Cisco Updates Content Delivery Line

Cisco Systems

"Content [switching was an overlay on a network," said Mark Leary, solutions manager of content networking at Cisco. "Now it's integral to network utility."

As the utility of a network evolves from bandwidth and connectivity to services, content switching becomes more important, Leary said.

Customers also were asking for more than just caching from content delivery systems, Leary said. They're asking for load balancing and SSL acceleration, and they want it all in fewer boxes, he said.

In today's post-Sept. 11 environment, content depositories distributed around the globe are more important to customers as well, Leary said.

The new products include the Cisco CSS 11500 Series, and a new release of the content switching module for Catalyst 6500 switches and Cisco 7600 routers. The different products give customers the option of choosing stand-alone appliances or integrating the functionality into their network infrastructures, Leary said.

The Cisco CSS 11503 and CSS 11506 modular content switching platforms feature rules-based user session recovery services and scalable integrated SSL acceleration.

The Catalyst 6500 CSM (content switching module) 3.1 is an integrated service module for both the Catalyst 6500 and the Cisco 7600, adding Layer 4 through 7 content switching. New to the release is global server load balancing, which enables customers to optimize the performance of distributed Web sites.

Cisco also unveiled software upgrades to its Content Transformation Engine, which allows it to deliver content to Cisco IP phones.