As computer technology progresses, the distinction between routers and switches is blurring. Generally, today's routers depend on computer processing and field-modifiable software to move data intelligently, offering great versatility at the expense of performance. Routers are typically limited to sub-gigabit speeds. Switches, in contrast, depend upon mostly fixed hardware designs to steer data at the highest possible rate, trading off intelligence in favor of speed, which usually exceeds a gigabit. Routers from Cisco Systems, the world's leading supplier, have improved dramatically in functionality and performance and Cisco now offers a comprehensive product line that includes routers engineered to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes.
The latest Integrated Services Routers from Cisco offer the speed and integrated functionality to support IP voice and video as well as virtualization while at the same time offering fault tolerance, remote management, easy expandability, plus enhanced security and compliance. These routers allow your business to establish a solid foundation for an information network that is easy to grow as you hire new employees, open new offices, activate additional features, extend your network to customers and partners, and build an increasingly mobile user base. Progent’s Cisco certified CCIE network engineers can assist you to plan, deploy, manage, update, and support Cisco's latest router technology and can help you maintain your older routers or replace them efficiently with Cisco’s next-generation routers.
Cisco Routers for Small Businesses and Branch Offices
Cisco’s routers for small companies and branch offices provide low-cost and dependable entry-level solutions that allow small groups of users to share secure access to the Internet. These fixed-configuration devices include 10/100 Ethernet switches with wireless options plus integrated firewalls for enhanced protection. Designed for easy setup, management, and troubleshooting, Cisco’s small business routers minimize total cost of ownership by reducing acquisition and maintenance expenses. Progent’s remote support engineers have extensive experience providing fast and affordable technical assistance for small businesses to configure and support these devices, and Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can help you determine whether and how these routers can add business value to your IT environment.
Cisco Dual-WAN and Multi-WAN VPN Routers
Cisco’s Dual and Multi WAN VPN Routers are based on the Linksys Business Series and offer an economical solution for small offices who want access to two or more Internet service providers to increase overall bandwidth, balance WAN traffic, or ensure 24x7 availability to the Internet in case of an ISP outage. Available with 4-, 8-, or 16-port 10/100 Ethernet switches with 200 Mbps of bandwidth per port, IPsec VPN capabilities, and integrated stateful firewalls, Cisco’s VPN Routers can be set up and managed remotely via a web interface and can be connected to additional hubs and switches for easy expandability. These devices do not support Cisco’s popular IOS control platform.
The Cisco RV042 Dual WAN VPN Router includes a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can securely support up to 50 remote offices or users via IPsec or PPTP VPN. The Cisco RV082 Dual WAN VPN Router has an 8-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can support up to 100 remote users via full IPsec VPN. The Cisco RV016 Multi WAN VPN Router includes 16 switched 10/100 Ethernet ports, supports up to 100 remote connections, and allows up to 7 ports to be set up for load balancing or for ISP redundancy to ensure round-the-clock Internet access.
Cisco 500 Line of Unified Communications Routers for Small Companies
The Cisco 520 Secure Router, designed to support up to 50 users, includes a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet managed switch and a single Cisco IOS Software image: Advanced IP Services. By supporting a limited but powerful set of Cisco IOS Software features, the 520 Router simplifies configuration, management, and troubleshooting, yet still provides powerful security and performance options to adapt to the specific needs of your organization.
The Cisco 520 Router supports the Cisco Intrusion Prevention System which provides deep-packet inline inspection to block dangerous or unauthorized network traffic in real time. The 520 also support Cisco IOS transparent and zone-based firewall. For secure remote access, the Cisco 520 supports up to 10 hardware accelerated IPsec VPN tunnels and DES, 3DES, and AES encryption. Secure Sockets Layer VPN and Cisco Easy VPN is also supported.
To provide the performance needed for the new generation of IP voice and IP video applications, the Cisco 520 Router supports a variety of Cisco IOS Software advanced Quality of Service features such as Class-Based Weighted Fair Queuing, Low Latency Queuing, Network-Based Address Recognition, RSVP, and Link Fragmentation and Interleaving.
Cisco 800 Family Routers
Cisco's 850 and 870 Access Routers are fixed-configuration routers that provide protected, simultaneous services over broadband interfaces in small remote offices, telecommuter, and small company sites.
