The framework, dubbed SAFE, provides extensive guidelines for deploying Cisco security products as well as third party applications to secure Cisco’s Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID).

Additionally, the company rolled out new intrusion detection modules for switched networks and an intrusion detection appliance for small-to-medium sized businesses.

The SAFE blueprint uses a “modular approach” that specifies which security designs, implementation and management processes are necessary for an e-commerce infrastructure or which are best for a manufacturing site with an extranet.

The SAFE approach lets users dissect the network into discrete chunks “so folks don’t have to tackle the entire network at once,” said David King, Cisco’s director of marketing for security. This gives IT managers the option to deploy secure Cisco AVVID in stages according to their specific needs, he added.