Hierarchical Design Model – Core – distribution – access layer

A hierarchical network design includes the following three layers:

• The backbone (core) layer that provides optimal transport between sites
• The distribution layer that provides policy-based connectivity
• The local-access layer that provides workgroup/user access to the network

Function of the Core Layer

The core layer is a high-speed switching backbone and should be designed to switch packets as fast as possible. This layer of the network should not perform any packet manipulation, such as access lists and filtering, that would slow down the switching of packets.

Function of the Distribution Layer

The distribution layer of the network is the demarcation point between the access and core layers and helps to define and differentiate the core. The purpose of this layer is to provide boundary definition and is the place at which packet manipulation can take place. In the campus environment, the distribution layer can include several functions, such as the following:

• Address or area aggregation
• Departmental or workgroup access
• Broadcast/multicast domain definition
• Virtual LAN (VLAN) routing
• Any media transitions that need to occur
• Security

In the non-campus environment, the distribution layer can be a redistribution point between routing domains or the demarcation between static and dynamic routing protocols. It can also be the point at which remote sites access the corporate network. The distribution layer can be summarized as the layer that provides policy-based connectivity.

Function of the Access Layer

The access layer is the point at which local end users are allowed into the network. This layer may also use access lists or filters to further optimize the needs of a particular set of users. In the campus environment, access-layer functions can include the following:

• Shared bandwidth
• Switched bandwidth
• MAC layer filtering
• Microsegmentation

In the non-campus environment, the access layer can give remote sites access to the corporate network via some wide-area technology, such as Frame Relay, ISDN, or leased lines.
It is sometimes mistakenly thought that the three layers (core, distribution, and access) must exist in clear and distinct physical entities, but this does not have to be the case. The layers are defined to aid successful network design and to represent functionality that must exist in a network. The instantiation of each layer can be in distinct routers or switches, can be represented by a physical media, can be combined in a single device, or can be omitted altogether. The way the layers are implemented depends on the needs of the network being designed. Note, however, that for a network to function optimally, hierarchy must be maintained.

The Cisco Three-Layered Hierarchical Model

Cisco has defined a hierarchical model known as the hierarchical internetworking model. This model simplifies the task of building a reliable, scalable, and less expensive hierarchical internetwork because rather than focusing on packet construction, it focuses on the three functional areas, or layers, of your network:

Core layer: This layer is considered the backbone of the network and includes the high-end switches and high-speed cables such as fiber cables. This layer of the network does not route traffic at the LAN. In addition, no packet manipulation is done by devices in this layer. Rather, this layer is concerned with speed and ensures reliable delivery of packets.

Distribution layer: This layer includes LAN-based routers and layer 3 switches. This layer ensures that packets are properly routed between subnets and VLANs in your enterprise. This layer is also called the Workgroup layer.

Access layer: This layer includes hubs and switches. This layer is also called the desktop layer because it focuses on connecting client nodes, such as workstations to the network. This layer ensures that packets are delivered to end user computers.

Figure displays the three layers of the Cisco hierarchical model.

 When you implement these layers, each layer might comprise more than two devices or a single device might function across multiple layers.The benefits of the Cisco hierarchical model include:

• High Performance: You can design high performance networks, where only certain layers are susceptible to congestion.
• Efficient management & troubleshooting: Allows you to efficiently organize network management and isolate causes of network trouble.
• Policy creation: You can easily create policies and specify filters and rules.
• Scalability: You can grow the network easily by dividing your network into functional areas.


• Behavior prediction: When planning or managing a network, the model allows you determine what will happen to the network when new stresses are placed on it.

Core Layer
The core layer is responsible for fast and reliable transportation of data across a network. The core layer is often known as the backbone or foundation network because all other layers rely upon it. Its purpose is to reduce the latency time in the delivery of packets. The factors to be considered while designing devices to be used in the core layer are:

• High data transfer rate: Speed is important at the core layer. One way that core networks enable high data transfer rates is through load sharing, where traffic can travel through multiple network connections.


Low latency period: The core layer typically uses high-speed low latency circuits which only forward packets and do not enforcing policy.
• High reliability: Multiple data paths ensure high network fault tolerance; if one path experiences a problem, then the device can quickly discover a new route.

At the core layer, efficiency is the key term. Fewer and faster systems create a more efficient backbone. There are various equipments available for the core layer. Examples of core layer Cisco equipment include:

Cisco switches such as 7000, 7200, 7500, and 12000 (for WAN use) Catalyst switches such as 6000, 5000, and 4000 (for LAN use) T-1 and E-1 lines, Frame relay connections, ATM networks, Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) Distribution Layer The distribution layer is responsible for routing. It also provides policy-based network connectivity, including: Packet filtering (firewalling): Processes packets and regulates the transmission of packets based on its source and destination information to create network borders. QoS: The router or layer 3 switches can read packets and prioritize delivery, based on policies you set. Access Layer Aggregation Point: The layer serves the aggregation point for the desktop layer switches. Control Broadcast and Multicast: The layer serves as the boundary for broadcast and multicast domains. Application Gateways: The layer allows you to create protocol gateways to and from different network architectures. The distribution layer also performs queuing and provides packet manipulation of the network traffic. It is at this layer where you begin to exert control over network transmissions, including what comes in and what goes out of the network. You will also limit and create broadcast domains, create virtual LANs, if necessary, and conduct various management tasks, including obtaining route summaries. In a route summary, you consolidate traffic from many subnets into a core network connection. In Cisco routers, the command to obtain a routing summary is: show ip route summary You can practice viewing routing information using a free CCNA exam router simulator available from SemSim.com. You can also determine how routers update each other’s routing tables by choosing specific routing protocols. Examples of Cisco-specific distribution layer equipment include 2600,4000, 4500 series routers Access Layer The access layer contains devices that allow workgroups and users to use the services provided by the distribution and core layers. In the access layer, you have the ability to expand or contract collision domains using a repeater, hub, or standard switch. In regards to the access layer, a switch is not a high-powered device, such as those found at the core layer. Rather, a switch is an advanced version of a hub. A collision domain describes a portion of an Ethernet network at layer 1 of the OSI model where any communication sent by a node can be sensed by any other node on the network. This is different from a broadcast domain which describes any part of a network at layer 2 or 3 of the OSI model where a node can broadcast to any node on the network. At the access layer, you can: Enable MAC address filtering: It is possible to program a switch to allow only certain systems to access the connected LANs. Create separate collision domains: A switch can create separate collision domains for each connected node to improve performance. Share bandwidth: You can allow the same network connection to handle all data. Handle switch bandwidth: You can move data from one network to another to perform load balancing.

