“Cisco Systems” is an American company that manufactures network equipment. The main center of this company is in the city of San Jose, in the state of California. This company designs network and communication products and sells them under three different brand names: Cisco, Linksys, and Scientific Atlanta. Initially, Cisco only produced multi-protocol routers, but today Cisco products can be found everywhere from living rooms to network service providers. Cisco’s vision is to “change the way we live, work, play and learn” and uses Cisco Smart License for licensing its products.

Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a couple who worked in the computer department of Stanford University, founded Cisco in 1984. Bosack supplemented the software for multiprotocol routers written by William Yager (another employee who started his career many years before Bosack). Although Cisco was not the first company to design and manufacture routers, it was the first company to produce a successful multi-protocol router that also allowed communication between different network protocols.

Since the Internet Protocol (IP) became a standard, the importance of multi-protocol routers has decreased. Today’s largest Cisco routers are designed to route IP packets and MPLS frames. In 1990, the company went public and its shares were listed on the Nasdaq stock market. Bosack and Lerner left the company with $170 million and separated after a while. During the Internet boom in 1999, Cisco bought California-based Cerent for $7 billion. The company was Cisco’s most expensive acquisition at the time. The only more expensive purchase is from Scientific Atlanta.

Cisco core product licenses

• Cisco Router License
• Cisco Switch License
• Cisco Firepower License
• Network monitoring and management licenses
• VoIP or telephone over the network (VoIP)

According to the needs of users, Cisco switches and routers are offered in different models in the market, which are mostly used in an organizational or infrastructure way. Among the important capabilities of Cisco switches, it can be mentioned whether it is managed or not, using / not using PoE Out ports, using different modules, Stackwise and StackPower.

Each of these Cisco products have licenses associated with them, which can be ordered and purchased to get the best performance from the tool and can be licensed with Cisco Smart License tool.

Cisco Routers

Among Cisco’s products, routers are very important for this company, because this company specializes in the production of all kinds of routers. Cisco, as one of the most popular companies that works in Iran, allows you to connect several different networks and with correct addressing can determine the path to send packets to each computer.

Cisco Firewalls

A firewall is a security device that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic, and based on a set of defined security rules, decides which traffic, from private to private, is allowed or blocked. Cisco firewalls have been the first line of defense in network security for more than 25 years. These tools create a cyber-wall between controlled internal networks that have trusted security and untrusted external networks, such as the Internet.

A firewall system can be hardware, software or a combination of both.

Cisco Access points

Among the new products of the Cisco company, since the use of wireless technology in the field of networking has been booming. Cisco products have also undergone many changes, and this company has produced all kinds of access points in order to have a larger share of this market. Access points are actually hubs in wireless networks. These tools allow different computers within a certain radius to connect wirelessly with the help of Wi-Fi and use the services of a network.

Cisco Smart Licensing

The Smart Licensing Client feature is a standardized licensing platform that simplifies the use of Cisco software and helps you understand how it works across your entire network. Smart Licensing is the next generation licensing platform for all Cisco software products.

Cisco Smart License key features

Cisco Smart Licensing is a flexible licensing model that gives you an easier, faster, and more consistent way to purchase and manage software across the Cisco portfolio and across your organization.

This platform is secure and you can control user access. With Smart Licensing, you can enjoy the following benefits:

• License flexibility: Your software is not locked to your hardware, so you can easily use and transfer licenses as needed.
• Unified management: My Cisco Entitlements (MCE) provides a complete view of all the Cisco products and services you use in one easy-to-use portal.
• Easy activation: Smart Licensing creates a set of software licenses that can be used across the organization. (Product Activation Keys will no longer be needed.)

Other advantages of this system include the following:

• The ability to monitor the devices and software you have purchased and used.
• Product simplicity with standard licensing platform, policies and software offerings.
• Better and informed purchasing decisions that can lead to lower operational costs.
• Easier deployment with automatic license activation or license reservation (Cisco PLR License).

Three important capabilities of Smart Licensing

1. Report: Using this software, you can view the list of licenses that you have purchased and the items that you have implemented in the network. By analyzing this data, you can make more accurate decisions to buy a license.
2. Purchase: The software you install on the network can automatically register itself without the need for a Product Activation Key or PAK.
3. Management: You can easily view activation processes that are against your organizational policies using this software. You do not need to install licenses on each device. Rather, you can create a pool of licenses so that the software can refer to them and use them if needed. Smart Licensing provides you with Cisco Smart Software Manager. Using this tool, you can manage all Cisco Licenses from a central website.