Cisco Systems Inc has added to its Gigabit Switch Router line with the 12008 model which primarily targets the ISP market. The OC-48 (2.4 Gbps) switching fabric of the Cisco 12008 scales from 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps and includes redundancy in all key system components. The unit extends the family of gigabit switch routers, which also includes the Cisco 12012 with switching capacity from 15 Gbps to 60 Gbps, and the Cisco 12004 with a switching capacity of 5 Gbps. The Cisco 12008 also integrates Packet-Over-Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and ATM connections. Integration of Packet-over-SONET/SDH connections allows the Cisco 12008 to send native IP packets across standard SONET/SDH equipment. This enables the Cisco 12008 to be directly attached to fiber-based networks. The Cisco 12008 initially supports IP backbone links at OC-3/STM-1 (155 Mbps) and OC- 12/STM-4 (622 Mbps) and scales to handle links up to OC-48/STM-16 (2.4 Gbps). It is available now with prices starting at $19,900.