Hierarchical internetworking model

1982–1995: early years

Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by two members of Stanford University computer support staff: Leonard Bosack who was in charge of the computer science department's computers, and Sandy Lerner, who managed the Graduate School of Business' computers.
Despite founding Cisco in 1984, Bosack, along with Kirk Lougheed, continued to work at Stanford on Cisco's first product which consisted of exact replicas of Stanford's "Blue Box" router and a stolen^[5] copy of the University's multiple-protocol router software, originally written some years earlier at Stanford medical school by William Yeager - a Stanford research engineer — which they adapted into what became the foundation for Cisco IOS. On July 11, 1986, Bosack and Kirk Lougheed were forced to resign from Stanford and the University contemplated filing criminal complaints against Cisco and its founders for the theft of its software, hardware designs and other intellectual properties. In 1987, Stanford licensed the router software and two computer boards to Cisco.
In addition to Bosack, Lerner and Lougheed, Greg Satz, a programmer, and Richard Troiano, who handled sales completed the early Cisco team. The company's first CEO was Bill Graves, who held the position from 1987 to 1988.^[6] In 1988, John Morgridge was appointed CEO.
The name "Cisco" was derived from the city name, San Francisco, which is why the company's engineers insisted on using the lower case "cisco" in the early days.
On February 16, 1990, Cisco Systems went public (with a market capitalization of $224 million) and was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. On August 28, 1990, Lerner was fired; upon hearing the news, her husband Bosack resigned in protest. The couple walked away from Cisco with $170 million, 70% of which was committed to their own charity.^[7]
Although Cisco was not the first company to develop and sell dedicated network nodes,^[8] it was one of the first to sell commercially successful routers supporting multiple network protocols.^[9] Classical, CPU-based architecture of early Cisco devices coupled with flexibility of operating system IOS allowed for keeping up with evolving technology needs by means of frequent software upgrades. Some popular models of that time (such as Cisco 2500) managed to stay in production for almost a decade virtually unchanged—a rare sight in high-tech industry. Although Cisco was strongly rooted in the enterprise environment, the company was quick to capture the emerging service provider environment, entering SP market with new, high-capacity product lines such as Cisco 7000 and Cisco 7500.
Between 1992 and 1994, Cisco acquired several companies in Ethernet switching, such as Kalpana, Grand Junction, and most notably, Mario Mazzola's Crescendo Communications which together formed the Catalyst business unit. At the time, the company envisioned layer 3 routing and layer 2 (Ethernet, Token Ring) switching as complementary functions of different intelligence and architecture—the former was slow and complex, the latter was fast but simple. This philosophy dominated the company's product lines throughout 1990s.
In 1995, John Morgridge was succeeded by John Chambers.^[10]

1996–2009: Internet and silicon intelligence

The phenomenal growth of the Internet in mid-to-late 1990s quickly changed the telecom landscape. As the Internet Protocol (IP) became widely adopted, the importance of multi-protocol routing declined. Nevertheless, Cisco managed to catch the Internet wave, with products ranging from modem access shelves (AS5200) to core GSR routers that quickly became vital to Internet service providers and by 1998 gave Cisco de facto monopoly in this critical segment.
In late March 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, Cisco became the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than US$500 billion.^[11][12] In November 2011, with a market cap of about US$94 billion,^[13] it is still one of the most valuable companies.^[14]
Meanwhile, the growth of Internet bandwidth requirements kept challenging traditional, software-based packet processing architectures.
The perceived complexity of programming routing functions in silicon, led to formation of several startups determined to find new ways to process IP and MPLS packets entirely in hardware and blur boundaries between routing and switching. One of them, Juniper Networks, shipped their first product in 1999 and by 2000 chipped away about 30% from Cisco SP Market share. Cisco answered the challenge with homegrown ASICs and fast processing cards for GSR routers and Catalyst 6500 switches. In 2004, Cisco also started migration to new high-end hardware CRS-1 and software architecture IOS-XR.

2006–2012: The Human Network

As part of a massive rebranding campaign in 2006, Cisco Systems adopted the shortened name "Cisco" and created "The Human Network" advertising campaign. These efforts were meant to make Cisco a "household" brand—a strategy designed to support the low-end Linksys products and future consumer products (such as Flip Video camera acquired by Cisco in 2009).
On the more traditional business side, Cisco continued to develop its extensive enterprise-focused routing, switching and security portfolio. Quickly growing importance of Ethernet also influenced the company's product lines, prompting the company to morph the successful Catalyst 6500 Ethernet switch into all-purpose Cisco 7600 routing platform.^[15] However, limits of IOS and aging Crescendo architecture also forced Cisco to look at merchant silicon in the carrier Ethernet segment. This resulted in a new ASR9000 product family intended to consolidate company's carrier ethernet and subscriber management business around EZChip-based hardware and IOS-XR. Cisco also expanded into new markets by acquisition—one example being a 2009 purchase of mobile specialist Starent Networks that resulted in ASR5000 product line.

