High Availability

Cisco High Availability is technology delivered in Cisco IOS® Software that enables network-wide resilience to increase IP network availability. Network applications must cross different network segments - from the Enterprise Backbone, Enterprise Edge, and Service Provider Edge, through the Service Provider Core. All segments must be resilient to recover quickly enough for faults to be transparent to users and network applications. A failure that is detected anywhere in the network can result in termination, interruption or violation of service level agreements for business-critical applications such as, voice, e-commerce, storage area networking, work-flow, trading, and point of sales.

Cisco High Availability enables network-wide protection by providing fast recovery from faults that may occur in any part of the network. With Cisco High Availability, network hardware and software work together and enable rapid recovery from disruptions to ensure fault transparency to users and network applications. Cisco High Availability features are offered on existing Cisco IOS platforms and currently-deployed hardware, which ensures investment protection for Cisco customers. And as part of Cisco IOS Software, the technology can be implemented without a "forklift upgrade."

Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(28)SB, the most recent release of the 12.2S family, delivers industry-leading Cisco IOS High Availability advancements to Service Provider edge aggregation networks that run the Cisco 10000 Series Router. These enhancements maximize service availability at the IP/MPLS edge by ensuring continuous network operations during software upgrades and new service deployments. They also provide the resiliency Service Providers need to meet critical Service Level Agreements (SLAs). This increased availability and resiliency minimizes network downtime, which in turn enables Service Providers to extend revenue and reduce operational costs.