Cisco 850 Series access routers are designed for small networks, recommended for as many as 10 workers or for teleworker sites where secure and economical connectivity is required. 850 Series access routers offer safe connectivity with Stateful Inspection Firewall and IP security VPN features for small LANs, four-connection 10/100 switch, secure WLAN 802.11b/g option with a single fixed antenna, plus simple setup and integration and remote management capabilities through Web-based utilities and IOS Software.
Cisco 870 Series access routers are designed for small networks, recommended for as many as 20 workers or for teleworker locations where high-quality VoIP and video and resilient access utilizing standby Internet links are required. 870 Series routers deliver high performance in small workgroups as well as enhanced security via services that include stateful Inspection Firewall, IP Security VPN, 3DES or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as well as Dynamic Multipoint VPN and Tunnel-less Group Encrypted Transport, an intrusion prevention system (IPS), virus protection using NAC, and policing of secure connection policies.
Cisco 870 routers also provide best-of-class QoS, 4-connection 10/100 Ethernet managed switching with Virtual LAN support, a secure wireless option with multiple antennas, easy configuration and deployment through Web-based utilities and off-site management features via Cisco IOS Software, and PoE support for IP phone sets or wireless access points.
Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2
Cisco's ISR G2 routers are designed to provide branch offices of enterprise networks with enhanced collaboration, virtualization, security, and dependable connectivity. ISR G2 routers feature an architecture that protects past investments in modules for older ISR routers and reduces future costs by allowing field upgrades to new modules as they become available. Compared to previous ISR routers, Cisco's ISR G2 routers offer 2-7 times higher performance, far greater expandability, and more affordable support. All ISR G2 routers include gigabit switching and incorporate multi-core CPUs and multigigabit fabric for faster processing and higher data throughput. ISR G2 routers also support intelligent power management for improved energy efficiency.
A major innovation with ISR G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Software Universal image which includes all of the Cisco IOS technology sets so that you can quickly license and activate new features as needed without having to download and copy a new IOS image to your router. Progent's team of Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers offer world-class expertise to help you design, configure, and support multi-site deployments of Cisco ISR G2 routers that enhance branch office productivity and reduce the costs of expansion and maintenance.
1900 Series Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco 1941 and 1941W ISR G2 routers offer accelerated hardware encryption, optional firewall, Cisco IOS intrusion prevention, and up to 11 modular LAN Switchports. The 1941W provides an integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi access point that supports mobile access to high-bandwidth data, voice, and video applications via MIMO technology that improves coverage for existing 802.11a/b/g clients. Interface options for the 1941 and 1941W routers include T1/E1, xDSL, 3G, and GE.
Compared to the older generation 1841 ISR router which they are designed to replace, the Cisco 1941 and 1941W routers have 256 MB vs. 32 MB of flash memory as a default and can be expanded to 4 GB vs. 128 MB. Standard DRAM size is 256 MB vs. 128 MB and maximum DRAM capacity is 2.25 GB vs. 384 MB. Unlike the 1841 router, the 1941 features a USB console in place of the outdated DB-9 connector and includes a slot for the new Internal Services Module (ISM) instead of a slot for the older and lower performance Advanced Integration Module (AIM). Unlike higher end ISR G2 routers, 1941 series routers do not support redundant power supplies or slots for Packet Voice and fax DSP Modules (PVDM).
Cisco 2900 Series Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco 2900 series ISR G2 routers are available in four models which correspond to the routers in Cisco’s popular 2800 router family. Cisco’s 2901, 2911, 2921, and 2951 ISR G2 routers offer on-board hardware encryption acceleration, voice and video ready DSP slots, optional firewall, intrusion prevention, call processing, voice mail, and from 16 to 50 modular LAN Switchports. The integrated encryption hardware provides IPsec and SSL VPN security for safe remote access and significantly outperforms the advanced integration modules (AIMs) supported by Cisco 2800 series routers. The top-of-the-line 2951 supports 600 SIP sessions. Wired and wireless connectivity options include T1/E1, T3/E3, xDSL, plus copper and fiber GE.