A Cisco base in Chennai, India. India is one of the company's largest overseas markets and production centers.

Throughout the mid-2000s, Cisco also built a significant presence in India, establishing its Globalization Centre East in Bengaluru for $1 billion, and planning that 20% of Cisco's leaders would be based there.^[16]
However, Cisco continued to be challenged by both domestic Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper Networks and overseas competitors Huawei. Due to lower-than-expected profit in 2011, Cisco was forced to reduce annual expenses by $1 billion. The company cut around 3,000 employees with an early-retirement program who accepted buyout and planned to eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs (around 14 percent of the 73,400 total employees before curtailment).^[17][18] During the 2011 analyst call, Cisco's CEO John Chambers called out several competitors by name,^[19] including Juniper and HP.
On 24 July 2012, Cisco received approval from the EU to acquire NDS (a TV software developer) for USD 5 billion.^[20] This acquisition signaled the end of the "The Human Network" strategy as Cisco found itself backing off from household hardware like Linksys ^[21] and Flip into the cloud and software solutions.

2013–Present: The Internet of Everything

Cisco launches its first global re-branding campaign for the first time in six years with its "TOMORROW starts here" and "Internet of Everything" advertising campaigns. These efforts were designed to position Cisco for the next ten years into a global leader in connecting the previously unconnected and facilitate the IP address connectivity of people, data, processes and things through cloud computing applications and services.
On July 23, 2013, Cisco Systems announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sourcefire for $2.7 billion.^[22]

Media and awards

Cisco products, most notably IP phones and Telepresence, are frequently sighted in movies and TV series.^[23] The company itself and its history was featured in the documentary film Something Ventured which premiered in 2011.
Cisco was a 2002–03 recipient of the Ron Brown Award,^[24][25] a U.S. presidential honor to recognize companies "for the exemplary quality of their relationships with employees and communities". Cisco commonly stays on top of Fortune "100 Best Companies to work for", with position No. 20 in 2011.^[26]

Acquisitions

Main article: List of acquisitions by Cisco Systems

Cisco acquired a variety of companies to spin products and talent into the company. In 1995–1996 the company completed 11 acquisitions.^[27] Several acquisitions, such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the industry when they occurred.^[28] During the Internet boom in 1999, the company acquired Cerent Corporation, a start-up company located in Petaluma, California, for about US$7 billion.^[29] It was the most expensive acquisition made by Cisco to that date, and only the acquisition of Scientific Atlanta has been larger.^[30] Several acquired companies have grown into $1Bn+ business units for Cisco, including LAN switching, Enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) platform Webex, and home networking. The latter came as result of Cisco acquiring Linksys in 2003 and in 2010 was supplemented with new product line dubbed Cisco Valet. Cisco announced on March 15, 2012 that it is acquiring NDS Group for $5B.^[31][32] This transaction was completed on July 30, 2012.^[2][3]
In the recent merger deals, Cisco bought Starent Networks (a mobile packet core company) and Moto Development Group, a product design consulting firm that helped develop Cisco's Flip video camera.^[33][34] Also in 2010, Cisco became a key stakeholder in e-Skills Week. In March 2011, Cisco completed the acquisition of privately held network configuration and change management solutions company Pari Networks.^[35]
Although many buy-ins (such as Crescendo Networks in 1993, Tandberg in 2010) resulted in acquisition of flagship technology to Cisco, many others have failed—partially or completely.^[36] For instance, in 2010 Cisco occupied a meaningful share of the packet-optical market,^[37] revenues were still not on par with US$7 billion price tag paid in 1999 for Cerent. Some of acquired technologies (such as Flip from Pure Digital) saw their product lines terminated.^[38][39]
In January 2013, Cisco Systems acquired Israeli software maker Intucell for around $475 million in cash, a move to expand its mobile network management offerings.^[40][41] In the same month, Cisco Systems acquired Cognitive Security, a company focused on Cyber Threat Protection. Cisco also acquired SolveDirect(Cloud Services) in March 2013 and Ubiquisys(Modile Software) in April 2013.

Products and services

This section appears to contain a large number of buzzwords. Specific concerns can be found on the talk page. Please help improve this section if you can. (August 2012)

Cisco's current portfolio of products and services is focused upon three market segments—Enterprise and Service Provider, Small Business and the Home. The solutions for each market are segmented into Architectures, which form the basis for how Cisco approaches each market.

Corporate market

Corporate market refers to enterprise networking and service providers.

Borderless networks

^[42] for their range of routers, switches, wireless systems, security systems, WAN acceleration, energy and building management systems and media aware networks.^[43]

Collaboration

IP video and phones, TelePresence, HealthPresence, Unified Communications, Call Center systems, Enterprise social networks and Mobile applications^[44]

Datacenter and Virtualization

Unified Computing, Unified Fabric, Data Centre Switching, Storage Networking and Cloud Computing services.^[45]

IP NGN (Next Generation Networks)

High-end routing and switching for fixed and mobile service provider networks, broadcast video contribution/distribution, entitlement and content delivery systems.^[46]

Small businesses

Small businesses include home businesses and (usually technology-based) startups.^[47]

Routers and switches

The machines that route and redirect packets across a network, including those for networks of smart meters.^[48]

Security and surveillance

IP cameras, data and network security solutions, etc.^[49]

Voice and conferencing solutions

VOIP phones and gateway-systems, WebEx, video conferencing

Wireless

WiFi Access points

Network storage systems

Persistent storage on networks, either in the traditional sense or in a cloud-like manner.

