11/12/2007 -- Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced several new Catalyst switch offerings, including its Catalyst 6500 Series Virtual Switching System (VSS) 1440, which is outfitted with Cisco's Virtual Switching Supervisor Engine 720.

Elsewhere, Cisco refreshed its Catalyst 4500 line with the Catalyst 4500 E-Series, boasting new chassis and line cards, along with a new supervisor engine module.

Analysts are bullish on Cisco's Catalyst announcements, which they say address long-standing competitive weaknesses in its modular switching portfolio.

"[Cisco] needs to keep up the pace of innovation for the Catalyst 6500. Additionally, it needed to do a refresh of the Catalyst 4500, because the product was becoming long in the tooth in comparison to new mid-market modular switches put out by competitors," said Steven Schuchart, principal analyst for enterprise network systems with consultancy Current Analysis.

In this respect, Schuchart argued, Cisco's updates help burnish the competitive credentials of both Catalyst devices.

"[T]he new supervisors and capabilities of the Catalyst 6500 help keep the product in the No. 1 competitor spot in the high-capacity switch/router market by continuing to add to the already impressive investment protection story of the Catalyst 6500," he said. "[W]ith the release of the Catalyst 4500-E, Cisco is providing a revitalized Catalyst 4500 series as well as supervisor update options for existing classic Catalyst 4500 customers."

With these and other enhancements to its Catalyst switching family, Cisco continues its focus on investment protection, Schuchart observed.

"The overall theme of Cisco's most recent releases for the Catalyst modular switching line is to provide strong investment protection for customers that purchased them. This central theme is what has made Cisco's Catalyst 6500 a top competitor many years after its release," he said, citing -- in particular -- the new Virtual Switching System 1440, which lets two Catalyst 6500s operate as a singly-managed virtual unit.

And that's not all, according to Schuchart.

"Cisco has also created virtual links using EtherChannel between Cisco switches as well as between switches and servers that have NICs that can handle EtherChannel. The advantage of this is sub-second failover and a simpler topography than can be provided with standardized protocols," he said. "Cisco has also released a major refresh of the venerable Catalyst 4500 line. This refresh includes a new supervisor that can be used in the newly released E-Series chassis as well as the classic 4500 chassis."

In addition, Cisco announced new 4500 Series line cards that provide dense and high-function PoE ports, along with 10 Gigabit Ethernet options.

"These new upgrades put the Catalyst 4500 in a much better competitive position in comparison to similar products from competitors," Schuchart said.

As usual, Cisco's Catalyst refresh is far from a slam dunk, according to Schuchart.

"While Cisco still has the lion's share of the market both in practical terms and in terms of mind share, there are some gaps. The Catalyst 6500 simply does not compare favorably in terms of price, density, and performance with some of the latest offerings from competitors," he said. "The switch virtualization is a great feature, but it just does not help much on that front. As for the Catalyst 4500, the refresh of the product line will do a lot to better the market position of the platform, but it is still playing second fiddle to the Catalyst 6500."

The rub, according to Schuchart, is that in order for Cisco to successfully -- or compellingly -- differentiate the two lines, the Catalyst 4500 product line has to lag behind its bigger brother in terms of density, performance and features.

Finally, Cisco hasn't gone out of its way to make its Catalyst switches eco-friendly. With the "green IT" wave continuing to crest, this could hurt it in the long run.

"[W]hile Cisco has kept its Catalyst modular product lines modern, the product lines are not optimized for power and heat performance. This is fast becoming a competitive differentiator and it will be difficult for Cisco to compensate," Schuchart said. --Stephen Swoyer