IT Technology News and Progent IT Solutions

Cisco introduced innovative products targeted especially for small company IT networks and engineered to provide exceptional levels of security and collaboration for a budget-friendly price. Products announced by Cisco included the Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker, Cisco's Small Business series NSS2000 and NSS3000 Network Storage Systems, and the latest release of the Smart Business Communications System (SBCS).

The Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker is a dedicated spam, virus, and phishing filter security device that virtually eradicates email attacks right out of the box. Cisco's NSS2000 and NSS3000 Small Business Network Storage Systems are economical desktop NAS devices that offer security for important information and enable workers to exchange information easily. Cisco's Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.4, a full collaboration and communications solution that easily interconnects offices, employees, and customers however dispersed. Cisco's latest version incorporates the industry's debut of a wireless desktop VoIP phone with Bluetooth capabilities. To view Cisco's press release, visit Cisco Unveils Connectivity and Collaboration Solutions for Small Businesses.

Cisco Spam Blocker
The Spam and Virus Blocker safeguards small companies by offering powerful protection against spam, viruses and other email-borne attacks to guard your system and business data while improve productivity. Because the product blocks spam and viruses with minimal set up and stays current automatically, it does away with the cost and time with setup and ongoing and management. By filtering out unwanted email, Cisco's Spam and Virus Blocker helps the performance of network connections, application servers, and computers. The Spam Blocker is an end-to-end defense against email-born threats by including hardware, software, continuous patches, and technical support in a single package.

Notable benefits of the Spam Blocker appliance include:

• Accuracy: Assists to make sure that email-borne threats and junk mail are intercepted while business messages are accepted.
• Ongoing self-installed patches: Constant communication with SenderBase services, a network database of email security risks, makes sure that the Cisco Spam Blocker incorporates the latest patches to guard your business email.
• Simple installation and use: Easy-to-use browser-based installation tools allow you to configure Cisco's Spam Blocker appliance in nearly any environment within minutes, providing instant protection for your network.
• Streamlined administration: As soon as you installs the Cisco's Spam Blocker, you benefit from spam and virus filtering with minimal additional effort demanded of your IT staff.

Small Business NSS2000 and 3000 Network Storage Systems
The Small Business NSS2000 and NSS3000 provide the dependable protection and comprehensive data backup capabilities that your company needs, at a cost small organizations can handle. The NSS3000 supports up to 4 terabytes of data and as many as 15 concurrent clients per chassis, provides the optimal solution for storing, sharing, and backing up your vital corporate information. Unlike less sophisticated network-attached storage systems, the Small Business NSS3000 delivers the advanced archiving, cryptography, client authentication, and high availability your company requires.

The NSS3000 four-Bay Gigabit Storage System enclosure supports any certified hard disk. The chassis offers a wealth of features in a desktop system engineered specifically for small businesses. The Cisco Small Business NSS3000 Storage System Chassis also offers you the flexibility to deploy the system without any connected hard disks, to reconfigure the product at any time, and to chain several chassis together, offering a solution that can continually grow with your business.

Your business can use the NSS2000 or 3000 Network Storage Systems to:

• Intelligently copy important information from every workstation and server in your company
• Offer unified preservation and sharing of important information
• Run Continuous Data Protection (CDP) to back up unattended each version of each file saved by employees, permitting you to restore data quickly
• Store and archive digital video from your company's surveillance cameras

Smart Business Communications System
The Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Version 1.4 is a simple and complete collaboration and communications system that allows small organizations to interconnect telecommuters, on-the-road workers and employees in disparate sites to enhance their ability to interact with clients and teammates. In the latest release, the affordable system offers improved wireless features including the first wireless desktop IP handset with built-in Bluetooth technology, the Cisco SPA525G VoIP device, which allows companies to grow cost-effectively by deploying phones in locations where traditional phone lines or network cables are not present or cannot easily be run.

Other new components of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) 1.4 version include:

• Cisco's Model 520 Secure Router to help guard the company's infrastructure and provide workers safe access to the Internet and key corporate data wherever they are
• The Cisco Configuration Assistant Release 1.9 to permit stakeholders to simplify the setup and installation of solutions designed custom for certain businesses

How Progent's Cisco-certified Professionals Can Help Your Business to Deploy Cisco Networking Technology
Progent's Cisco-qualified consultants and Cisco CCIE networking experts can assist your company to evaluate the latest Cisco technologies to determine their business value for your IT system, deploy Cisco appliances to enhance the security and efficiency of your information network, and troubleshoot Cisco devices both in person and remotely to keep your network running dependably. Progent's consultants can provide a range of low-cost support services to enhance the dependability, protection, speed, and maintainability of a small business IT network:

Immediate Access to Cisco CCIE Certified Engineers
Progent is the leading source of easy, immediate, and economical assistance from CCIE Certified engineers. Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts are elite network gurus who are awarded this top-level accreditation only as a result of intense examination by Cisco. CCIEs are able to tackle the most sophisticated issues associated with network infrastructure architecture, configuration, troubleshooting, and service. Progent's CCIE experts work intimately with Cisco engineers in analyzing problems with Cisco's IOS software and devising workarounds or obtaining patches to correct anomalies. Progent gives you fast access to a CCIE by telephone so that you can get emergency assistance for tough network troubles that are affecting business productivity but are outside the scope of your local IT support resources. Progent's CCIE consulting experts can access your network via state-of-the-art off-site connectivity tools in order to provide timely and affordable diagnosis and remediation of critical network difficulties.