Home user

Home user refers to individuals or families who require these kinds of services.^[50]

Broadband

Broadband refers to cable modems.

Flip Video

With the acquisition of Pure Digital Technologies, Cisco began to sell a line of video recording devices called "Flip Video" that had been Pure Digital's only line of products. This line of products was not as popular as Cisco had thought it would have been, and on April 12, 2011, Cisco announced they were discontinuing all Flip camera production.^[51][52] Cisco ūmi product line—video conferencing for home also proved to be a short-lived bid for consumer multimedia market and did survive in Cisco product lineup.^[53]

Hardware

A Cisco ASM/2-32EM router deployed at CERN in 1987

A Cisco 7960G IP Phone

Cisco UCS blade servers

Data

• Datacenter products: Nexus Switches (1000v, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 7000), MDS, Unified Computing System (UCS)
• Routers, including: 837, 1000 Series, 2500 Series, 7600, 12000, 3600 Series, ASR Series and CRS-1 and CRS-3
• Security appliances: ASA 5500, PIX 500 series, Cisco Security Manager, Email Security Appliance (ESA), Web Security Appliance (WSA), Content Security Management Appliance (SMA)
• Catalyst switches: 1900 Series, 2900 / 2950 / 2960 / 3500XL Series, 3550 / 3750 Series, 3000 Series, Catalyst 4500/4900, 5000/5500 Series, 6500 Series
• Teleworker/Remote Connectivity—Cisco LAN2LAN Personal Office for ISDN, VPN 3000 Concentrators
• Cisco Wireless LAN products—Access Points, PCI/PCMCIA/USB Wireless LAN Adaptors, Wireless LAN Controllers (WLC), Wireless LAN Solutions Engines (WLSE), Wireless Control System (WCS), Location Appliances, Long range antennas.

Telephony Products

• Collaboration Systems—Cisco TelePresence, (Cisco Manufacturing Mobile Video Collaboration with Librestream, Cisco acquired Tandberg, the world leader in Telepresence systems)^[54]
• IP Telephony (VoIP) Servers and Appliances
• Cisco Unified IP Phones—Wireless IP Phone 7920, 7945, 7965, 7942, 8900 series, 9900 series, 6900 series

Servers / Application Appliances

• Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS)
• Unified Computing: Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) virtual server platform: with VMWare virtualization system run servers on Cisco hardware^[55]
• Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE): Application Delivery Controller

Experimental

• CLEO (Cisco Low Earth Orbit router)
• IRIS (Cisco Internet Routing in Space)

Other Products

• Cisco Cius: a new Android-based collaboration tablet (now discontinued)
• Set Top Boxes (High Definition PVRs)—Cable/IP
• Flip pocket camera (Discontinued in April 2011)^[56]

Software

Operating Systems

• Internetwork Operating System (IOS)
• CatOS—Catalyst Switch Operating System
• NX-OS—Nexus Operating System
• IOS-XR

VPN/Remote Connectivity

• Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client
• Cisco Systems VPN Client
• Clean Access Agent, Cisco NAC Appliance

Telephony/VoIP

• Cisco Call Manager / Call Manager Express
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager
• Cisco Unified Operations Manager (CUOM)—is a NMS for voice. It features real-time monitoring of all system elements, and performs automatic discovery for the entire system and provides contextual diagnostics for troubleshooting.
• Cisco IP Communicator is a VoIP softphone software application. It can register with a Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express using either SIP or Cisco's proprietary Skinny Client Control Protocol.
• WebEx Collaboration Tools

Other

• Cisco Active Network Abstraction
• Cisco Fabric Manager
• Data Center Management and Automation—Cisco Intelligent Automation
• Cisco Tidal Enterprise Scheduler
• CiscoView
• CiscoWorks Network Management software
• Cisco Eos
• Packet Tracer, didactic network simulator
• Cisco Network Magic Pro
• Cisco Quad
• Cisco Security Manager
• Cisco SDM
• PostOffice protocol (not to be confused with POP3, SMTP, or other mail delivery protocols). It is a Cisco proprietary protocol that runs on port UDP/4500. It provides a communications vehicle between the sensors and the Director platform.

VoIP services

Cisco became a major provider of Voice over IP to enterprises, and is now moving into the home user market through its acquisitions of Scientific Atlanta and Linksys. Scientific Atlanta provides VoIP equipment to cable service providers such as Time Warner, Cablevision, Rogers Communications, UPC, and others; Linksys has partnered with companies such as Skype, Microsoft and Yahoo! to integrate consumer VoIP services with wireless and cordless phones.

