Cisco Systems Inc has announced the European availability of its new CiscoPro range of networking offerings for small businesses – some of which are already shipping in the US – and a new European distribution channel. According to figures from Dataquest, the market for internetworking products aimed at the small office- home office market will grow to $17,000m by 2000 from $5,000m now. Our products have been sold into that market, but we did not have the distribution strategy to support it, says Kevin Denuccio, Cisco’s vice-president of volume markets. The CiscoPro range comprises more than 20 products which use technology from three of the company’s recent buys – Combinet Inc, Grand Junction Networks Inc and Internet Junction Inc. In fact, there is very little that is new, other than that Cisco has now integrated the products with its Internetwork Operating System software. Workgroup switching products include fixed-configuration and stackable switching offerings with scalable bandwidth for departmental workgroups. Remote access kits include internetworking technology customized for Internet access via ISDN as well as business applications for branch and other office environments. Internet access products include gateways for IPX networks. Network management is provided by CiscoVision software, an Simple Network Management Protocol-based network manager running under Windows. The 17 new products now available in the US include the CiscoPro Internet Junction, a software-based gateway from IPX to TCP/IP networks that provides secure Internet access for Novell networks without requiring TCP/IP software on every desktop – as its name suggests, the product is a result of the company’s acquisition of Internet Junction Inc. Access features include the CiscoPro CPA201 and 202 personal computer adaptors for ISDN communications to the Internet and commercial networks; the CiscoPro CPA751 and CPA752, which are aimed at small office users and the CiscoPro CPA1140, an adaptor with features of the Cisco operating system software to enable users to connect NetWare local networks to public and private internetworks. The products build on the company’s acquisition of Combinet Inc (CI No 2,726).

Grand Junction

Workgroup features include the CiscoPro FastHub 100, a five- member family of 100Base-T repeaters for power users, server farms, 100Base-T evaluation and high-speed local backbones for switch-based networks – corresponding to Grand Junction Networks Inc’s former FastHub range; the CiscoPro EtherSwitch 10/100 desktop switch; the CiscoPro EtherSwitch 1200, 1400 and 1400FDDI and the EtherSwitch series modules, 100Base-T and FDDI modules for the CiscoPro EtherSwitch 1400 and 1400 FDDI workgroup switches. These products are based on those previously offered by Kalpana Inc. Cisco has also set up a two-tier distribution channel in Europe, with more than 20 partners so far. Some are plain resellers, others Premier partners, expected to provide infrastructure and investment. Pricing covers a wide range but, says Denuccio, the per-port price starts at the lowest entry point in the industry.