Cisco's been feeling some heat recently, with many vendors nipping at the networking giant's heels, such as Dell with its low-cost PowerConnect switching line. Rather than get into a pricing war, Cisco has opted to emphasize enterprise features and robustness. To that end, Cisco today announced four new models in its Catalyst switch line -- the Catalyst 3650-E, 3750-E, the 3560-8TC, and the 2960-8TC -- as well To that end, Cisco today announced four new models in its Catalyst switch line — the Catalyst 3650-E, 3750-E, the 3560-8TC, and the 2960-8TC — as well as a few updates to existing hardware. The gear delivers new features, increased stacking throughput, an innovative feature for bridging the upgrade to 10G, and a whole new way to manage feature sets across multiple switches.The Catalyst 3650-E standalone and 3750-E stackable switches are offered in 24- and 48-port flavors, each with two 10G modules. The Catalyst 3560-8TC and 2960-8TC Compact Switches are 7- and 8-port fanless designs aimed at industrial applications. The 3650-E and 3750-E both offer full PoE (Power over Ethernet) capabilities at each switch port, as well as a new redundant power solution. In addition, Cisco has introduced a fresh take on 10G via a new feature called the TwinGig. Building a bridge to 10G The TwinGig adapter houses a pair of 1G SFP ports that can be plugged into the 10G port on the new switches. When the time comes to bring the network up to 10G, the TwinGig adapters are replaced with standard 10G optics. In this way, it’s possible to leverage existing 1G connectivity to these switches while eliminating the need for new edge switches following an upgrade to 10G across the network. This relatively low-cost upgrade path can certainly ease upgrade headaches, with only the loss of the initial investment being the TwinGig adapters, rather than the whole switch. The TwinGig adapters are available only for the 3650-E and 3750-E switches.On the back end, the 3750-E offers a 64Gbps stacking backplane, doubling the existing 32Gbps backplane found in the existing 3700-series Catalyst line. The 3750-E is backwards-compatible with existing stacks and will step down to 32Gbps in this scenario. Also announced today: the 8700W Enhanced AC Power Supply, an 8700-watt power supply for the flagship Catalyst 6500 Series of switches. The 8700W enables full PoE support for up to 420 copper ports on these high-density modular switches. It also adds true out-of-band management to the mix, allowing admins to remotely power down switches directly from the power supply if needed. Viva redundancy! Cisco’s also trumpeting the ISSU (In-service Software Upgrade) features in the Catalyst 4500 Series switches. ISSU allows a 4500 Series switch with two supervisor blades to boot a different IOS revision without a reboot of the switch or loss of connectivity. This feature was actually introduced for the 4500 Series switches in September of 2006, but is only now being given a spotlight. This is a truly enterprise feature that can make a big difference in some networks, but will be of no benefit in 4500 Series switches without redundant supervisors. Cisco’s also calling attention to its new method of IOS feature licensing. Previously, switches could be purchased with base software or advanced software, with a significant price difference. Base software was for standard switching functions, while advanced features would enable higher-end tools and protocols. The downside to this practice was that in order to upgrade a switch to use advanced features, the new IOS had to be loaded onto the switch and then the switch would require a reboot. Available initially only for the 3650-E and 3750-E switches, Cisco today announced Cisco IOS software activation, which places all required code on every switch, with advanced features available with the proper activation key. This will eliminate the need to reboot a switch in order to access these features, and should significantly reduce the number of available IOS releases for any given platform, which will certainly please anyone who’s had to wade through the IOS upgrade planner on Cisco’s site to find the one proper image out of a dozen or more available for that platform. In addition, the new Cisco Licensing Manager can manage licensing keys across an entire network, rather than on a switch-by-switch basis. Use of this new licensing method is not required, however, and the new Catalysts will run existing IOS releases. Coupled with updates to Cisco’s Network Assistant GUI network management tools, Cisco had a lot to say, and the new Catalysts promise much. We’ll see how they fare in the lab when InfoWorld takes a look at the new Catalysts down the road.The 3560 and 2960 Compact Switches ship today; the former starts at $1,395 and the latter at $895.The Cisco Catalyst 3750-E ships in February, starting at $9,495. The 3560, also to ship in February, will start at $5,995. Finally, the 8700W AC Power Supply, priced at $7,000, also ships in February.For more on the announcements, check out the IDG News Service’s article. Technology Industry