Hosted Collaboration Solution

Cisco partners can now offer cloud-based services based on Cisco's virtualized Unified Computing System (UCS). A part of the Cisco Unified Services Delivery Solution that will include hosted versions of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM), Cisco Unified Contact Center, Cisco Unified Mobility, Cisco Unified Presence, Cisco Unity Connection (unified messaging), and Cisco Webex Meeting Center.^[57]

Network Emergency Response

The company maintains several Network Emergency Response Vehicles (NERV)s. The vehicles are maintained and deployed by Cisco employees during natural disasters and other public crises. The vehicles are self-contained and provide wired and wireless services including voice, and radio interoperability, voice over IP, network based video surveillance and secured high definition video conferencing for leaders and first responders in crisis areas with up to 3 Mbit/s of bandwidth (up and down) via a 1.8-meter satellite antenna.^[58]
NERVs are based at Cisco headquarters sites in San Jose, California and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina allowing strategic deployment in North America and are capable of being fully operational within 15 minutes of arrival. [57][58] High capacity deisel fuel tanks allow the largest vehicles to run for up to 72 hours continuously.^[59] The NERV has been deployed to incidents such as the October 2007 California wildfires; hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Katrina; the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, tornado outbreaks in North Carolina and Alabama in 2011; and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.^[60][61]
The team maintains and deploys smaller more portable communication kits which are deployed to emergencies outside of North America. In 2010 the team deployed to assist in earthquake recover in Haiti and Christcurch, New Zealand. In 2011 they deployed to flooding in Brazil, Tsunami in Japan.^[62]
In 2011, Cisco received the Innovation Preparedness award from the American Red Cross, Silicon Valley Chapter for its development and use of these vehicles in disasters.^[63]

Cisco Career Certifications

Main article: Cisco Career Certifications

Cisco Systems also sponsors a line of IT Professional certifications for Cisco products.^[64] There are five levels of certification: Entry (CCENT), Associate (CCNA / CCDA), Professional (CCNP / CCDP), Expert (CCIE / CCDE), and recently Architect, as well as eight different paths, Routing & Switching, Design, Network Security, Service Provider, Service Provider Operations, Storage Networking, Voice, Datacenter and Wireless.
A number of specialist technician, sales and datacenter certifications are also available.
Cisco also provides training for these certifications via a portal called the Cisco Networking Academy. Qualifying schools can become members of the Cisco Networking Academy and then provide CCNA level or other level courses. Cisco Academy Instructors must be CCNA certified to be a CCAI certified instructor.
As a global provider of network solutions, Cisco often finds itself at the frontier of technical education. With over 10,000 partnerships in over 65 countries^[65] Cisco Academy program operates in many exotic locations. For example, in March 2013, Cisco announced its interest in Myanmar by investing in two Cisco Networking Academies in Yangon and Mandalay and a channel partner network.^[66]

Criticisms and controversy

Shareholder relations

A class action lawsuit filed on April 20, 2001 accused Cisco of making misleading statements that "were relied on by purchasers of Cisco stock" and of insider trading.^[67] While Cisco denied all allegations in the suit, on August 18, 2006, Cisco's liability insurers, its directors, and officers paid the plaintiffs US$91.75 million to settle the suit.^[68]

Intellectual property disputes

On December 11, 2008, the Free Software Foundation filed suit against Cisco regarding Cisco's failure to comply with the GPL and LGPL license models and make the applicable source code publicly available.^[69] On May 20, 2009, Cisco settled this lawsuit by complying with FSF licensing terms and making a monetary contribution to the FSF.^[70]

Censorship in China

Cisco has been criticized for its involvement in censorship in the People's Republic of China.^[71] According to author Ethan Gutmann, Cisco and other telecommunications equipment providers supplied the Chinese government with surveillance and Internet infrastructure equipment that is used to block Internet websites and track Chinese online activities. Cisco says that it does not customize or develop specialized or unique filtering capabilities to enable governments to block access to information and that it sells the same equipment in China as it sells worldwide.^[72]
Wired News had uncovered a leaked, confidential Cisco power point presentation that details the commercial opportunities of the Golden Shield Project of Internet control.^[73] In her article, journalist Sarah Stirland accuses Cisco of marketing its technology "specifically as a tool of repression."

Tax fraud investigation

On October 16, 2007, the Brazilian Federal Police and Brazilian Receita Federal (equivalent to the American IRS), under the "Persona Operation", uncovered an alleged tax fraud scheme employed by Cisco Systems Brazil Chief Carlos Roberto Carnevali since 2002 that exempted the company from paying over R$1.5 billion (US$824 million) in taxes.^[74][75]

Antitrust lawsuit

On December 1, 2008, Multiven filed an antitrust lawsuit^{[76][77][78][79][80][81]} against Cisco Systems, Inc. in an effort to open up the network maintenance services marketplace for Cisco equipment, promote competition and ensure consumer choice and value. Multiven's complaint alleges that Cisco harmed Multiven and consumers by bundling and tying bug fixes/patches and updates for its operating system software to its maintenance services (SMARTnet) and through a series of other illegal exclusionary and anticompetitive acts designed to maintain Cisco's alleged monopoly in the network maintenance services market for Cisco networking equipment. Cisco responded by accusing the person who filed the anti-trust suit, British-born Peter Alfred-Adekeye, with hacking and pressured the US government to extradite him from Canada, where he was giving evidence against Cisco in an anti-trust hearing. Canadian Judge Ronald McKinnon, who oversaw the extradition hearing, stated the real reason for the extradition proceedings was because Alfred-Adekeye "dared to take on a multinational giant." He also condemned the US prosecutor for hiding the fact that Alfred-Adekeye was in legal proceedings against Cisco Systems, for stating that Alfred-Adekeye had left the USA in a time period when he had not and a formal request for extradition was not filed against Alfred-Adekeye when he was taken into custody. Judge McKinnon described the information provided by Cisco and the US prosecutor as "full of innuendo, half-truths and falsehoods," adding that "This speaks volumes for Cisco's duplicity" and accused them of "unmitigated gall" in using such a heavy-handed move as an unsupportable arrest and jailing to pressure Alfred-Adekeye to drop or settle his civil antitrust complaint.^[82]

Intimidation

Cisco has been reported as using intimidation tactics in several news reports.^[83][84]

Remotely monitoring users' connections

Cisco's Linksys E2700, E3500, E4500 devices have been reported to be remotely updated to a firmware version that allows Cisco to monitor their network use.^[85]

Hierarchical internetworking model

The Hierarchical internetworking model, or three-layer model, is a network design model first proposed by Cisco. The three-layer model divides enterprise networks into three layers: core, distribution, and access layer. Each layer provides different services to end-stations and servers.

