Cisco broadens SOHO offering - announces Cisco 805 serial router for small offices

Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, extended its small office home office (SOHO) product line with the new Cisco 805 serial router. The Cisco 805 serial router with integrated Cisco IOS technology, provides small offices with secure and reliable Internet access via Frame Relay, leased line, X.25 or asynchronous dialup. Cisco also announced key security enhancements to its existing Cisco 800 series routers including support for IP security (IPSec) and dynamic firewalls.

Cisco 805 Serial Router

The Cisco 805 serial router is ideally suited for small offices that need to connect multiple PCs to the Internet via a single serial line such as Frame Relay, leased line, X.25 or asynchronous dialup. The new router features an Ethernet port and a serial port that supports synchronous serial connections of up to 512 kbps or asynchronous serial dialup (up to 115 kbps) with an external modem. The Cisco 805 router broadens the range of WAN options supported by the Cisco 800 series to include all common WAN links for small offices.

Key Security Features in a Small-Office Router

Small businesses are using the Internet to improve communication with current customers and reach new prospects at an increasing rate. As more business is conducted over the Internet, data security is becoming a critical requirement to ensure that sensitive information remains confidential. The Cisco 800 series now offers the most complete range of security options available in any SOHO router, including the Cisco IOS Firewall feature set and IPSec.

The integrated firewall features include dynamic context based access control, Java blocking, and protection from denial-of-service attacks. The optional Cisco Firewall feature builds on the already robust set of security features such as access control lists, lock and key, route and router authentication, token card authentication, PAP, CHAP, and MS CHAP.

The Cisco 800 series also includes industry-standard IPSec with 56-bit Data Encryption Standard (DES). This feature provides standards-based encryption to ensure confidentiality, data integrity, and data origin authenticity while traversing the Internet. IPSec support on the Cisco 800 also allows customers to leverage the cost savings of the Internet to create secure virtual private networks (VPNs) for small offices and corporate telecommuters.

Every Cisco 800 series router ships with Cisco Fast Step installation and configuration software. The routers include color-coded cabling and an open-me-first instruction pack to ensure easy, out-of-the-box deployment. Ideal for resellers, Cisco ConfigMaker substantially reduces the time to configure multiple network devices through an easy to use graphical user interface. Additionally, ConfigMaker verifies the accuracy of each device configuration to ensure interoperability.

"The Cisco 800 series enhanced security features and the Cisco 805 serial router, the latest addition to our Cisco 800 series, reinforce our commitment to our SOHO customers. According to the most recent Dell`Oro report, Cisco is the market leader with over 50 percent market share in the SOHO market," said Bruce Laird, senior director of marketing, Remote Internetworking Business Unit at Cisco Systems. "With the new Cisco 805, customers have more choices on how to easily and affordably connect their small offices to the Internet and benefit from the enhanced security and reliability of Cisco IOS technology."