Routers are the centerpiece of connectivity architecture, intelligently steering network traffic from one network to another. Cisco produces 90% of the world's routers and has developed an extensive catalog that features routers engineered to deliver the protection, performance, and reliability characteristics needed by companies of all sizes. Routers from Cisco feature support for redundancy, instant failover, and backup power for improved availability and network productivity. These capabilities help you to build a solid foundation for an information network that allows you to grow as you support new workers, establish new sites, install new capabilities, give access to your system to customers and vendors, and build an increasingly mobile user base.

Cisco Routers Designed for Small, Mid-size and Enterprise Businesses
Cisco's integrated services routers provide a comprehensive solution that reduces network downtime and stabilizes access to the most business-critical applications. Cisco's focus on combining new infrastructure services with performance enables businesses to build WANs that are more intelligent, more resilient, and more dependable. For organizations of all sizes who need quick, protected access to today's key applications as well as a strong basis for continuing growth, Cisco routers provide a portfolio engineered for safe, wire-speed transmission of simultaneous voice traffic. Cisco's integrated services routers incorporate security and voice services into a single routing system that accelerates application deployment and reduces maintenance costs and complexity.

SB 100 Routers
Cisco's Small Business 100 Series of broadband routers offers an affordable choice for data-only networks in small offices with up to five workers. SB 100 options include Asymmetric DSL (ADSL), ADSL, or an Ethernet wide area network version with a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch. Every SB 100 provides safe connectivity with built-in firewall and support for Multiprotocol Label Switching-based VPNs. Also, simple configuration tool, Cisco Router and Security Device Manager, permits you to configure the router and its built-in firewall, and off-site administration capabilities in Cisco IOS Software facilitate easy installation and centralized support.

Cisco Small Business 100 Secure Broadband Routers have been superseded by the Cisco 850 and 870 family of routers. Progent's network support experts can assist you to maintain your existing SB 100 devices and help you migrate to more advanced routers.

Cisco 800 Series Routers
Cisco's 870 and Cisco 850 Access Routers are fixed-configuration routers that provide highly secure, simultaneous services over fast interfaces in small off-site offices, teleworker, and small business sites.

Cisco 850 Series access routers are designed for small networks, ideal for up to 10 workers or for telecommuter environments where simply protected and economical connectivity is required. Cisco 850 Series routers deliver protected access with Stateful Inspection Firewall and IPsec Virtual Private Network support for small offices, 4-port 10/100 switch, protected WLAN 802.11b/g option with an antenna, and simple configuration and integration and off-site administration features via Web-based utilities and IOS Software.

Cisco 870 routers are ideal for small networks, recommended for as many as 20 users or for teleworker environments where high-quality VoIP and video and dependable connectivity using standby WAN. wide area network links are demanded, as well as protected access. Cisco 870 Series access routers offer excellent performance for WAN access in small workgroups as well as enhanced security through features that include stateful Inspection Firewall, IP Security VPNs, Triple Data Encryption Standard or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as well as DMVPN and Tunnel-less Group Encrypted Transport, IPS, and antivirus support through Network Admission Control (NAC) and policing of safe access policies.

Cisco 870 Series access routers also provide industry-leading quality of service (QoS), 4-connection 10/100 Ethernet switch with Virtual LAN capability, secure WLAN 802.11b/g option with multiple antennas, simple configuration and deployment by means of Web-enabled tools and off-site management capabilities via IOS Software, and PoE support to work with IP phone sets or wireless access points.

1800 Series Routers
The scalable Cisco 1800 family of integrated services routers intelligently embed data and protection within a single robust solution for fast, scalable delivery of vital business applications. The 1800 Series router architecture has been specifically engineered to satisfy the needs of small-to-medium-sized businesses, small enterprise branch offices, and ISP-managed services applications for access to simultaneous services at high-speed throughput. The integrated systems architecture of the Cisco 1800 Series routers delivers optimum flexibility and fast ROI.

Engineered for secure data access, Cisco's 1841 device offers notable added value relative to prior generations of Cisco 1700 Series routers by delivering more than a fivefold performance increase plus integrated hardware-based encryption activated by an optional IOS Software protection image. The Cisco 1841 integrated services router dramatically increases interface card slot performance and density in comparison to the Cisco 1700 Series while still maintaining compatibility with dozens of existing WAN interface cards and multiflex trunk cards (voice/WICs (VWICs)-for data only on the 1841 router). The Cisco 1841 device offers additional enhancement of Virtual Private Network throughput via an available Virtual Private Network acceleration module; an intrusion prevention system (IPS) and firewall functions; compatibility with a broad array of connectivity requirements, such as support for optional integrated switch ports; and enough speed and expansion slot density for future network expansion and advanced applications.

Cisco 2800 Series Integrated Services Routers
Intended for small to midsize organizations and corporate branch offices, Cisco's 2800 Series consists of four basic versions: the Cisco 2801, the Cisco 2811 route, the Cisco 2821, and the 2851 router. The Cisco 2800 Series routers offers substantial additional value vs. prior generations of Cisco routers at comparable price points by offering up to a 5x performance increase, as much as a 10x improvement in protection and voice speed, built-in service features, and dramatically increased slot speed and capacity while preserving support for the vast majority of the almost 100 popular expansion modules available today for the Cisco 1700 Series, the 2600 Series, and the 3700 devices.

