Fergie's Tech Blog

Cisco Tightens The Net

Quentin Hardy writes in Forbes that:

Computer networking giant Cisco Systems is making good on its promise to better manage threats to corporate networks and plans to introduce a product that could threaten a lot of smaller players.

On Tuesday, at the Network & Interop trade show in Las Vegas, Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers will announce the company's new breakthrough: a new device that puts up to 18 different security and network management functions, from detection of unwanted intruders to keeping employees off data-intensive free music-downloading sites such as Kazaa, all on a single box. Many of these functions are currently performed inside a data center with separate machines, which take up valuable floor space and budgets.

The Cisco device, called the Adaptive Security Appliance 5500 series, lists for about $3,000 to $17,000 a box depending on the speed of data packets it is managing. Cisco expects customers to start with a few security applications to begin with, but they can add applications and future functions to the device for additional cost.

posted by Fergie @ 5/03/2005 05:40:00 AM