Cisco 2911, 2921, and 2951 ISR G2 routers support Cisco’s new Enhanced EtherSwitch Service Modules, offering high-performance features that match Cisco’s Catalyst 2960 and Catalyst 3650-E Series Switches. Comparing the mid-range 2921 ISR G2 router to the older generation 2821 ISR router that it is intended to replace, the Cisco 2921 router is shipped standard with 256 MB vs. 64 MB of flash memory and can be expanded to 4 GB vs. 256 MB. Default DRAM size is 512 MB vs. 256 MB and maximum DRAM capacity is 2.5 GB vs. 1 GB.
3900 Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco offers four platforms for the top-of-the-line 3900 Series ISR G2 router, the 3925, 3945, 3925E, and 3945E. These models offer the highest performance and slot densities in Cisco’s ISR G2 product line and support fast DSPs for the most demanding voice/video applications, hardware-accelerated encryption acceleration, a broad range of connectivity options, up to 98 modular LAN Switchports, and up to 2,500 SIP sessions. To protect your investment in capital equipment, the 3900 Series supports the Cisco Services Performance Engine, a modular motherboard that can be replaced in the field to improve processing power without requiring you to buy a new router. Like other ISR G2 routers, the 3900 Series also protects past investments by supporting most of the modules from older Cisco Integrated Services Routers such as the Cisco ISR 3825. For improved fault tolerance, the 3900 offers dual integrated power supplies.
Comparing the 3925 ISR G2 router with the older model 3825 ISR router which it is designed to replace, the Cisco 3925 router has 256 MB vs. 64 MB of default flash memory and can be expanded to 4 GB vs. 256 MB. Default DRAM size is 1 GB vs. 256 MB and DRAM can be expanded to 4 GB vs. 1 GB.
Cisco's 1st Generation Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's first-generation Integrated Services Routers, with more than 6 million devices in operation, are the industry's leading solution for small to medium-sized businesses and small enterprise branch offices to ensure fast, safe, and reliable access to vital applications. Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers are seasoned experts at providing remote consulting, maintenance, and troubleshooting services for Cisco 1800, 2800, and 3800 series ISR routers. Progent can help you upgrade to the latest version of Cisco IOS Software with minimal disruption to your network, evaluate the security profile of your current router configuration, and help you migrate cost effectively to the new generation of Cisco ISR G2 routers when it makes sense for your business.
1800 Series Routers
The Cisco 1800 family of integrated services routers incorporate data and protection into a single robust system for high-speed, scalable access to mission-critical business applications. The 1800 Series design has been developed to meet the requirements of small-to-medium-sized businesses, enterprise branch offices, and service provider-managed services environments for responsive access to concurrent services. The integrated systems design of the Cisco 1800 Series delivers excellent business agility and fast ROI.
The Cisco 1841 integrated services router provides significant added value compared to prior generations of 1700 Series devices by delivering more than a fivefold performance increase plus integrated hardware-based encryption enabled by an optional Cisco IOS Software security image. Cisco's 1841 integrated services router increases interface card slot performance and capacity in comparison to the 1700 Series while still maintaining support for over 30 existing WAN interface cards and multiflex trunk cards (voice/WICs (VWICs)-for data only). The Cisco 1841 router offers further enhancement of VPN performance via an available VPN acceleration module; IPS and firewall capabilities; compatibility with a broad array of interfaces such as support for optional integrated switch ports; and enough performance and expansion slot capacity for future network growth and advanced applications.
Cisco 2800 Series Integrated Services Routers
Targeted at small to medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices, the Cisco 2800 Series is available in several basic versions: the Cisco 2801 router, the 2811 router, the 2821, and the Cisco 2851. The Cisco 2800 Series offers significant additional value vs. older models of Cisco routers at comparable prices by offering up to a fivefold performance increase, as much as a 10x increase in security and voice performance, integrated service options, and dramatically improved slot performance and density while maintaining compatibility with most of the over 90 popular modules in use today for Cisco's 1700, the Cisco 2600 Series, and the Cisco 3700 routers.
The Cisco 2800 Series router offers a range of powerful security functions such as an IOS Software Firewall, an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), IPsec VPN, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Virtual Private Network, powerful application inspection and control, Secure Shell Protocol V 2.0, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv3) in one protected solution. Additionally, by incorporating security features within the router, Cisco can enable unique intelligent security solutions other security devices cannot, such as NAC for antivirus protection; V3PN for quality-of-service support when combining voice, video, and VPN; Dynamic Multipoint VPN; Group Encrypted Transport; and Easy Virtual Private Networks for supporting more scalable and manageable VPN networks.
