Cisco Systems, Inc. rolled out two enhancements to its Catalyst 6500 Series and 4500 Series routing switches. The new improvements are designed to better support peer-to-peer and real-time applications. They are the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching System 1440, which combines multiple Catalyst 6500 switches into one and scales system bandwidth capacity to 1.44 terabits per second; and the Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series with CenterFlex technology, which the company says it provides high network performance for rich applications.

"Business works differently now. Ideas come from everywhere. Negotiations and discussions come from everywhere. To keep pace, you need a different kind of network that can support apps that we haven't seen until now -- like Web 2.0 and telepresence," said Tere Bracco, senior manager of network systems at Cisco.

The Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching System 1440 is enabled by the Virtual Switching Supervisor Engine 720 with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, hardware module that can make two 6500 switches behave and appear to administrators as one and costs $31,500.

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 E-Series with CenterFlex technology now delivers 320 gigabits per second and a fourfold increase in per-slot bandwidth using its unique centralized and flexible architecture. It provides 250 mpps (million packets per second) centralized performance and is based on Cisco's new CenterFlex technology which resulted in the filing of 19 new technology patents enhancing security, quality of service (QoS) and performance, the company claims.

"The increased performance, reliability and service capabilities provided by the Cisco Catalyst 4500-E Series enable us not only to scale for today's network requirements but also future-proofs the network for the support of future business needs by providing significant hardware resources and centralized performance for future growth," said Hu Jun, IT operation director, Haier.

Cisco Systems, Inc. was founded in 1984 by a married couple that worked in computer operations staff at Stanford University. Cisco was one of the first companies to sell commercially successful multi-protocol routers. At the peak of the dot com boom, Cisco was the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion. Now the company is worth nearly $200 billion.