Cisco 2800 Series, Including Cisco 2801, 2811, 2821, 2851, Higher Performance, Lower Price

The award-winning buy Cisco 2800 Series routers, ideal for small to medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices, are designed for wire-speed delivery of highly secure concurrent services and can accommodate multiple T1/E1 connections for services including data, security, voice, video, and wireless

The integrated services routing architecture of the Cisco 2800 Series provides the performance, availability, and reliability needed to scale mission-critical business applications in the most demanding environments.

Features of Cisco 2800 router includes:

 * Built-in security

    * Cisco Configuration Professional (CCP) for simplified management

    * A modular platform with a broad range of interface options

    * Up to 2 10/100/1000 Mbps built-in routed ports

    * Up to 64 10/100 Mbps switch ports with optional Power over Ethernet (PoE), for providing DC power to network devices such as IP phones

    * Up to 1500 VPN tunnels

    * Cisco Call Manager Express (CME) call-processing support for up to 96 Cisco IP phone users

    * Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) support for up to 96 Cisco IP phone users, allowing the router to provide call-processing functionality to keep voice service in operation should the connection to Cisco CME be lost

    * Support for wireless LAN standards 802.11a/b/g

    * Support for a Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) port for Gigabit Ethernet (except 2801)

    * Built-in redundant power supply connector (except 2801)

The Cisco 2800 comprises four new platforms:Cisco2801,Cisco 2811, Cisco 2821, andCisco 2851. The Cisco2801 routers and Cisco 2811are one rack unit in height and have two 10/100 LAN ports. The more powerful Cisco 2821 and Cisco 2851 routers are two rack units in height and have two 10/100/1000 LAN ports.

The Cisco router 2800 Series provides significant additional value compared to prior generations of Cisco routers at similar price points by offering up to a fivefold performance improvement, up to a tenfold increase in security and voice performance, new embedded service options, and dramatically increased slot performance and density while maintaining support for most of the more than 90 existing modules that are available today for the Cisco 1700, Cisco 2600, and Cisco 3700 Series.

Cisco 2800 Price Details

Cisco 2801: List price:  US$1,995.00  / Wholesale Price: US$838.00

Cisco2811: List price:  US$2,495.00  / Wholesale Price: US$1,048.00

Cisco2821: List price:  US$3,895.00/ Wholesale Price: US$1,636.00

Cisco2851:List price:  US$6,495.00 / Wholesale Price: US$2,728.00

Notes: MoreCisco 2800 series information you can check at routerswitch.com, such as specs, features, warranty, and security, purchasing and price details of Cisco 2800 routers available.

Cisco Linksys E4200 wireless router

Cisco's Linksys E4200 cisco router is aimed at advanced users, but we nevertheless found it easy to set up and use.

It uses the fastest 802.11n wireless network standard and can work in both the normal 2.4GHz wireless frequency and the less-congested 5GHz frequency simultaneously to improve your in-home signal.

Computers with suitable equipment can connect at even faster speeds but only Intel Ultimate Wifi Link adapters support this at present (see the end of this review for a list of laptops with the adapters built-in).

The two-tone case is discreet: the antennas are housed inside so nothing pokes out, the only part at the front is a white-illuminated logo to indicate status, and even the lights on the four rear network ports can be turned off. It's intended for cable internet users or those with a separate broadband modem with a network socket, so ADSL users will have to use it alongside their existing modems or routers.

It includes the excellent cisco878 Connect software that made setup and configuration easy and provided quick access to the main features. The router can also be used without this software by accessing its configuration pages in a web browser. Previous versions of this program had some annoying quirks but these have now all been fixed.

Running Cisco Connect launches an illustrated wizard that shows users how to plug in the router, and then automatically discovers and configures it. This only took a few minutes, and it worked equally well over wireless or a network cable. Even complete novices should have no trouble getting up and running.

When setup had finished the Cisco Connect main screen let us add computers, printers and other devices to the network. For PCs, an Easy Setup Key containing the router's wireless security details can be created on a USB memory key. Each connected PC can then be assigned parental controls, restricting the times of web access or blocking specific websites.

Another useful feature is the guest wireless network, a separate network that is perfect for allowing visiting friends or family to use the internet while keeping your PCs secure.

There is also a link to the advanced settings that open in a web browser and allow advanced users to configure features such as the USB storage. Any USB disk or memory key can be plugged into the router's USB socket and shared over the network or the internet, but setting this up was not easy and it's a shame it wasn't included in the cisco 878 Connect software. Disappointingly, you cannot plug a printer or webcam into the USB socket and have it shared.

The E4200 is an expensive router but the fast networking, parental controls and USB sharing are worth paying for.

Cisco Announces Cloud-Based Products For Branch Offices

Cisco announced Tuesday two new cloud-based products aimed at branch offices and remote locations.

The first is the Cisco routers Flex 7500 Series Cloud Controller, a LAN controller that enables the central management of up to 500 branch locations and 2,000 access points from one data center. It allows IT managers to remotely configure wireless policies, management, and security settings without having to physically be in the branch location.

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The benefit for small branch offices to have a controller,ws-c3750g-12s-s rather than standalone access points at multiple sites, is that a controller brings consistency, allows you to more easily manage access points and upgrade firmware, and provides more simple troubleshooting, Sylvia Hooks, senior manager of mobility marketing for Cisco, said in an InformationWeek interview.

"Taken all together and when you put that into a data center, we're minimizing the need to put IT experts in the store, so we're minimizing that support burden that is difficult to fulfill in many branch offices," Hooks said.

    Weak authentication leaves your organization open to sophisticated hackers.
    Implement strong security that is easy to use.

This is the case at Bass Pro Shops, a model client Cisco router cites. Bass Pro Shops implemented the 7500 controller two months ago to centralize the management of wireless connections for its 54 retail stores, corporate headquarters, and distribution facility.

"By deploying a Cisco Flex 7500 Series Cloud Controller, we will be able to reduce costs by eliminating the need for a controller at each store to manage the wireless networks, while also reducing the amount of interaction needed by store personnel," Steve Marshall, director of IT services at Bass Pro Shops, said in a statement.

Cisco also introduced the Integrated Services Router Web Security software for the ISR G2 branch router. The software extends Cisco's ScanSafe Cloud Web Security and allows organizations to deploy cloud-based Web security and Web usage policies, enabling secure local Internet access for branch offices and users.

The security software addresses a trend Cisco has seen in branch offices: LAN bottlenecks caused by increasing bandwidth usage have driven some organizations to use a tunnel traffic over the Internet, which increases the security vulnerabilities of an organization.

"What we've done with Cisco ISR Web Security is ws-c3750v2-24ts-e to provide an intelligent software solution in all branch-office routers to intelligently redirect all the Internet access directly to cloud-based, ScanSafe security towers, rather than backhauling all traffic through data center," Prashanth Shenoy, senior manager of borderless networks marketing at Cisco, said in an InformationWeek interview.

The benefits include a reduction in hardware for security, including routers, and cloud-based security monitoring, Shenoy said.ws-c3750x-24t-s The new software will be available in July for $2,495, plus an annual Cisco ScanSafe service subscription.

The Cisco Flex 7500 Series Cloud Controller is available now; pricing starts at $47,995.