CISCO SYSTEMS USERS MAGAZINE SECOND QUARTER 2004 Communicating in an IP World 30 How Technology Is Transforming Business 19 Power over Ethernet 65 Service-Driven Metro Networks 80 Branch of the Future 57 Business Ready Data Center cisco.com/packet Reprinted with permission from Packet® magazine (Volume 16, No. 2), copyright © 2004 by Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. PACKET MAGAZINE FROM THE EDITOR DAVID BALL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JERE KING PUBLISHER What’s in a Name? JENNIFER REDOVIAN MANAGING EDITOR SUSAN BORTON SENIOR EDITOR f the name is ip communications, the JOANIE WEXLER answer is lots. When I first heard the term used to refer CONTRIBUTING EDITOR to IP telephony service, I must admit, I didn’t like it. I R.J. SMITH thought it was far too broad and generic. After all, isn’t SUNSET CUSTOM PUBLISHING I PRODUCTION MANAGER e-mail a form of IP communications? As a matter of fact, it is. And so is IP telephony, and video telephony, and con- MICHELLE GERVAIS, NICOLE MAZZEI MARK RYAN, NORMA TENNIS ferencing, and voice mail, and unified messaging. SUNSET CUSTOM PUBLISHING IP communications, it turns out, is a great way to PRODUCTION describe the myriad ways in which we can communicate JEFF BRAND ART DIRECTOR and collaborate over an IP network. IP communications, EMILY BURCH as a solution from Cisco, not only encompasses the ser- DESIGNER vices noted above; it includes contact centers (or, more pre- ELLEN SOKOLOFF cisely, Customer Interaction Networks), voice gateways DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATOR and applications, security solutions, and network man- BILL LITTELL PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER agement. These applications and services are not only CECELIA GLOVER TAYLOR incremental to your existing network investment, but they go a long way in boosting pro- CIRCULATION DIRECTOR ductivity and driving down total cost of ownership. Because of it, IP communications is SPENCER TOY transforming the way businesses communicate, internally and externally. COVER PHOTOGRAPH And that’s what we focus on in this issue of Packet® (starting on page 30). We share SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CONTRIBUTORS: STEVE ANDERSON, GREG BEACH, with you real-life, innovative uses of IP telephony; audio and videoconferencing; unified KAREN DALAL, GRACE HU-MORLEY, JANICE KING, messaging; and other IP communications solutions in several industries, including trans- BRIAN MCDONALD, MARCUS PHIPPS, KARYN SCOTT, BILL STEPHENS, LAURA STIFF portation, manufacturing, government, and education (page 36). Learn how Cisco’s new ADVERTISING INFORMATION: video telephony solution is helping to break down the cost and usage barriers associated Kristen Bergman, 408-525-2542 with traditional video telephony and conferencing systems (page 45). We also offer ten [email protected] top tips to help guide a successful IP telephony implementation—gleaned from Cisco’s View Packet magazine at cisco.com/packet. own IP telephony deployment and lessons learned such as the importance of under- PUBLISHER INFORMATION: standing your users’ expectations and requirements (page 48). Packet magazine (ISSN 1535-2439) is published quarterly by Cisco Systems and distributed free of Integral to many of these IP communications services and applications is the Cisco IP charge to users of Cisco products. Application to Phone. In fact, Cisco IP phones are displacing approximately 5000 circuit-based, tradi- mail at Periodicals Rates pending at San Jose, California, and additional mailing offices. tional phones each business day, up from 2000 per business day a year ago. While the POSTMASTER: Please send direct address corrections productivity gains associated with IP phones’ simple adds, moves, and changes are sub- and other correspondence to [email protected] stantial, the real business value is being realized by those companies that integrate their or to Packet in care of: business processes with their new communications infrastructure and tap into exciting Packet Magazine PO Box 2080 applications that make the network work for them. Skokie, Illinois 60076-9324 Many Cisco partners are developing easy-to-use applications based on open standards USA Phone: 847-647-2293 such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), which demonstrate the power of Cisco IP phones to solve business problems, streamline business communications, and bolster Aironet, Catalyst, CCDA, CCDP, CCIE, CCNA, CCNP, Cisco, Cisco IOS, Cisco Networking Academy, Cisco Press, the Cisco employee productivity and customer satisfaction (see page 41). Powered Network logo, the Cisco Systems logo, Cisco Unity, IOS, IP/TV, iQ, Packet, PIX, SMARTnet, and StackWise are registered As business-wise and increasingly popular as IP-based communications are, they do not trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc., and/or its affil- diminish the value of communicating face to face—which is exactly how we hope to speak iates in the USA and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this publication are the property of their respective with you at this year’s US Networkers conference in New Orleans, Louisiana (July 11 through owners. 