Cisco Live, the company’s annual IT and communications conference, the company introduced the infusion of multiple innovations into its flagship Catalyst 6500 Series Switches, the most widely deployed network switches on earth. These innovations provide Catalyst 6500 customers with the capability to evolve their network infrastructure for the coming decade’s proliferation of connected devices, growth of video traffic, cloud computing business models and increasingly mobile workforces—without requiring “rip and replace” upgrades.
Awarded more than 500 patents, the Catalyst 6500 has been the de facto industry standard switching platform at the heart of the world’s campus, data center, WAN, and Metro Ethernet networks since its introduction in 1999 and has a $42 billion installed base, nearly 700,000 systems/110 million ports deployed and more than 25,000 customers worldwide. For years the platform has set the bar for product leadership, deployment scale and new innovation in the networking industry.
“By closely working with our massive customer base, Cisco is able to focus our innovation on real-world requirements. This is why the Catalyst platform spurred the spread of the Internet on campus networks worldwide and is now enabling these same networks to evolve to 10 gigabits and 40 gigabits while taking advantage of a full range of network services in the campus and the data center—no ‘rip and replace’ required. The relationship between installed base knowledge, innovation and business value results in greater competitive differentiation and industry leadership for Cisco, its customers and partners,” John McCool, senior vice president, Cisco, said.