The Cisco® Catalyst® 3560 Series switches are fixed configuration switches combining Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and Power over Ethernet (PoE) for small enterprise LAN access and branch office deployments. These switches are ideal for customers with 250+ employees.  This series of switches will enhance business productivity with the addition of network equipment consisting of this series in IP telephony, GTTD, or wireless. The Catalyst 3560 Series provides security, scalability, and resiliency to the network and the switches are easy to manage.

The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series consists of fifteen Ethernet switches and is one of the best series Cisco has released. Eight of the fifteen Ethernet switches offer PoE (Power over Ethernet) including:  the 3560-8PC, the 3560-12PC, the 3560-24PS, the 3560-48PS, 3560V2-24PS, the 3560V2-48PS, the 3560G-24PS, and the 3560G-48PS.

Six of the fifteen switches in this series do not offer PoE, but offer either 10/100 BASE-T ports or 10/100/1000 ports.  The 3560-24TS provides a forwarding rate of 6.5 Mpps and twenty-four Ethernet 10/100 ports along with two small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) ports.  The 3560-48TS offers double the functionality and forwarding rate of the 3560-24TS with forty-eight Ethernet 10/100 ports and four SFPs.

The V2 versions of both of this switches provide the same output but consume less power to do so. There is a third V2 version, the 3560V2-24TS-D which operates on DC power. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 v2 Series consumes less power than its predecessors and is the ideal access layer switch for enterprise, retail, and branch-office environments. It maximizes productivity and provides investment protection by helping enable a unified network for data, voice, and video.

The 3560G-24TS and 3560G-48TS offer 10/100/1000 ports (the 24TS has twenty-four and the 48TS offers forty-eight) and both have four SFPs.

The Cisco Catalyst 3560 is available with either the IP Base or IP Services software images. The IP Base software includes advanced QoS, rate-limiting, ACLs, and basic routing and IPv6 functionality. The IP Services software provides a richer set of enterprise-class features, including advanced hardware-based IP unicast and IP Multicast routing as well as policy-based routing (PBR).

Quality of Service standards have come a long way, baby. Even adapters that turn traditional telephones into IP phones (like the Cisco ATA186-I2-A in the ATA series) offer high Q0S. But on occasion, we’ve all experienced the other side:  what it’s like when QoS encounters problems. If you’re experiencing an ongoing issue with your QoS on a VoIP phone, here’s what may have happened so that you can better describe to your service provider what’s going on:

1. Dropped packets

Routers occasionally fail to deliver (or drop) some packets if they arrive when their buffers are  full. Depending on the state of the network, sometimes all, a few, or none of the packets might be dropped.  Because the receiving application is most likely designed to request the dropped packet to be retransmitted, this can create severe delays, or minor delays, in the overall transmission.

2. Delayed Packets

Sometimes, it takes a long time for a packet to reach its destination. This happens for several reasons– because it got held up in long queues, or took an indirect route in an effort to avoid congestion. In some cases, excessive delays will render an application completely unusable.

3. Error

Sometimes packets are misdirected, corrupted, or combined together, during transmission. The receiver must detect this and, just like if the packet was dropped, request the sender to resend the packets.

4. Out of order Delivery

Packets are transmitted in a specific order, but because of delays or efforts to avoid congestion, they may take different routes and arrive in an order different than the one they were sent.

As a business owner or network administrator, understanding data loss prevention is important. There are essentially three types of DLP systems.

1. Network DLP Systems

Network DLPs are also referred to as gateway-based systems. Usually dedicated hardware/software platforms, they are most often installed on the organization’s internet network connection.  They analyze network traffic to search for unauthorized information transmissions. These transmission methods including email, IM, FTP, HTTP, and HTTPS . Network DLPs are popular because they are relatively easy to install and provide a low ownership cost.  Another benefit of Network DLP systems is that they can also discover data at rest to identify areas of risk. This is ideal because they can access areas where confidential data is being stored in inappropriate or unsecured locations.

