Cisco expands data center networking portfolio

As Internet traffic volumes increase at exponential rates (by 2013 it’s predicted that there will be 56 exabytes crossing the internet per month) the data centers that house and secure applications and data need to scale while remaining highly secure.

Cisco introduced additions to its data center networking portfolio that address these needs and deliver architectural flexibility and scale for physical, virtual or cloud computing environments.

The new Cisco switching products introduced today augment the Cisco Unified Fabric portfolio, which consists of Nexus data center switches and MDS storage switches that connect servers, data storage, and corporate networks seamlessly within the data center and cloud.

Cisco unveiled second generation capabilities for the Nexus 7000 Series and Cisco FabricPath support for the Nexus 5500 switch; together they provide industry-leading data center fabric scalability, supporting over 12,000 10GE server ports: twice the current offering on the marketat less than half the cost.

Cisco also added new switches with sub-microsecond latency to the Nexus 3000 ultra-low latency switching series, and introduced a virtualized version of its popular ASA security appliance to deliver consistent security for virtualized and cloud environments.

Cisco also expanded its security portfolio to add a virtual firewall for secure multi-tenant and cloud environments. The Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) – the industry’s most deployed firewall with more than one million installed appliances- will be available in a virtual form factor: the new Cisco ASA 1000V cloud firewall, which integrates with the Nexus 1000V software switch.

Complementing Cisco’s Virtual Security Gateway (VSG), the ASA 1000V extends firewall capabilities to provide consistent security for physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures.

ASA provides best-of-breed firewall capabilities, comprehensive real-time threat defense, effective, always-on, highly secure remote access, and comprehensive network security for networks of all sizes. The Cisco ASA 1000V firewall complements the zone-based security capabilities of the Cisco Virtual Security Gateway (VSG) and provides multi-tenant edge security, default gateway functionality, and protection against network-based attacks.

Dynamic, policy-driven, multi-tenant management is delivered through the Cisco Virtual Network Management Center (VNMC), which is a centralized management solution for both the Cisco ASA 1000V firewall and the Cisco Virtual Security Gateway.

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