Cisco Voice over IP Phone and IP Video Phone Solutions
Progent's Cisco VoIP phone and video IP phone experts can assist you to configure, manage, and troubleshoot Cisco IP phones, video IP phones and wireless IP handsets. Progent offers support for all versions of Cisco's IP phones from discontinued VoIP products to the newest HD media phones. Progent's consultants can also assist you to integrate your IP phones with Cisco Unified Communications Manager, previously branded CallManager, or with Cisco Unified CM Express to create a state-of-the-art IP-PBX ecosystem for unified messaging and collaboration. Progent's consultants can deliver support with all aspects of Cisco VoIP Phone integration including reviewing dial plans, solving IP phone registration issues, setting up SIP gateways, installing Cisco ISR routers with CUBE VoIP networking support, and designing Cisco UCS server clustering and Cisco SRST systems for survivability. For additional information on Progent's expertise for Cisco's Unified Communications technology, go to Cisco Voice over IP and Unified Communications Engineering Expertise.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco CallManager Unified Messaging
Cisco Unified Communications Manager, previously named CallManager, operates as the foundation of Cisco's collaboration platform. CUCM and Unified CM Express provide a location-independent IP-PBX solution by integrating closely with unified messaging applications like Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service with Jabber support, Cisco Unity Connection for voicemail management, Cisco Unified Mobility for Single Number Reach, and Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE) for creating a highly automated customer contact solution. Progent's CCIE-certified CUCM consultants can help with any facet of Unified CM setup and debugging in areas such as integrating Voice over IP phones and video phones, designing dial plans, configuring SIP connections and PSTN calling, installing ISR routers with CUBE support, designing Cisco UCS server clustering systems for high availability, and integration with Microsoft Exchange Server.

Cisco ASA and PIX Firewall Support
Progent's certified Cisco IT security consulting professionals provide high-level PIX Firewall and ASA Firewall engineering services covering architecture, configuration, and management of Cisco firewall and Cisco security solutions. The PIX and ASA Series of Cisco firewall products delivers strong user and application policy enforcement, mutlivector attack protection, and safe connectivity services. Ranging from economical, plug-and-play desktop devices for small and home offices to scalable gigabit products, Cisco PIX Firewall and ASA Firewalls offer a high level of security, high throughput, and high availability for network environments of all sizes. PIX and ASA Firewalls are based on a proven, specially designed platform, minimizing possible OS-specific security gaps.

Network Security Inventory and Audit Packages
Progent's CISA, CISM and CISSP-premier security consultants can deliver a range of cost-effective security Inventory service bundles and network security assessment bundles created to give businesses of any size an opportunity to get a professional opinion about the strength of their protection profile. These packages range from ultra-affordable external network security scan and internal network security scan packages for small and midsize companies up to a high-level network security assessment solution for enterprises who have to meet security levels demanded by state agencies or by customers. For every security assessment bundle, engineers with top security credentials analyze and summarize scanned data and provide suggestions for effective remediation.

Cisco SIP Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunks and CUBE Configuration Consulting
Progent's Cisco CCIE-certified SIP infrastructure experts and CUBE configuration experts can help you to design, integrate, manage, debug and upgrade Cisco's SIP connectivity technology and Cisco's CUBE (Cisco Unified Border Element)-based SIP trunks. Progent can provide cost-effective remote or on-premises support to assist you to move efficiently to a modern communications network that delivers accelerated return on investment. Progent's certified Microsoft unified communications experts can assist you to configure interfaces between Cisco's CUBE Session Border Controller and Microsoft's rich media applications such as Skype for Business or Lync Server for connectivity to a SIP PSTN trunk.

Consulting Consulting and Troubleshooting Services for Cisco Wireless Solutions
Progent can give you access to a certified CCIE or certified CCNP to help you to develop a comprehensive wireless network design and implementation plan that integrates a wide range of wireless appliances and technologies and offers the identical security, scalability, and manageability you expect from a wired network. Progent can assist you to implement seamless integration between Cisco wireless products and wireless technology from third-party vendors to offer your company the functionality you require plus the most secure, dependable, and cost-effective WLAN solution possible. Progent's CISA and ISSAP security professionals can advise you about how to build protection into your wireless network and your company's operations.

Simplified Administration Tools for Cisco-powered Small Business Network Infrastructure
Progent's Cisco-Certified network engineers can provide assistance with Cisco's management utilities along with a variety of powerful third-party products to create a comprehensive network management strategy to keep your environment operating reliably, conserve limited resources, guard your data, revive quickly from device failure or malicious attacks, and allow you to add or repurpose valuable resources sensibly and economically as your company grows.

To learn additional details concerning Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco networking and security technology, call 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.