2. Host-based DLP Systems

These systems run on end-user workstations or servers in the organization. Similar to  network-based systems, host-based can address internal as well as external communications. Because of this, they  can be used to control information flow between groups or types of users. Host-based DLPS’s also check email and instant messenger communications before they are stored in the corporate archive.

Unlike the former, host systems have a unique advantage. They can monitor and control access to mobile devices and other physical devices with data storage capabilities.  At times, they can access information prior to it being encrypted. Some host based DLP systems also have controls to block attempted transmissions of private, confidential information. This type of DLP system does have a disadvantage.They must be installed on every workstation in the network.

3. Data Identification

DLP solutions usually include multiple techniques for identifying sensitive information. Data identification is a process.  Organizations use a DLP technology to determine what to look for. DLP solutions use a number of methods for deep content analysis. The strength of the analysis engine directly correlates to its accuracy. The accuracy of data identification in a DLP system is important to reducing false positives so testing for accuracy is recommended to ensure a solution has virtually zero false positives/negatives.  Many high end routers like the Cisco 7603-DC-BUN offer top notch security  features.

The Cisco 7200 Series routers deliver versatile, high performance services in a compact form factor. With the ability to choose between 4- and 6-slot chassis, within the 7200 series, there are numerous processors providing up to 1 Mpps and an extensive range of LAN/WAN interfaces with up to 48 ports per chassis.

Why do people choose this router?

The Cisco 7200 Series is the industry’s most widely deployed universal services aggregation router for enterprise and service provider edge applications. The Cisco 7200 Series offers: increased VPN performance with the new VPN Services Adapter; a wide range of connectivity options and numerous features including serviceability and manageability; an exceptional price for the performance level (the NPE-G2 Network Processing Engine aggregates services at up to 2 Mpps); and increased scalability and flexibility with the new Port Adapter Jacket Card.

The Cisco 7200 Series consists of models like the CISCO7204 4-slot chassis, the 7206VXR/225, and CISCO 7206 model with 6-slot chassis.

Benefits of the 7200 Series include:

* WAN edge: Award-winning quality of service (QoS) feature performance
* Broadband aggregation: Up to 16,000 PPP sessions per chassis
* Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS): Leading choice for provider-edge deployment
* IP Security (IPsec) VPN: Scalable to 5000 tunnels per chassis
* High-end customer premises equipment (CPE)
* IP-to-IP gateway support: Provides a network-to-network interface point for signaling interworking (H.323, SIP), media interworking, address and port translations (privacy and topology hiding), billing and CDR normalization, and bandwidth management (QoS marking using TOS)
* Voice, video, and data integration: TDM-enabled VXR chassis and voice port adapters
* Modular design: 3RU footprint with broad range of flexible, modular interfaces (from DS0 to OC-3)
* Flexibility: Support for Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Packet over SONET and more

Clearly, the Cisco 7200 Series addresses the demand for performance, scalability, and flexibility by further increasing its processing capacity and enabling high-quality Cisco IOS Software features.

For Americans, symbols of freedom pop up all over during the month of July—the American flag, bald Eagle, fireworks—but when it comes to your company’s network, how much freedom do you really have?

Are your ties to your Cisco distributor making you feel less independent than you’d like to be? When you desperately need replacement products, are you bound by your distributor’s inability to find the right item or restrained by long lead times?

It’s typically in a crisis that companies usually get their first taste of freedom by turning to MLCP when their standard distributor, or the manufacturer, can’t get the product they need when they need it. That’s when they come to us. Because we’re an independent international reseller that can source—unrestricted—from a global pool of equipment, we can find you exactly what you need, ready to ship, from anywhere in Europe, Asia, or the Americas. In addition, we carry one of the largest stocks of on-site inventory right here at home in the U.S.A.!

As an independent reseller, we carry Cisco, Juniper, Foundry, as well as other brands and also have access to a wide range of refurbished, end-of-lifed and nearly-new hardware products. While manufacturers and most distributors force you to upgrade to new products, we can replace the product you have now with a pre-owned product for less, saving you money! Claim your company’s independence! Start and end your pursuit of networking hardware with MULTI-LINK!

