The Cisco 3600 is the industry's first true multifunction platform with the versatility to support branch/enterprise hybrid dial access applications, LAN-to-LAN or routing applications, and multiservice applications in a single platform. It provides unprecedented modularity options with a broad range of available network modules, enormous flexibility with a variety of configurable options for customer-specific application scenarios, and, above all, high-performance to support any of these applications.The Cisco 3640A server is equipped with four network module slots. Dial connectivity is supported with a series of network modules offering Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Primary Rate Interface (PRI), ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI), integrated digital and analog modems, very high density asynchronous interfaces, two and four port Voice/Fax, 25-Mbps ATM, low-speed asynchronous/synchronous serial, and hardware compression assisted network modules. LAN and WAN connectivity are provided by a series of mixed-media cards supporting Ethernet, Token Ring, and a variety of WAN technologies. Routing applications are supported with high-density Ethernet and a single-port, autosensing, Fast Ethernet network module. Voice and Fax multiservice applications are also supported with integrated voice network modules and voice interface cards.The Cisco 3600 is an ideal upgrade to branches that have outgrown their current routing hardware and require the next generation of hardware for their "power branch" applications. The flexibility of the Cisco 3600 Series enables you to support a variety of solutions for the power branch office environment. No matter how much your requirements may vary from place to place, the Cisco 3600 platform has the performance and diversity to meet your needs at a very cost-effective price. For instance, a branch office using ISDN to connect to the main office may require dedicated Frame Relay service in a year's time with increased traffic on the network - without a forklift upgrade in the wiring closet. As a multifunction solution, you can rely upon the outstanding performance, reliability, security, and flexibility of the Cisco 3600 platform to meet your needs for many years. Multiple devices become quite expensive to manage, configure, and support when compared to a single, multifunction device with integrated management, configuration, and single vendor support.Finally, Cisco IOS software contains many features that provide security, reliability, and WAN optimization. In any application, the Cisco IOS features can be used to control ongoing WAN costs. For example, the Cisco 3600 server supports dial-on-demand routing (DDR) and dial backup, as well as protocol spoofing and snapshot routing to reduce unnecessary WAN traffic. To further reduce WAN costs and increase effective bandwidth, Cisco IOS software supports data compression over Frame Relay, dedicated leased line, and dial networks. Cisco IOS software has extensive multimedia capabilities that enable companies to support new applications such as teleconferencing over the WAN. Features such as the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), generic traffic shaping, Committed Access Rate (CAR), custom and priority queuing, and Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) ensure a consistent quality of service and high applications availability.