16). Come “Meet the Editors” at the Packet booth in the World of Solutions. Talk to us about Packet copyright © 2004 by Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights your job, the network challenges you’ve overcome, and IP communications or other inno- reserved. Printed in the USA. vative applications or services you’ve recently deployed. We’re especially interested to hear No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, or how your company or organization is leveraging network technology to compete or change by any means, without prior written permission from Cisco Systems, Inc. the rules in your respective industry. This publication is distributed on an “as-is” basis, without war- We want to hear from you. Because when it comes to the pages of Packet, your voice ranty of any kind either express or implied, including but not is our greatest asset. limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. This publication could contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Later issues may modify or update information provided in this issue. Neither the publisher nor any contributor shall have any liabili- ty to any person for any loss or damage caused directly or indi- Editor-in-Chief rectly by the information contained herein. Packet This magazine is printed on recycled paper. [email protected] 10% SECOND QUARTER 2004 PACKET 1 TOTAL RECOVERED FIBER Reprinted with permission from Packet® magazine (Volume 16, No. 2), copyright © 2004 by Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Mail Tracking Down Top Talkers because in some situations Lightweight Directory Protocol (LDP) is also used Affan Basalamah presented a very inter- (although using LDP is not a good idea esting Reader Tip [First Quarter 2004] on for obvious reasons). I am interested in how to track down “top talkers” on a fully your comments on this. meshed network using alias commands to speed up the process. While the discus- Second, the article refers to EXP bits in sion of aliases is very useful, the tip never the shim header, but there are no EXP bits. I think that these are referred to as Tech Tips Top His List addressed the real problem in this situa- tion. Without a network analysis module COS bits instead of EXP bits, which again creates confusion because the The First Quarter 2004 issue of (NAM) or other tools, how do you find the EXP bits terminology, though used in the Packet® was excellent with its cov- IP address of the top talker in the first past, is now deprecated. erage of security, IOS®, high avail- place? I believe this is of far more value in ability, etc. I read with particular a real-world situation, and is the first step —Noman Bari, CTTC PVT. Ltd., Karachi, Pakistan interest of the AutoSecure feature in solving a customer’s complaint that The following is a response by author in Cisco IOS Software Release 12.3 “the network is slow.” Santiago Alvarez.—Editors Mainline. But all the information is —Blue Beckham, APS, Phoenix, Arizona, USA very helpful to us because we’re Regarding the first point, MPLS does installing a Cisco infrastructure at The following is a response by Cisco not imply traffic engineering. Large our facilities. I am familiar with Hot Technical Support Engineer Phillip MPLS deployments worldwide don’t Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) Remaker.—Editors make use of MPLS-TE. Because TE tech- and Virtual Router Redundancy The tip is how to locate the port where an niques are applied at different levels Protocol (VRRP) but was not famil- IP address lives once you identify the IP (for example, TDM, SDH, ATM, etc.), iar with Gateway Load Balancing address. We assume you found a suspi- MPLS acts as a qualifier that defines the Protocol (GLBP) until now. The arti- cious IP address by other means. Using context under which TE is being dis- cle on GLBP written by Rick the Cisco Intrusion Detection System cussed. Regarding the second point, my Williams, “High Availability for (IDS) product line is an excellent way to notation is consistent with RFC 3032 Campus Networks,” is especially find devices with anomalous behavior. (www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3032.html) and useful to me. I probably will be You can also use NetFlow and NetFlow industrywide use. able to use GLBP for my dual-con- statistics on routers to find top talkers. nected remote sites to do load sharing. I also liked the security Point of Confusion best practices section of the article CORRECTION “Proactive Protection.” Last year In the article “Is It Time to Converge? The article “A Winning Game Plan” the NetFlow feature on the routers [Fourth Quarter 2003], I am confused on [First Quarter 2004, page 33] inac- helped me to track down most talk- two points. First, I think adding the TE curately stated that storage-area ing devices and shut them down to acronym to MPLS (MPLS-TE) is mislead- networks are often located offsite.