The Cisco NX-OS is a recently-developed data-center-class OS built to meet the evolving demands of the virtualized data center. NX-OS 4.1 designed for Nexus 7000 maintains necessary consistency with the other members of the Cisco Nexus family while also delivering features critical to data centers. These features include continuous system availability; a modular, flexible architecture; and switch virtualization capabilities.

There are several advantages to the NX-OS. They include: a flexible and scalable core built with virtualization, modularity, and resiliency; a unified data center operating system that runs on a multitude of the Cisco Nexus Switches including the the 7000 Series, 5000 Series, MDS Series Multilayer SAN, and the Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual switch for VMware ESX; comprehensive security features; management features that meet challenges imposed by extremely demanding environments; robust feature set with a large variety of Cisco innovations; and the ability to support cutting-edge implementations of IPv4 and IPv6 services.

The Cisco NX-OS is highly secure. The operating system provides unmatched data confidentiality and integrity, while supporting standard IEEE 802.1AE link-layer cryptography. Upgrades,
maintenance, and software certification is a seamless process which can be performed without any service interruptions. The Cisco ASA-5500 series, although it doesn’t offer NX-OS, is the core of Cisco’s self-defending network and offers many of the same protections as the NX-OS.

MULTI-LINK’s name tends to come up whenever Cisco hardware is needed, but did you know we’re much more than simply an alternative Cisco provider? Since 1995, MLCP has helped clients source networking equipment from companies like Adtran, Kentrox, 3COM, Extreme, Foundry, Juniper, Nortel and more. Whether you’re looking to replace an insert blade for a Foundry switch or want to upgrade your Juniper router platforms, we can locate the new or refurbished parts you need and get them to you faster than the manufacturer can in most cases. On top of that, you’ll pay less!

No need to go through the hassle of registering a new product vendor as an approved supplier—just come to us! Even if you need an item that’s not normally in our portfolio or on our website, contact us by email or phone. We’ll make every effort to find it for you! Once we do, our trade-in and credit terms still apply! Bottom line, coming to us first could save you time and money. Over the years, we’ve helped thousands of customers find solutions to a variety of problems. Let us do the same for you!

Did you know MULTI-LINK offers non-Cisco and hard-to-locate equipment? If not, please print a copy of our brochure detailing the ways MLCP can be your long-term partner when it comes to all of your I.T. needs.

Surplus equipment may not look like a stack of cash, but it is. I.T. equipment is valuable and leaving old equipment sitting around and dumping it into a landfill not only costs money but doesn’t help the environment. You might as well recapture some of your expenses by selling your surplus equipment.

It’s not uncommon for alternate I.T. hardware suppliers to offer trade-in credit on surplus equipment. But what if you don’t need new equipment? What if this truly is ‘surplus?’ Or what if you need to liquidate completely and a new Cisco 3600 Series High Performance Router isn’t in the cards for you? What do you do then?

The answer is to sell your surplus equipment– cables, routers, servers– on consignment.

Trying to locate a buyer for your used networking equipment is nearly impossible. First, trying to find someone who needs exactly what you have isn’t easy. Second, would you trust your business systems to someone you don’t know trying to unload a used system? Probably not.

The answer is selling your hardware on consignment through a reliable, well-connected alternate provider like MULTI-LINK Communications (MLCP). Why do people prefer to buy from a company like that? MULTI-LINK has been in business for more than 20 years, providing high-quality refurbished equipment to its customers. Even refurbished equipment is covered under MLCP’s standard one-year warranty and because it has clients all over the world, MULTI-LINK has access to all kinds of products from multiple manufacturers, including obsolete products, new hardware, and third-party components.

Everyone knows you can save money by purchasing new or refurbished products through MLCP. But you can also ‘make’ money by letting them sell your surplus new and used equipment on consignment. If there’s a buyer out there for your product, MLCP will help you find them!