Cisco Bolsters VPN Functions Of Router Line

By Tom Smith

Cisco Systems Inc. Wednesday broadened its virtual private network (VPN) portfolio with products supporting IP voice and video.

Cisco has added IP voice/video quality of service (QoS) functions, along with IPSec multicast support and IP voice/video stream encryption on all VPN routers based on its IOS router operating system. The routers include the 1700, 2600, 3600, 3700, 7100, and 7200 series.

The new features also impact Cisco's PIX Firewall family, which now offers broad support for IP voice protocols with stateful inspection of Cisco IP voice and video streams.

Cisco said the additional features are aimed at giving enterprises new operational efficiencies by adding IP voice and video to their VPNs. For instance, the new features will support the addition of video services such as e-learning and videoconferencing to remote offices, while also allowing those offices to reduce phone and bandwidth expenses.

Enterprise customers gain several operational efficiencies through an IP voice and video-enabled IPSec VPN deployment. It extends the network's reach to remote sites to deliver video services such as e-learning and video conferencing for increased productivity. Customers also benefit from a reduction in telephony and bandwidth expenses, infrastructure support, and associated equipment costs for overall cost savings.

The new VPN features are available now.

Cisco also said it's added VPN functions to the Cisco 7400 series router, delivering VPN connectivity for site-to-site applications. VPN features in the 7400, which is sold to carriers and enterprises, include hardware-based VPN acceleration and throughput of 120 Mbit/s with 3DES encryption.

The Cisco 7400 Series VPN Router bundle will be available in June for $18,500.