from a wide range of vendors-including IP camera companies, storage providers and access control firms.
This last consideration is an important one because physical security is usually seen as an unavoidable overhead.
The fact that most systems are proprietary currently prevents many organizations from picking and choosing equipment in order to make the most of their budgets or building best-in-class physical security and video surveillance systems and applications.
Cisco allows security departments to hold onto their existing investment in analog cameras, monitors and keyboards, while moving to a more flexible network-enabled system.
For security departments that want to go the extra mile, though, there is the option of going all-IP from the camera to the recorder. Experience from sectors such as retail and banking has shown that this can be a major factor in helping security move from being seen entirely as a cost center.
This could be, for example, by allowing sophisticated marketing and customer relationship management applications to be tied to in-store or in-branch activity, such as automatically calling extra staff up for checkout duties if queues exceed a certain length, or by analyzing customer 'loiter time' in front of sales displays.
Another example would be in achieving regulatory compliance. Businesses such as banks and casinos are mandated to securely capture and store video. Moving to network-based video improves the efficiency of both video capture and storage.
The market for IP video surveillance is growing rapidly and its application has helped Cisco, for example, to save USD$700,000 a year.
And there is already significant interest from a number of markets where security is of prime importance, including retail, gaming and the public sector.
So the department that usually protects the safety and security of people and an organization's assets could soon be an important data provider for other business user groups as well.
Jason Deign is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.
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