Access layer  

End-stations and servers connect to the enterprise at the access layer. Access layer devices are usually commodity switching platforms, and may or may not provide layer 3 switching services. The traditional focus at the access layer is minimizing "cost-per-port": the amount of investment the enterprise must make for each provisioned Ethernet port.

 

Distribution layer

The distribution layer is the "smart" layer in the three-layer model. Routing, filtering, and QoS policies are managed at the distribution layer. Distribution layer devices also often manage individual branch-office WAN connections.

Core layer

The core network provides high-speed, highly-redundant forwarding services to move packets between distribution-layer devices in different regions of the network. Core switches and routers are usually the most powerful, in terms of raw forwarding power, in the enterprise; core network devices manage the highest-speed connections, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

 

 

 

HOW-TO-USE-SATELLITE-DECODERS-AS-BROADBAND-INTERNET-MODEM

INTRODUCTION

Communication between computers is a major part of the PC computing Industry. Thanks to the World Wide Web (WWW), no computer user is an Island. Whether using a dial-up modem or broad band technology, virtually all PCs can be connected to other computers, enabling them to share files, send and receive email, and access the Internet.


With the explosive growth of the internet, modem and network technologies were joined because both could use the same client software and protocols. Today, the most popular suite of networking protocols –TCP/IP – is used on both Local Area Network (LANs) and the internet. When you dial into an Internet Service Protocol (ISP), you are actually connecting to a network using a modem instead of a network interface card, and when you use most broadband services, your path to the internet typically starts with a network interface card, built in network card, built in network port, network – to – USB adapter, or even a wireless connection.

Thanks to the combination of huge multi megabyte downloads needed to update software and support hardware, dynamics websites with music and full – motion videos and increased demand for online services, even the fastest dial up modem (such as Starcomms, Visafone etc) which can download at just 53kbps, isn’t sufficient for heavy internet use. More and More users are taking advantage of various types of broadband internet access solution. But the most preferred to me is the cable decoder internet access system.

For many users, cable modem service which piggybacks on the same cable TV service line that brings your TV many channels, represent both a big boost in speed and a major savings in initial cost and monthly charges which your subscription fee covers.

Cable Modem Services normally is sold as an “all you can eat” unlimited access plan with a modest installation cost (materials to buy to commence installation). Because more and more cable networks (such as DSTV, HITV, CTL and the most recent DAAR SAT) support a single standard, you can choose any of the decoders of all this cable TV providers to connect your system to the internet.

CONNECTION REQUIREMENT

-- CABLE-LINE SPLITTER

-- CABLE MODEM (ROUTER)

-- RJ – 45 NIC Cable/Ethernet Cable

-- DECODER

-- COAXIAL CABLES



CABLE-LINE SPLITTER

There are many types of Satellite Decoder Splitter, you buy your favourite at the shops where it’s been sold i.e. the Cable decoder dealers.

What do we use the Splitter for?

This enables you to create a parallel connection for the coaxial cable (this is the cable that is used to connect your decoder to the TV and as well as the decoder to the Dish hanged outside).the splitter will share the signal that comes from the dish outside between the TV and the Router cable modem, which will convert the signal to an internet signal

CABLE MODEM

A cable modem is a device that delivers high-speed Internet connectivity via a cable television company which serves as the Internet service provider (ISP). Externally, a cable modem resembles a DSL modem. The coax cable that brings in the digital CATV signal provides a channel for upstream and downstream Internet service. This does not interfere with television, as there is plenty of "real estate" or bandwidth space on the coax cable to handle both TV and Internet signals.

Types of Cable Modem
(A) LINKSYS CABLE MODEM (CM100)

Linksys Cable Modem: The Linksys Cable Modem does not require you to pay any additional separate monthly subscription to the cable company; you only need to connect it with your current subscription with your satellite cable TV provider which will only work with a Coaxial Cable.

High Speed, Low Cost

Cable Internet offers connectivity speeds up to 100 times faster than dial-up via a modem that connects your computer to the Internet. Many service providers charge a monthly fee to rent their modem, but get your own and you can save while you enjoy fast speeds for surfing, emailing, music, video, gaming and more.

Reliable Quality

From the leaders in networking, it’s an ideal choice for reliable connectivity that’s fully compliant with all industry standards, so you can be sure it will work with any cable Internet provider’s service.

Fast, Easy Set Up

Connect via USB or Ethernet to any computer and you’re ready to start surfing. Or connect to a Linksys by Cisco wireless router to create a high-speed wireless home network that lets everyone in your family share the Internet without being tied down by wires.

How to Purchase

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/CM100 http://www.pcworld.com/shopping/detail/prtprdid,61213646-sortby,retailer/pricing.html

http://www.superwarehouse.com/Linksys_CM100_Cable_Modem_with_USB_and_Ethernet_Connections /CM100/p/1506558



(B) Motorola Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem

Motorola Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem uses cable television wires instead of telephone lines to connect to the internet, it offer internet access at speed up to 100 times faster than a traditional phone modem and does not tie up telephone lines for incoming or outgoing calls and faxes.

This modem uses new technology (A-TDMA and S-CDMA) that triples the upstream capacity to 30Mbps, and it also DOCSIS 1.1 and 1.0 compatible and will work with older technology.
If a user have more than one computer and are connected on a network, the Surfboard SB5100 Cable Modem supports current internet connection sharing technologies to enable user to connect up to 32 PCs to the internet using a single cable modern.