Organizations can use the Cisco 2800 Series to deploy an integrated IP telephony network for as many as 96 IP telephones, and can safely combine data, voice, and IP telephony on one platform for their small-to-medium sized satellite offices.
The 2800 router supports a built-in access point for 802.11x wireless LAN
connections, Wi-Fi Hotspot services for shared public wireless access, and infrastructure services for cordless WLAN telephony and for high-density sites.
3800 Integrated Services Routers
Cisco 3800 ISR routers are designed for small-to-medium-sized organizations and corporate branch offices to provide businesses the highest levels of network agility, performance, and intelligence. The Cisco 3800 integrated services routers smoothly incorporate advanced technologies, smart services, and secure enterprise communications into a single resilient system. The Cisco 3800 Series routers ease deployment and management, lower network cost and complexity, and provide investment protection. 3800 integrated services routers offer internal security processing, fast throughput and high memory capacity, and high-density interfaces that provide the speed, resilience, and dependability required for scaling business-critical security, IP telephony, high-volume video, system analysis, and web-based applications in even the most competitive corporate networks. Engineered for speed, the 3800 integrated services routers deliver multiple concurrent services as fast as wire-speed T3/E3 data rates.
The proprietary routing technology of the Cisco 3800 router is engineered to integrate security and voice processing with the latest wireline and wireless services for fast installation of new services, including application layer operations, intelligent network services, and converged communications. The Cisco 3800 Series router meets the bandwidth requirements for multiple Fast Ethernet interfaces for each expansion slot, time-division multiplexing (TDM) connections, and fully integrated power sourcing to modules supporting 802.3af PoE, while still accommodating the traditional portfolio of interfaces. This ensures ongoing return on investment by supporting network expansion or adapting to changes in technology as the latest services are deployed. By integrating the capabilities of several separate devices into one compact unit, the Cisco 3800 Series router dramatically reduces the expense and complexity of managing wide area networks.
Cisco's Midrange Routers WAN Aggregation Routers
Cisco’s midrange routers can provide enterprises with high-performance, secure headends to aggregate branch office and remote user traffic and to offer service providers cost-effective WAN edge solutions.Cisco’s midrange router portfolio includes the Cisco 7200 and Cisco 7300 Series, the new ASR 1000 family, the 7600 Series and the Cisco Catalyst 6000.
Progent's nationwide team of Cisco CCIE certified network engineers have in-depth backgrounds working with enterprise businesses and Internet service providers to plan optimal deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's midrange routers. Progent's CISA, GIAC, and CISA certified network security consultants can provide objective, third-party network security vulnerability evaluations and stealth penetration testing to help businesses with Cisco's midrange routers to comply with industry standards and government regulations for network data security.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregated Services Routers
Cisco’s ASR 1000 family is positioned in the middle of Cisco’s midrange routers that focus on aggregating services at the WAN edge. ASR 1000 routers offer a small footprint, single-product solution for enterprises requiring branch office aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. ASR 1000 routers introduce a new architecture that combines hardware acceleration with software flexibility in order to deliver a high volume of concurrent services without sacrificing consistent performance.
ASR 1000 Series routers feature Cisco’s new QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 custom Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that in combination can support up to 160 concurrent processor threads. This parallel CPU architecture combined with hardware acceleration for all services allows the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 router to scale up to 128,000 hardware queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4,000 IPsec tunnels at 10,000 sessions per second, and 2 million Netflow records. This processing power permits the ASR 1000 to support a variety of advanced services simultaneously in high volume without suffering performance degradation that could threaten SLA compliance. Examples of these services include Cisco IOS Firewall, NAT translation, FPM, and deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also allows tiered traffic management for applying multiple levels of QoS to a packet in a single pass, improving the user experience for current and next-generation of IP voice, video, and conferencing applications.
Cisco 7200 VXR Series Integrated Services Routers
The7200 VXR Integrated Services router offers exceptional speed, modularity, and scalability in a compact footprint with a wide range of configuration profiles. With processing throughput as high as two million packets per second, adapters spanning from NxDS0 to GbE, and OC-3 as well as an unparalleled number of high-touch IP services, the Cisco 7200 VXR Series Integrated Services router is a solid broadband aggregation WAN/MAN edge solution for enterprises and ISPs.
