Cisco’s new line of routers geared for medium to small businesses wanting to deploy advanced services but limited in the past by higher costs have already lined up a major ally.
BellSouth.
“BellSouth will use the routers that Cisco launched as part of its total solutions packages with business customers,” a BellSouth spokesman tells Local Tech Wire. “This will allow businesses in the small to medium business sector and enterprise branch segments to receive cost effective access to robust applications (VoIP, call and content management, security, etc.) previously available mainly in larger office environments.”
Cisco announced the new line of routers on Monday. The developer and manufacturer of routers and other network devices is moving aggressively into Voice over Internet Protocol and other advanced services.
The new line of routers, called Cisco 1800, 2800 and 3800, are described as “integrated services” providers.The also are part of Cisco’s Self-Defending Network security strategy with built-in virtual private network (VPN) hardware encryption and a firewall. Call manager services are also included for firms that want to move away from traditional private branch exchanges (PBX) for converged telephony and data services.
“With the new Cisco integrated services routers, BellSouth can provide its customers with highly secure access to advanced technology solutions while maintaining the highest levels of performance and reliability,” said Fred Shaftman, president of BellSouth Business, in a statement. “The capabilities of voice, video and data services packaged on a single system allows BellSouth to more effectively and efficiently extend next-generation applications beyond the enterprise to branch offices and SMB markets.”
For details on the new products, see: newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2004/hd_091404.html