Inside the Cable Modem

The Tuner connects to the cable outlet and it receives the modulated digital signal and passes it to the demodulator. The Demodulator takes digital signal and encoded in it by varying both the amplitude and phase of the wave, and turns it into a signal that can be processed by the analogue-to-digital (A/D) converter.

The MAC sits between the upstream (information sent from an individual back to the Internet) and downstream (data sent from the Internet to an individual computer) portions of the cable modem, and acts as the interface between the hardware and software portions of the various network protocols.

Cable modem tasks are more complex than those of a normal network interface card. Some of the MAC functions will be assigned to a central processing unit (CPU) and either the CPU in the cable modem or the CPU of the user's system.

How to purchase

http://www.motorola.com/Business/US- EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Cable+Broadband/SURFboard+Modems+and+Gateways

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Surfboard-SB5100-Cable-Modem/dp/B00008Y1BX

RJ – 45 NIC CABLE

This is a typical networking cable which we will use to network all the network devices that we have listed above such as the Router (Cable Modem), we will use it to make a connection from the Router to the computer to transmit internet.

ETHERNET CABLE

Ethernet cables connect network devices such as modems, routers, and adapters. They transmit data using the Ethernet protocol. Most Ethernet cables have RJ-45 jacks on both ends, each with 8 pins. (They look similar to telephone jacks, which use 4 pins or 6 pins.)

Equipment using an Ethernet cable is referred to as wired.

Wireless equipment uses radio waves in place of some (or all) Ethernet cables. A network device that uses both Ethernet and wireless connections is usually called just wireless.



The Physical Ethernet Cables

• Use Cat 5 cables. (Cat 5 is a measure of quality, meaning that it supports traffic up to 100 Mps These are also called 10/100 Base-T Cat 5 cables.

• Some Ethernet cable wires crises-cross internally, others are straight through, meaning that pin 1 is wired to pin 1 on the other end, etc. A port (socket) for a straight through Ethernet cable is sometimes called an uplink port. If you aren't sure about a cable, and you can see the inside wires' colours, hold the two ends of the plugs up, so the same side of the plug is facing you.

CABLE MODEM (ROUTER)

A router is used to transmit internet to more than 1 computer system on a network setup, this enables you to network your connection to other system (PCs). This is also known as cable modem.

The connection runs the incoming cable connection to an external cable modem, which has an Ethernet connection to a router, which then connects

DECODER

A decoder is a device which is used to decode the satellite signal receive from the satellite dish into a video, the decoded signal converted into video is what we receive on our TV, The purpose of we connecting to the internet with a decoder is to convert your decoder to a Modem, a cable decoders is a modem because it modulates and demodulates, but it also functions as a tuner, a network bridge, an encryptor etc.

To connect your PC or laptop to a decoder to access the net, you do not use a serial port as with dialup modem.

COAXIAL CABLES

This connect the decoder to the splitter and one end of the cable goes into the TV while the other end goes to the WAN port of the router (Linksys Router)

Things to take Note before buying all the equipments required for setup:

• I always recommend running a router between a cable modem and a PC because a router not only allows more than one PC to be connected, but also provides a robust hardware firewall that helps shield your PC(s) connected to it from internet – based attacks.

• You can directly connect PCs to a cable decoder using USB; I do not recommend that option because it precludes using a router (cable modem)

• Some cable modems have a built – in router, in which case you don’t need to purchase a separate one. If your computer doesn’t include an Ethernet adapter built into the motherboard or a separate Ethernet card, you can install an Ethernet card into an available internal expansion slot or use a USB – based Ethernet adapter instead. I use a USB - based Ethernet adapter on my HITV decoder.



THE STEPS TO THE CONNECTION

Step 1

Connect the coaxial cable from your decoder to your satellite decoder splitter; the cable can be purchased from any shop where they sell cable decoder while one of the other coaxial cable cords is connected to your television to watch satellite stations.

Step 2

Connect the second Coaxial cable cord from the splitter to WAN port of your router (Linksys Router)

Step 3

If your cable modem does not have an inbuilt router facility, you will need to connect your cable Modem to the CATV network of your router using the same coaxial cable connection as your TV.

Step 4

Connect the Ethernet Cable from the router to your computer system, which can stand as a client if you are using only one computer or server if you are networking more than one system, make sure that your computer has an inbuilt Ethernet adapter on the Motherboard or a separate Ethernet card, you can also install an Ethernet Card into an available internal expansion slot or you can alternatively use a USB – Based Ethernet Adapter instead. In our connection we use a USB –based Ethernet adapter on HITV Decoder

Step 5

At the back of the Linksys Router there are several ports, port 1 – 4 Stand as the LAN(Local Area Network) Port which can be used to connect 1 -4 CPU to the router with an RJ -45NIC Cable, in most cases the cables comes with the router when you purchase it.
Connect 1 -4 CPU to the LAN Port of the router with your RJ -45 Cables, please don’t mistake it with the Ethernet cable, as is only to be used to connect the computer which is the server to the Router for network routing and also note that each of the CPU that connect to the Router LAN Port with the help of RJ-45 must have an inbuilt Network card install in them, while the server should have an Ethernet card adapter install on the board as mentioned earlier.

