3Com Corporation today announced that it is the first and only vendor offering wide area network (WAN) routers with proven interoperability with Cisco routers verified by an independent test organisation.
The "Tolly Verified" certification, supported by intensive testing by The Tolly Group, provides the opportunity for enterprise network buyers to evaluate products on an objective basis and gain the confidence that products support industry-accepted protocols and deliver interoperability. The Tolly Verified tests, which were conducted to determine Cisco interoperability, mean that customers and partners have verification that the 3Com Router 5000 series and Router 3000 series interoperate in a network of Cisco routers.
"Network managers want best-of-breed devices and they want choice. That is what 3Com is offering the market -- routers that are interoperable with installed Cisco gear and either offer greater performance, lower cost or both," said Kevin Tolly, president/CEO of The Tolly Group. "Our Tolly Verified testing is a new means to substantiate multi-vendor interoperability, support the market`s shift to evolving industry standards, and create a more level playing field for verifying products."
"3Com`s acceleration in selling new products to enterprise customers entails verification of interoperability with competing vendors` products to ensure successful multi-vendor deployments and upgrades," said Bill Naas, director of enterprise, 3Com Corporation. "The new value proposition for CIOs and network managers includes the increase in operational efficiency and the lowering of ongoing network costs. For example, when an enterprise, such as a financial institution, expands or upgrades their branch and remote offices, the organisation can achieve comparable results at a lower total cost of ownership with the 3Com Router 5000 and Router 3000 WAN routers."
The new 3Com Router 5000 family is a set of mid-range routers and the 3Com Router 3000 family is a set of remote office routers - the first two series of new routers that 3Com delivered in 2003 as part of a range of 3Com routers that will continue to expand in 2004. 3Com`s range of routers is designed to offer enhanced WAN and secure Internet services to large, mid-sized and smaller enterprises. As full-functioned routers to control traffic flows between sites on a WAN, the 3Com routers support quality of service (QoS) and traffic prioritisation, necessary for converged voice networks, and include VPN (virtual private network) and encryption support for tight security.
"Tolly Verified" testing establishes new benchmark for interoperability
The Tolly Group performed a series of independently-developed tests to validate interoperability of 3Com`s Router 5000 family and Router 3000 family with the Cisco 1750 Router and Cisco IOS 12.x. The Tolly Group testing verified Cisco interoperability with a number of router functions, including IP V1 & V2, IP OSPF, IPX, VRRP, 802.1p/Q, IP multicast, VPN and many more functions.
The testing also revealed that the 3Com Router 5009 has superior performance to the Cisco 1750 Router, according to The Tolly Group. All of the test results and the details about The Tolly Group test methodology are available on The Tolly Group`s Web site www.tolly.com.
"The guess work has been removed. With independent verification that routers from Cisco and 3Com are proven to interoperate, the opportunity for customers to take advantage of it is significant. Having been given the first of the `Tolly Verified` distinction for routers, 3Com`s routers not only offer full interoperability with a Cisco network, but are full-featured with a robust, fully configured feature set," said Howard Rubin, router product marketing, 3Com. "We are hearing from both enterprise customers and channel partners alike that want this verification to move to the next stage of adding more business value to networks."
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