The 7200 VXR Series router features broadband aggregation by handling up to 16,000 PPP sessions per unit, voice/video/data support with TDM-enabled VXR chassis and voice interface adapters, IP-to-IP gateway support, and IP Security virtual private networking scalable to 5,000 tunnels per chassis.
The Cisco 7200 VXR Series Integrated Services router combines into a compact platform services formerly handled by multiple devices. Through this consolidation, the 7200 VXR Series router provides a standalone, cost-effective solution that supports sophisticated network modules as well as high-speed services aggregation which includes Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), RFC 1483 termination, and Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol; digital T1/E1 time-division multiplexer trunk termination for and data; high-density multichannel T3/E3 and T1/E1 with built-in channel service unit/data service unit (CSU/DSU); ATM, PoS, and Dynamic Packet Transport access; ATM IMA (Inverse Multiplexing over ATM) for video; and low-volume Layer 2 Ethernet switching.
7600 Series Routers
The Cisco 7600 Series router benefits from the Catalyst 6500 Series infrastructure with an NEBS-3 box, 256-Gbps crossbar fabric, and 30-Mpps switching performance. High availability is implemented via logical and physical redundancy plus IOS Software functions. In addition, the 7600 Series router offers a broad set of high-touch network services at optical rates via various OSMs powered by Cisco proprietary PXF technology.
The Cisco 7609 router offers the choice to use a 256-Gbps SFM or the standard 32-Gbps bus, providing centralized switching performance of 30 or 15 Mpps each. If the Switch Fabric Module is deployed, the Cisco 7609 can also support distributed switching with rates up to 168 Mpps by running the Cisco Catalyst 6500 16-port Gbit Ethernet LAN module, which is controlled by the Distributed Forwarding Card and the Switch Fabric Module.
The 7603 Series provides a 32-Gbps bus and provides 15 million packets per second switching performance. The Cisco 7603 Series does not offer distributed switching.
Legacy Cisco Routers Maintained by Progent's Experts
Progent's Cisco certified consultants are familiar with providing support for legacy routers no longer offered by Cisco. Progent can show you how to maintain these older routers and can in addition help you to plan and carry out upgrades to newer models. Older Cisco routers maintained by Progent include:
1700 Series Routers
Cisco 1700 Series modular access routers are engineered to provide an affordable, integrated e-business solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). 1700 routers offer flexibility and manageability to satisfy demanding e-business requirements such as multiservice data/voice/video/fax consolidation, fast broadband Internet access, and powerful protection solutions. 1700 Series routers have been superseded by Cisco's 1800 Series of ISR routers and Cisco's 1900 Integrated Services G2 routers.
2600 Series Routers
The Cisco 2600 Series of routers is a family of modular access routers for branch networks, offering flexible LAN/WAN setup options, comprehensive security features, and selection of high performance processors. Cisco 2600 routers have been superseded by Cisco's 2800 Series of integrated services routers and 2900 Integrated Services G2 routers.
3700 Series Routers
The Cisco 3700 Series is a line of modular, multiservice solutions for mid-size and large offices. With over 70 modular interface options, the 3700 family provides a robust platform for data, voice video, VPNs, and mixed-protocol routing. 3700 Series routers have been superseded by Cisco's 3800 family of integrated services routers and Cisco's 3900 Series ISR G2 routers.
How Progent Can Assist You with Cisco Routers
Progent's Cisco certified consultants can assist you to design, configure, and manage a converged business network that can streamline operations, reduce expenses, and accelerate the path to positive ROI. By combining Cisco integrated services routers with Catalyst switches expertise and Aironet wireless integration, Progent can dramatically enhance the strategic value of your integrated network. Progent can provide in-person and off-site support and offers data center support throughout Northern California and major locations nationally.
To learn additional information concerning Progent's consulting support for Cisco products, choose a subject:
Overview of Cisco Engineering Services
Immediate Support from a Consultant
Cisco ASA 5500 and PIX 500 Firewall Engineering Services
Cisco Aironet Wireless Consulting Help
Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Engineering Help
Cisco Switches Professional Support
Cisco VPN and Network Security Engineering Services
Consulting for Cisco-powered Datacenters
Consulting Expertise for ISPs
Network Management Strategies for Cisco Networks
To get in touch with Progent about consulting support for Cisco products, call 1-800-993-9400 or send email to cisco-help@progent.com.
