Routers from Case Communications – Comparison with Cisco

No one would deny that Cisco Systems is the largest router manufacturer in the world. But being the biggest doesn't always make you the best.

Case Communications differentiates the products we supply in many ways. Some of these differences are significant, and can be browsed in the sections on the right.

For information on Cisco replacements, click here.

There is one important difference that is not always perceived as an advantage: Case Communications does not try to be all things to all people. We focus on the most common router applications, and avoid obscure features that are not in wide demand. This strategy has allowed us to keep prices low, and still move ahead of Cisco to deliver advanced capabilities for many commonly used features.

Commodity hardware

Case Communication's primary product strategy is to supply routers using low-cost standards-based commodity hardware. Commodity components include processors, logic chipsets, memory, backplanes, network interface cards, chassis, and power supplies. Commodity components make it possible for routers from Case Communications to cost less and still outperform Cisco products.

Cisco has used commodity components in very few products, and the company does not use commodity components as a primary product strategy. This choice is reflected in the price and performance of most Cisco routers.

Commodity software

Our routers run on Linux, which is an inexpensive operating system that provides exceptional performance and stability. Linux includes source code, and it provides most of the core software required to build a fully featured router platform. Linux also has thousands of software developers who are working to make it faster and more capable every day.

Cisco developed their own network operating system to make their routers work. Cisco's network operating system represents old technology, and it does not benefit from the most significant advances that come from Open Source developers

Recommended retail price

All our routers include fully-featured router software and one year of 24/7 technical support. This means that in a head-to-head comparison you will need to include these costs in any Cisco quote.

As a general rule, the more expensive the Cisco router, the more you will save with our routers. At the entry level, our routers can cost about the same as Cisco routers, with cost savings coming from lower technical support and upgrade costs over the life of the product. In more demanding midrange applications, Case Communications customers have claimed to receive quotes on Cisco equipment that were 10 times the price of the chosen Case Communications solution.

Guaranteed performance

From a performance standpoint, many network engineers have come to believe that a router is only as good as its packet forwarding specifications. This notion has gained wide acceptance because engineers primarily focus on the information that they are given, and most router manufacturers have chosen to emphasise packet-forwarding specifications as the primary indicator of product performance.

Unfortunately, packet-forwarding specifications have become such an all-important performance specification that many manufacturers have begun playing tricks with their data. For example, one well-known manufacturer specifies the packet-forwarding performance of its products without physical network interfaces or the supporting driver software. Another manufacturer emphasises its packet "switching" performance, which is rarely seen in real-world routing applications. Both of these manufacturers are providing packet-forwarding specifications that are laboratory creations with little relevance to product performance in the real world.

Because of the questionable range of methods used by different manufacturers to measure packet-forwarding performance, we have chosen not to engage in this specifications game. Instead, we provide guaranteed wire-speed performance specifications. If a Case Communications router supports 16 full E1 circuits at wire speed, or two full DS3 circuits at wire speed, then the specifications will say it. We also back up its specifications with an exclusive 31-day performance guarantee. If a Case Communications router does not perform in the real world as specified, and our support team cannot resolve the problem, then the router can be returned for a full refund (please ask us about our terms of guarantee).

In contrast, Cisco does not guarantee any of its specifications. If you buy a Cisco product, and it does not work in your application, you're stuck. Cisco doesn't even publish wire-speed performance specifications for its routers. This is because many Cisco routers are poor performers, and they cannot deliver wire-speed performance over a wide range of common configurations and conditions.

Technical support

Case Communications include one year of free 24/7 technical support with each router. In addition, we offer an Extended Service Plan (Please call for details) option for every router, which extends the first year of warranty and 24/7 technical support to years 2 and 3 of ownership. An Extended Service Plan may be purchased at any time during the first year of ownership, but it is never required to receive service. After the first year, if you do not purchase an Extended Service Plan, you can simply pay an hourly rate for the support that you use. If you don't need support, then you pay nothing.

With Case Communications, you have a choice. Software upgrades are always free, so there is no built-in pressure to buy a service contract. With the appropriate on-staff technical expertise, you can eliminate the cost of service contracts, and avoid these recurring costs when you don't need support. Alternatively, if you do not have an on-staff routing expert, or you are more comfortable with a fixed expense for technical support and repairs, then purchasing an Extended Service Plan will probably be the best choice for you.

In contrast to the choices offered by Case Communications, Cisco's actions show that it wants to wring as much profit that it can out of its customers. Study Cisco's revenues, and it becomes clear that they are very focused on making money from service contracts.

Here's how they do it.

It is normal for a complex network deployment to require some technical support during the design or installation phases. If you want technical support from Cisco, you must purchase an annual support contract for each of your Cisco routers, even if you never use the service.

We understand that the technical support load for a router is highest during the first year of ownership. This is why we include technical support for the first year with every router we sell. In contrast, Cisco wants you to purchase support contracts year after year, and so many Cisco resellers won't even sell you a router without a service contract. The annual cost of a Cisco support contract can be significant, and it often exceeds the price of a new router from Case Communications in only a few years. We would not want to be treated like this, so we offer our customers a choice.