Step 6

The fifth port of the Linksys Router which stand as the WAN Port (Wireless Access Network) Connect the second coaxial cable that comes from the splitter to the WAN Port of the Router, but note that you need a converter which is an adapter that convert the coaxial cable to RJ -45 cable since the Router WAN port does not have a direct port for a coaxial cable

Step 7

The sixth port of the Linksys Router which is called the Uplink Port, the port can be connected to a Hub or a Switch to enable additional users or computers within the network range to share with the internet of your decoder via wireless access


System Configuration Steps

Start up your computer that we call the server, and click on the start button and then click on control panel

Click on Network connection from the control panel tab

Click on Create a new Network connection from the Network Connection from the

control panel tab

Select the Connect to the Internet Radio button and then click on Next button

Select the Choose from the a list of Internet Service providers[ISPs] radio button and

click on Next button

Finally Click on Finish button, Then the connection will then come up

Open up your Internet Browser and start browsing

Browsers Compatibility
(1) Internet Explorer (2) Google Chrome (3) Opera (4) Firefox, etc.

Operating System Compatibility
(1) Windows Operating System (2) Linux Operating System

What is this Internet Technology be used for?
(1) Personal Usage (2) Group Usage in an Organization or Company

(3) Cyber Café (4) Business Centre for Email Service and Internet Calls

Benefits of using this Technology
(1) Pay only monthly subscription for your cable TV and it covers the Internet Bill (2) Browse with a very fast internet speed of 4Mps download speed

(3) Connect large number of Computer systems with the help of a Network devices

(4) Connection configuration is simple and easy

(5) You can watch Cable TV while browsing the internet at the same time without conflict

(6) No downtime for internet connection except if your subscription as elapse, or one of the connection device generate fault

(7) You can buy two decoders to setup a mini cyber café and cable TV football center at the same time.

GLOSSARY
Access Point - A device that allows wireless-equipped computers and other devices to communicate

with a wired network. Also used to expand the range of a wireless network.

Ad-hoc - A group of wireless devices communicating directly with each other (peer-to-peer) without the use of an access point.

AES - (Advanced Encryption Standard) - A security method that uses symmetric 128-bit block data encryption.

Bandwidth - The transmission capacity of a given device or network.


Bit - A binary digit.

Boot - To start a device and cause it to start executing instructions. Broadband - An always-on, fast Internet connection.

Browser - An application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web.

Byte - A unit of data that is usually eight bits long.
Cable Modem - A device that connects a computer to the cable television network, which in turn

connects to the Internet.
Daisy Chain - A method used to connect devices in a series, one after the other.

DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) - Allows the hosting of a website, FTP server, or e-mail server with a fixed domain name (e.g., www.xyz.com) and a dynamic IP address.

Default Gateway - A device that forwards Internet traffic from your local area network.

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) - A networking protocol that allows administrators to assign temporary IP addresses to network computers by “leasing” an IP address to a user for a limited amount of time, instead of assigning permanent IP addresses.

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) - Removes the Router's firewall protection from one PC, allowing it to be “seen” from the Internet.

DNS (Domain Name Server) - The IP address of your ISP's server, which translates the names of websites into IP addresses.

Domain - A specific name for a network of computers.

Download - To receive a file transmitted over a network.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) - An always-on broadband connection over traditional phone lines.

Dynamic IP Address - A temporary IP address assigned by a DHCP server.

EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) - A general authentication protocol used to control network access. Many specific authentication methods work within this framework.

Encryption - Encoding data transmitted in a network.
Ethernet - IEEE standard network protocol that specifies how data is placed on and retrieved from a

common transmission medium.

Firewall - A set of related programs located at a network gateway server that protects the resources of a network from users from other networks.

Firmware - The programming code that runs a networking device.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - A protocol used to transfer files over a TCP/IP network.
Full Duplex - The ability of a networking device to receive and transmit data simultaneously.
Gateway - A device that interconnects networks with different, incompatible communications protocols.


RJ-45 (Registered Jack-45) - An Ethernet connector that holds up to eight wires.

Roaming - The ability to take a wireless device from one access point's range to another without losing the connection.

Router - A networking device that connects multiple networks together.
Server - Any computer whose function in a network is to provide user access to files, printing,

communications, and other services.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - The standard e-mail protocol on the Internet.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) - A widely used network monitoring and control protocol.

SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) Firewall - A technology that inspects incoming packets of information before allowing them to enter the network.

SSID (Service Set Identifier) - Your wireless network's name.
Static IP Address - A fixed address assigned to a computer or device that is connected to a network. Static Routing - Forwarding data in a network via a fixed path.
Subnet Mask - An address code that determines the size of the network.

Switch - 1. A data switch that connects computing devices to host computers, allowing a large number of devices to share a limited number of ports. 2. A device for making, breaking, or changing the connections in an electrical circuit.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) - A network protocol for transmitting data that requires acknowledgement from the recipient of data sent.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) - A set of instructions PCs use to communicate over a network.

Telnet - A user command and TCP/IP protocol used for accessing remote PCs.
TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) - A version of the TCP/IP FTP protocol that has no directory or

password capability.
Throughput - The amount of data moved successfully from one node to another in a given time period.

TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) - a wireless encryption protocol that provides dynamic encryption keys for each packet transmitted.

Topology - The physical layout of a network.

TX Rate - Transmission Rate.

Upgrade - To replace existing software or firmware with a newer version.

Upload - To transmit a file over a network.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) - The address of a file located on the Internet.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) - A security measure to protect data as it leaves one network and goes to another over the Internet.


WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) - A method of encrypting network data transmitted on a wireless network for greater security.

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) - A group of computers and associated devices that communicate with each other wirelessly.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) - A wireless security protocol using TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) encryption, which can be used in conjunction with a RADIUS server.

Conclusion

We believe you will be successful using this manual to configure your decoder internet browsing, we make sure that all relevant information as been compiled together to benefit you and follow as a guide to setup your connection.