Cisco Launches Catalyst 6500 Series

Cisco Systems ® today introduced several Cisco Internetwork Operating System (IOS)-based software advances for its flagship Catalyst® 6500 Series switches that will help IT managers become more productive by boosting their operational efficiency and increasing network uptime.

Specifically, Cisco has evolved its existing IOS software for the Catalyst 6500 switches so that modular Cisco IOS subsystems now run in independent, self-healing processes.

This higher level of software intelligence for the Catalyst 6500 switches addresses an important IT trend. Today's networks are becoming the most strategic part of a company's IT infrastructure. At the same time, however, companies in general are not significantly increasing their IT staffs to keep pace with these technological innovations.

"We characterize this trend as the 'growing operational gap' between the level of IT staffing and the requirements their companies are placing on their infrastructure, particularly their networks," said Zeus Kerravala, VP, Yankee Group.

American Century Investments, a premier investment manager with more than $100 billion in assets, trial tested Cisco IOS Software Modularity for the Catalyst 6500. Based on this test, the company predicts that the new features will boost their operational efficiency significantly.

"Because of our competitive business environment, we challenge our IT staff to deliver world-class services while keeping costs in check," said Rogers. "Intelligent networking advances such as Cisco IOS Software Modularity for the Catalyst 6500 switches provide the means to accomplish this by making our IT staff capable more than ever to support crucial business processes and transactions."

Swisscom IT Services, one of the leading Swiss providers of information technology services focusing on the integration and cost-effective operation of complex IT infrastructures, has also been testing Cisco IOS Software Modularity on its Catalyst 6500 switches.

"By taking advantage of Cisco IOS Software Modularity and high availability features on our Catalyst 6500 switches within the IT Services group, we can now deploy targeted software patches to help us increase network availability while reducing operational expenditures," said Hugo Hirzel, head of corporate network engineers, Swisscom IT Services.

"We can significantly reduce the need to schedule lengthy maintenance windows outside office hours, by avoiding having to reboot switches after a patch has been applied. And Embedded Event Manager integration gives us the granular control to automate routine operations and simplify the detection of irregularities, helping us work more efficiently."