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Sep. 16, 2009

Ask any experienced network administrator and he or she will tell you that at the heart of almost all Cisco enterprise routers is Cisco's proprietary IOS operating system.

But when it comes to small businesses or non-profit organizations, and in an effort to save money for its customers, Cisco isn't offering IOS anymore. Instead, Cisco's new small business router is powered by the Linux operating system.

The new routers are not intended to compete against Cisco's enterprise class routers and are being specifically geared for the needs of small-business users with less complexity and easier setup than previous IOS-powered routers.

Cisco has also announced a new set of small business networking products including the SA 500-series security appliances, designed to provide unified threat management (UTM) capabilities. The SA 500-series routers provide the usual UTM combination of features including firewall, VPN, antispam, URL filtering and antivirus capabilities.

The new small business routers come as the network giant focuses on small and midsized businesses to help drive its own business during the current global economic downturn.

A few weeks ago, Cisco CEO John Chambers specifically noted small business as a target area for growth. For the company, the choice to avoid relying on IOS for its latest batch of small business products is all about simplicity, and a reduction in overall price.

Mark Monday, Cisco's v.p. and GM of small business solutions says "for us, we are trying to drive the price down in this competitive market environement while at the same time reduce the overall complexity. It is truly a Linux underlying operating system-- the same you see in any Linux server."

However, Monday didn't elaborate on the actual Linux kernel version or distribution used by Cisco for its new SA 500 series of small business routers.

Cisco certainly is no stranger to Linux or the open source community. Last year, Cisco rolled out a new Linux-powered server card called the AXP (Application eXtension Platform) for its enterprise ISR routers. Cisco is also a major contributor to the Linux kernel and has previously said that, although it does customize its own Linux routers for some uses, Cisco isn't about to enter the Linux distribution business itself.

Monday added "make no mistake: IOS is a great network operating system, and there is no doubt in my mind that it's the best OS that can be offered. For us, to really focus on a partner that's not necessarily going to invest in learning IOS and all its capabilities, we have to deliver a simpler solution to them."

However, Monday also said that he doesn't see the new equipment cannibalizing Cisco's existing enterprise sales either, nor overlapping with existing offerings.

He went on to explain that the new small business focused equipment is being tailored for small customers that are just starting to appreciate how networking can help their businesses. Likewise, Monday pointed out that the ISR and ASA devices are designed for enterprise branch offices where hundreds of sites could be connected together and there is a need for enterprise-grade support.

For the past several years, Cisco has offered routing equipment to small business customers such as the Cisco ASR 1861 series, and some of its ASA security appliances.

Another difference between the new SA-500 series of routers and other Cisco equipment in use among SMBs comes in terms of the new Linux offerings' focus.

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Source: Cisco.

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