6/26/2006 -- At its Cisco Networkers conference last week in Las Vegas, Cisco Systems Inc. announced incremental updates for some of its Services Module offerings.

Cisco refreshed its Communication Media, Network Analysis, Intrusion Detection Services, Firewall Services, IP Security VPN Shared Port Adapter, Traffic Anomaly Detector and Traffic Anomaly Guard modules.

Steven Schuchart, a senior analyst for enterprise infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis Inc., says the updated modules are part of Cisco's ongoing effort to drive services integration on its Catalyst 6500 platform. "[Cisco] is betting on the 6500 as being the 'platform' for services and services integration, and it needs to demonstrate ongoing innovation and excellence to compel customers to invest in its architecture and vision," he notes. At the same time, Schuchart notes, most of what Cisco announced falls squarely in the "incremental" categtory: "[T]hese are incremental improvements and really only fortify Cisco's already dominant position in this segment of the market. The only other competitor to offer services modules is Nortel on its ERS 8600 product line."

Cisco's Services Modules perform a number of tasks that would otherwise have to be handled dedicated appliances, Schuchart says, and instead allow customers to consolidate all of this functionality into the Catalyst 6500. "This provides a central highly fault tolerant base platform for service that can be managed with Cisco's familiar tools. The additional value is a selling point for Cisco and entices many enterprises to purchase Cisco's Catalyst 6500 chassis. The only other competitor to try this same approach is Nortel, and it has a much smaller selection of modules to choose from," he points out.

Incremental improvements or no, the new updates amount to a form of investment protection for Cisco customers, Schuchart says. "Cisco is providing significant investment protection for customers of its Service Modules with this release of new functionality. This adds to the already impressive investment protection of the Catalyst 6500 itself, which has been in production for seven years. Customers on the whole like Cisco's approach with Services Modules providing centralized functionality at the core of the network and its lead to increased sales of the Catalyst 6500 family of switches. Customers like the Cisco interfaces with similar look and feel. Customers with Services Modules do not have the training hassles that customers with best-of-breed solutions do." -Stephen Swoyer