The Cisco 2800 Series routers can deliver a variety of advanced concurrent services at high data rates up to numerous T1/E1/xDSL interfaces. 2800 Series routers offer built-in rapid encryption and on-the-motherboard voice DSP add-in slots; intrusion prevention system (IPS) and firewall functions; optional integrated call handling and voice message support; high-capacity interfaces for a broad array of wired and wireless connectivity options; and sufficient performance and slot density for future system growth needs and advanced applications.

The Cisco 2800 Series router provides a range of common security functions including a Cisco IOS Software Firewall, an IPS, IPSec VPN, Secure Socket Layer VPN, powerful application inspection and control, SSH Protocol Version 2.0, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMPv3) in one secure solution. Additionally, by incorporating security functions within the router, Cisco can provide special smart protection functions other security devices can't, such as network admissions control for virus protection; Voice and Video Enabled VPN for QoS support when combining voice, video, and Virtual Private Networks; Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN); Group Encrypted Transport; Virtual Private Networking; and Easy Virtual Private Networks for supporting more expandable and easier to manage VPN networks.

Companies can use the 2800 router to deploy an integrated IP telephony environment for as many as 96 IP phones, and can securely combine data, voice, and IP telephony on one router for their small-to-medium sized branch offices.

The 2800 Series supports a built-in wireless access point for 802.11x wireless network connectivity, wireless Hotspot capability for public wireless access, and infrastructure services for cordless WLAN telephony and for larger sites.

3800 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco 3800 Series routers are engineered for small and midsize businesses and enterprise satellite locations to offer companies the top levels of network versatility, performance, and intelligence. The Cisco 3800 Series routers smoothly incorporate the latest technologies, adaptive 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 feature internal security intelligence, fast throughput and large memory capacity, and high-capacity interfaces that deliver the speed, availability, and reliability necessary for building mission-critical security, IP telephony, high-volume video, system monitoring, and web-based programs in the most demanding corporate environments. Engineered for performance, the The Cisco 3800 integrated services routers deliver multiple concurrent services up to wire-speed T3/E3 data rates.

The integrated services routing architecture of the Cisco 3800 router is engineered to incorporate and integrate protection and voice processing with the latest wired and wireless services for fast deployment of new applications, including application layer operations, smart network services, and unified communications. The Cisco 3800 Series router supports the bandwidth requirements for several Fast Ethernet interfaces per expansion slot, time-division multiplexing connections, and fully integrated power distribution to modules compatible with 802.3af PoE, while also supporting the traditional portfolio of interface modules. This ensures ongoing return on investment by allowing network expansion or accommodating innovations in technology as new services are deployed. By integrating the capabilities of multiple distinct appliances into one small unit, the 3800 router dramatically reduces the cost and hassle of managing remote networks.

7200 VXR Series Routers
The7200 VXR Series Integrated Services router offers high levels of speed, flexibility, and scalability in a compact footprint with a broad selection of deployment options. With processing speeds as high as 2 million packets / second, port and service adapters spanning from NxDS0 to GbE, plus OC-3 as well as an unparalleled number of high-volume IP services, the Cisco 7200 VXR Series Integrated Services router is the preferred services aggregation wide- and metropolitan-area network edge solution for enterprises and service providers.

The Cisco 7200 VXR router provides broadband aggregation by supporting up to 16K Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) sessions per device, mixed-media integration via time-division multiplexer (TDM)-enabled VXR frame and voice interface adapters, IP-to-IP gateway support, and IP Security VPN expandable to 5,000 tunnels per device.

The Cisco 7200 VXR router combines into a single platform functions previously performed by multiple devices. Thanks to this integration, the Cisco 7200 VXR router provides a single, cost-effective platform that supports high-density LAN and WAN interfaces as well as broadband services aggregation which includes PPP, RFC 1483 termination, and L2TP tunneling; digital T1/E1 TDM trunk termination for voice; high-density multichannel T3/E3 and T1/E1 with integrated channel service unit/data service unit (CSU/DSU); ATM, PoS, and Dynamic Packet Transport connectivity; ATM IMA (Inverse Multiplexing over ATM) for video; and low-volume Layer 2 Ethernet switching.

7600 Integrated Services Routers
The 7600 Series Integrated Services router takes advantage of the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series architecture by using an NEBS-3 box, 256-Gbps crossbar fabric, and 30-Mpps switching performance. Fault tolerance is implemented via logical and physical redundancy plus Cisco IOS Software capabilities. Also, the 7600 router offers a rich array of high-touch network services at optical rates via various Optical Services Modules (OSMs) powered by Cisco patented Parallel Express Forwarding technology.

The 7609 Series provides the choice to select a 256-Gbps SFM or a 32-Gbps bus, which provide switching performance of 30 Mpps or 15 million packets per second respectively. When the Switch Fabric Module is deployed, the Cisco 7609 Series can in addition support distributed switching with rates up to 168 Mpps by running the Catalyst 6500 16-port Gigabit Ethernet network card, which is powered by the Distributed Forwarding Card and the Switch Fabric Module.

The Cisco 7603 offers exclusively the standard 32-Gbps bus option and delivers 15 Mpps performance. The Cisco 7603 router does not support Cisco's distributed switching.

Older Cisco Routers Supported by Progent's Network Professionals
Progent's CCIE consultants are familiar with legacy Cisco routers that are no longer offered by Cisco. Progent can help you to maintain these routers and can in addition assist you to prepare for and carry out upgrades to current versions. Popular Cisco routers supported by Progent include: