Cisco Configuration Engine is a highly scalable software application running on the Cisco 2116 Intelligence Engine hardware platform and can be used by Cisco customers to manage as many as 5000 customer premises equipment (CPE) devices, including Cisco routers, switches, and Cisco PIX security appliances. Cisco Configuration Engine is a self-contained, rack-mountable, 1-rack-unit (1-RU) device that requires minimal configuration and can be deployed without any changes to the customer's operation or business processes. Cisco Configuration Engine is ready to deploy and is accessible through a Web-based GUI or Web applications such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).Service providers and large enterprise customers are faced with similar challenges in deploying and managing large volumes of network devices. Cisco Configuration Engine supports a highly scalable, available, distributed, and fault-tolerant architecture that helps customers to customize core components to meet the operational requirements in a service-oriented network.