Upgrade path

Our routers use standard data buses which allow the network cards in each product line to be used in any of the routers in the same line. This means that you can buy an entry-level ImageStream Transport with a single-port E1 card, and can migrate that card to the R1, the Rebel Router, the Gateway Router, or the Enterprise Router, (ImageStream's top-of-the-line Industrial Series router). The same is true for the Pro Series, which uses CompactPCI network cards.

Cisco makes it possible to use one card in several routers, but this is generally not possible between different product classes. For example, you can move a network card from a Cisco 2600 series router to a 3600 series router, and you can move a network card from a Cisco 7200 series router to a 7500 series router; but you can't move a 2600/3600 card into a 7200/7500 series chassis.

ImageStream's Industrial Series routers also represent a coherent upgrade path because both product lines use a common software platform. Once you have learned to administer an Industrial Series router, that knowledge is directly applicable to the Pro Series.

In contrast, Cisco uses entirely different software platforms that span their entry level, midrange, and high-end product offerings. Cisco calls some of these different software platforms by the same name, but they are very different with respect to command set and learning curve. This means that if you follow Cisco's upgrade path, you may need new knowledge and skills to administer successive products.

Total cost of ownership

When compared to Cisco products, ImageStream routers from Case Communications can provide a wide range of cost savings throughout the life of the product. The real benefit to a specific user will always depend on that user's particular requirements and resources.

The primary costs of ownership for any router include the upfront price of the equipment and the cost of technical support. Our routers can provide significant upfront savings. In addition, technical support for one of our routers normally costs less throughout the life of the product. This is described in the preceding section called "Technical Support".

The list below covers potential cost of ownership savings that a router from Case Communications can provide when compared to one from Cisco.

1. Lower upfront equipment costs
2. No support costs for the first year, and support contracts are never required
3. Free software upgrades for the life of the product
4. Menu-driven interface makes it possible for less technical people to administer one of our routers
5. Companies that already employ Linux administrators can leverage their in-house expertise without introducing additional platforms to support
6. Cross-chassis card compatibility provides cost savings for those who want to start out with an entry-level router, and then move their cards into a higher end chassis that supports the same cards
7. The same network cards can be used in customer premise, edge, and core applications, so larger network operators can save money by adopting a common platform to reduce equipment inventory
8. Case Communication's exclusive performance guarantee helps to ensure that you won't get stuck with a product that does not work in your application
   All of these cost advantages can add up to significant savings throughout the life of a router.

Key software advantages

Cisco is known to offer broad support for common network configurations, legacy protocols, and proprietary applications. This exhaustive library of router software has led many people to believe that a Cisco router is their best choice. This is an old argument that assumes the quantity of software is more important than the quality.

In the real world, the Internet has become an overwhelming force that has unified many networking applications. As a result, few network applications require the variety of application software that Cisco maintains.

Case Communications focuses on extending its software capabilities in a wide range of common networking applications. This focus has allowed our software to excel beyond the capabilities of Cisco software in key areas including user interface, secure telnet, driver component technology, frame relay sub-interfaces, line bonding, software upgrades, real-time monitoring, and scheduling.

Full-featured router distribution with no hidden costs

Cisco has managed to create a real nightmare when it comes to ordering its router software. For example, Cisco offers different software distributions for different classes of routers. In addition, Cisco has created dozens of different software packages so it can sell different router features separately. As a result, it can take more time to figure out which Cisco software package you need than it takes to figure out which router is right for you. To add insult to injury, Cisco tries to hide the real cost of owning its products by separating the cost of the required software from the price of the router.

Case Communications departs from the Cisco software model by including a full-featured software distribution with every router. We already know you don't want to keep track of different software features on different routers; we know that you would prefer to have all of the available features on every router; and we know you would prefer to avoid the nausea associated with suppliers who just look for an ever increasing number of reasons to extract more money from you or your organisation. With our routers, all the software is included, so you don't have dozens of software part numbers to sort through, and there is no hidden cost for the software you really need. Case Communication's approach can also save a lot of time and frustration by simply eliminating the need to figure out which software packages support which features. And when new features are developed, our routers can be upgraded to support those features at no cost.

User interface

The routers supplied by Case Communications support command line configuration for power users, just like Cisco routers. But it is always more difficult to learn commands without the benefit of a configuration file that can be referenced and commented. The ability to look at and modify system configuration files and enter your own comments is one simple improvement over a system that is mainly limited to command line or wizard-like configuration. Beyond the advantage of configuration files, our routers include a menu interface, which makes it easy for less experienced administrators to get around inside the router.

In contrast, Cisco routers do not provide a menu-driven configuration interface. Cisco does not provide this capability with its routers because it expects to sell management software that provides an easy-to-use graphical interface. For example, Cisco offers the CiscoWorks 2000 software package to provide an easy-to-use management interface for its products, however this has to be paid for.

Secure telnet (SSH)

All our routers support administrative access via SSH (secure telnet) versions 1 and 2. SSH v2 encrypts administrative sessions to minimise the security risks associated with plain text telnet, and it is still considered by most experts to provide "strong" encryption.

All Cisco routers support administrative access using plain text telnet.
But telnet can be compromised by an experienced hacker who is looking to cause trouble. Cisco also offers SSH version 1 as a software option, but it does not plan to support SSH version 2.

Cisco does not offer SSH consistently across its product lines, so you can't always tell which routers and which software packages will give you SSH. Some Cisco routers like the 800 and 1600 series do not support SSH at all. With other Cisco routers, different packages provide SSH, and the cost varies based on these different packages.

Driver component architecture

ImageStream use the SAND™ driver component architecture to minimise development costs, to support both Open Source and commercial software components, and to enhance router performance. SAND accomplishes all of these goals as it provides an easy way for manufacturers to install their own custom software alongside standard router components. Cisco's router software is monolithic, and does not offer advanced component architecture like SAND. For more information on SAND, please contact Case Communications

Frame relay sub-interfaces

ImageStream's frame relay implementation is superior to Cisco's. Case Communication's frame relay module provides real network interfaces for each configured DLCI instead of virtual interfaces, which do not provide access to Layer 3 services. With Case Communication's frame relay support, you can set up unique QoS, firewall rules, packet filtering, or other Layer 3 processing functions for each DLCI. Cisco routers are not designed to do this.

Interface bonder

ImageStream routers have a refined "bonder" module through which has undergone several years of development. The Bonder used in Case Communications routers improves upon several aspects of "Cisco Express Forwarding" which can be used on a Cisco router to bond data circuits.

CEF can be implemented "packet-based" or "flow-based." Flow-based CEF does not provide access to the aggregate bandwidth of the bonded links, and so it is limited to providing circuit redundancy. Packet-based CEF provides access to the aggregate bandwidth of the bonded links, but it can be impossibly slow on all but the fastest Cisco routers.

CEF has another limitation because it cannot bond different speed circuits. ImageStream's bonder software uses a high-performance algorithm that analyses line speeds and packet queues to balance the demands of different speed circuits. And at the bottom line, a bonder is included with every ImageStream router at no extra charge, and Cisco's CEF is a premium software feature that Cisco charges extra to license.

Real-time monitoring

Our routers provide real-time performance monitoring including link status, transmitted and received packets, dropped packets, and CPU utilisation. Cisco routers do not provide real-time statistics unless you purchase extra software or an expensive management chassis. The CiscoWorks 2000 software package for Windows is one of the most popular real-time monitoring solutions for Cisco routers, and this incurs an additional charge.

Scheduler

Our routers include the well-known 'cron' system scheduler that allows system events to be scheduled on a calendar. In addition, the IP Tables packet filtering software used by ImageStream routers supports the ability to define filtering rules based on a particular time of day. Some network administrators may never need to automate the configuration of their routers. But other administrators require this feature because they are interested in automating the purging of system logs, the reconfiguration of their routers based on predictable time-of-day or day-of-week traffic patterns, and automating diagnostics for network analysis.

Cisco does not offer a no-cost scheduler. The 'CiscoWorks 2000' software for Windows provides a wide range of management features, but it does not provide command automation and scheduling. You can purchase Cisco's Intelligent Contact Management (ICM) software, which supports router command automation, but this solution is very expensive and is designed to manage much more than router commands and scripts. Another solution is to purchase a Cisco 12000 series router, which can be very expensive. The 12000 chassis includes a clock scheduler card which can be purchased separately (at a high price) but this scheduling capability is not available with lower cost entry-level and midrange routers

Free software upgrades for life

Routers from Case Communications include free software upgrades for life. When there is support for a new Linux kernel, or when a new router utility is developed, all of this software is included with every router and can be easily updated from the router's menu interface. Cisco charges license fees for its software, including upgrades.

Easy software updates

To streamline router software upgrades, our menu systems provides a simple router update function that provides fast and easy upgrades via the Internet. Cisco routers do not provide a menu interface, and they do not support automated software upgrades.

It is also common for a Cisco router to require expensive hardware upgrades to support new software. Case Communications routers do not ordinarily require hardware upgrades to support a new software release. But if a router supplied by Case Communications ever required a hardware upgrade, you can be sure it will cost less than a Cisco upgrade because our routers use low-cost commodity hardware components.

Transferable software licensing

Let's say you have outgrown your old router, and you want to sell it and purchase a new one. If your old router came from Case Communications, you can simply sell the router, and your software license and free upgrades for life both transfer to the new owner.

In contrast, if you are selling a used Cisco router, the person who wants to buy your old router is required to pay Cisco for a new software license. Cisco does not like people buying and selling used Cisco products because the company views this as a lost opportunity to sell new equipment. Here again, Cisco is very careful to extract as much money as possible from its customers.