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The current generation of routers usually incorporate L2 switching capability, and many of today's switches have Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the producer of the vast majority of the industry's routers, have improved dramatically in function and performance and Cisco now offers a comprehensive product line that includes routers designed to handle the requirements of users ranging from households to nationwide service providers.

The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco have the performance and built-in features to support data voice and video as well as virtual environments while at the same time providing high availability, remote administration, easy scalability, and advanced protection. These routers enable you to build a firm foundation for an IT environment that can evolve smoothly as you hire new employees, establish new sites, deploy additional services, give access to your system to clients and partners, and support an expanding mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco CCIE network engineers can provide immediate and economical online expertise to assist your company to select, deploy, administer, upgrade, and support Cisco's latest routers and can assist you to support your legacy routers or move non-disruptively to Cisco's newer router solutions.

Cisco Routers for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for smaller organizations and remote offices provide affordable and dependable entry-level alternatives that enable small sets of workers to share safe connectivity to the Internet. These fixed-configuration desktop routers include at least four Ethernet ports with wireless options plus built-in firewall for enhanced security. Designed for easy installation, administration, and support, Cisco's entry-level routers reduce TCO by lowering acquisition and maintenance investments. Progent's online troubleshooting experts have in-depth backgrounds providing immediate and affordable technical assistance for small organizations to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers can help your company to understand how these routers can add to the business value of your information system.

ISR 900 Series Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series desktop routers are small-footprint, fanless, set-configuration appliances designed for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These entry-level routers have four GE switch ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. The ISR 900 router product line provides triple the IPsec performance of Cisco's ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 Series routers feature Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is up to 250 Mbps. All models support up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for business continuity include VRRP, HSRP, and Multigroup HSRP (MHSRP). Setup and management can be performed with Cisco CP Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS Software. Cisco ISR 900 Series routers do not support Cisco SD-WAN.

Cisco's ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN, Category 4 LTE, and a built-in power supply. VPN performance is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers have external power supplies and support one GE WAN port, LTE Cat 4, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. VPN throughput for both routers is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line ISR 931 features dual GE WAN and has an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN performance is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX series of desktop routers provide software-defined wide area networking and cloud-based unified threat management in a single compact device able to support 50 to 200 users. Every MX router needs to be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For venues with multiple external network connections (e.g., MPLS, broadband, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits administrators to assign the WAN connection an app uses or to build performance-based algorithms to determine the preferred interface. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share key capabilities including:

• Application and identity-based firewalling
• Content and web search filtering
• PCI-compliant Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Advanced Malware Protection with reputation-based filtering
• Load balancing to aggregate multiple WAN connections into a single fast interface with policy-based Quality of Services, traffic shaping, and fast failover
• Works with all IPsec VPN devices and services
• USB port for fast 3G/4G failover
• Wi-Fi versions of each model have 802.11ac Wave 2 2x2 MU-MIMO

Cisco 1000 Series ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers powered by Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless appliances intended to provide high-performance network connectivity, wireless access, and advanced cybersecurity for SMBs, enterprise branch offices, retail outlets, customer premises equipment (CPE), and M2M environments. Multiple parallel processing cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE software allow these routers to offer capabilities consistent with Cisco's complete family of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 family ISR routers are available with 4 or 8 LAN ports and offer GE packet forwarding. Various models include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a range of integrated or pluggable options such as LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, G.fast DSL, 3G/4G wireless, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and SFP. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR models can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN services for seamless multiple-cloud connectivity, advanced cybersecurity, and unified monitoring and management across hybrid networks.

Cisco's rackmount or desktop 1100-4G ISR router includes four built-in GE WAN/LAN ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE with two LTE antenna SMA connectors, and one micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption throughput is 200 Mbps. The Cisco 1100-6G ISR router adds two 1G SFP Fiber connections and features encryption performance of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop ISR 1101-4P router comes with four built-in switched GE ports, offers 802.11ac as well as 3G/4G LTE wireless, and features encryption speed of 280 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 1109-2P/4p desktop routers include two or four built-in switched GE interfaces and dual pluggable 3G/4G LTE wireless ports. Encryption packet processing performance is 200 Mbps.

The 1RU or desktop ISR 111x-4P/8P routers come with four or eight built-in GE interfaces (two or four with PoE) and feature VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP Fiber. Encryption rate is 280 Mbps. Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 1111X-8P router includes eight switched GE ports (four with POE) and supports SFP. Encryption speed is 340 Mbps. The ISR 112x-8P router has eight built-in switched GE interfaces with Power over Ethernet and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing rate is 340 Mbps. The Cisco 1161X-8P ISR router features eight integrated switched GE connections with PoE and supports 3G/4G LTE and SFP. Encryption packet processing throughput is 450 Mbps.

Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 line of routers are modular appliances intended to work at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid networks that can include multiple public and private clouds and SaaS applications. Catalyst 8000 routers are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide scalability, advanced cloud security, and 5G connectivity. Performance is enhanced via purpose-built hardware, a multicore architecture, high port density, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide continual access to current SD-WAN technology and enable centralized management with advanced security, application-optimized policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.

Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series ISRs, delivering higher IPsec performance and expandability, accelerated encryption, plus greater built-in WAN interface density. These one-rack unit routers are built to bring Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and 5G-connection technology to enterprise branch offices and the enterprise WAN edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model includes four CPU cores, enables 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based applications. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T model features eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with existing container models. Both devices include one Network Interface Module (NIM) slot, one PIM slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN ports, and two 1G Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable interfaces. Four-port and eight-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 routers.

Cisco Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 Series ISR Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN architecture to medium-sized and large enterprise branches looking for high WAN IPSec performance with integrated SD-WAN services. Enhanced capabilities include 5G wireless support, integrated cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers support edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 family of ISR routers. All models in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series portfolio allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature dual power supplies for improved uptime.

The Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router model is a one-rack unit appliance that features eight CPU cores and offers 2G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance as high as 1.9Gbps. The unit includes a single Service Module expansion slot, one Network Interface Module slot, and six integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst 8300-2N2S-6T router is a 2RU router that features 8 CPU cores and supports 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec data rates of up to 1.9Gbps. The unit includes two Service Module plug-in slots, two NIM slots, and six integrated 1G Ethernet WAN ports. The Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router is a 1RU device that includes eight CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec data rates as high as 15Gbps. The appliance features one a single SM plug-in slot, one NIM slot, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X model is a two-rack unit device that features 12 CPU cores and supports 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec data rates as high as 18Gbps. The unit has two SM plug-in slots, two NIM slots, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four built-in 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. LAN plug-in modules offered by Cisco range from a 4-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch SM module.

Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed form factor, 1RU aggregation appliances for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Integrated features include route processor, embedded services processor, and aggregation hardware for multiple interfaces and connectivity options. IPsec performance is twice that of Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X aggregation services router. Flexible connectivity alternatives include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN interfaces. The routers include dual AC or DC power units for improved availability. Software subscription suites provide ongoing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable unified management of cybersecurity, application-aware policies, segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.

The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is designed to provide the same experience as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X has four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and can deliver up to 20 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X appliance has 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers as high as 120 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC aggregation router includes four built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1G ports and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 68 Gbps. The C8500-20X6C router comes with 20 built-in SFP+ interfaces and six x 40/100GE ports. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C supports as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance.

Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's ISR G2 routers are designed to provide branch offices of large businesses with enhanced video and voice applications, virtualization, protection, and reliable WAN access. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers introduce an architecture that preserves past investments in service modules for older ISR routers and reduces down-the-line costs by allowing easy installation of new modules as they are developed. In comparison to older ISR routers, Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers feature 2-7 times higher performance, substantially greater expandability, and more affordable maintenance. All Cisco Integrated Services G2 routers offer Gbit switching and incorporate multi-core processors and ultra-fast fabric for faster throughput. ISR Generation 2 routers also offer intelligent power control for improved energy efficiency.

A key advance with ISR G2 routers is the IOS Software Universal image which contains all of the Cisco IOS technology sets so that your company can quickly license and deploy new features when desired without having to download and transfer a different IOS image to yourrouter. Progent's team of CCIE-certified network engineers offer proven skills to assist your business to design, configure, and support multi-site deployments of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers that enhance branch office efficiency and cut the price of expansion and support.

Cisco's ISR 800 Family of Routers
Cisco's 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the faster Cisco ISR 900 series but is still widely deployed. Cisco's extensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop devices designed and priced for small organizations, branch offices, retail shops, teleworkers, and clients of broadband service providers. Many models in Cisco's 800 Series family of routers have been developed with many options over the course of many years. Cisco's 881 line of ISR routers suggests the vast selection of options available within the Cisco 800 Series product family. Various models in Cisco's 881 Series router catalog can support unified media environments by providing voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated router and switch. Advanced data protection can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available options for Cisco 881 ISR routers include duplicate wide area network links or support for landline broadband WAN connections such as DSL as well as multiple 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into a single appliance.

The basic Cisco 881 has a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps performance, the ability to handle 20 users, two-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. The Cisco 881W router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router includes 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN fallback with Cisco SRST. With a Cisco CUBE feature license, Cisco's 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking to replace legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks also connect remote call agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.

4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Line of ISR Routers are modular and scalable platforms designed for organizations with a large number of branch offices and offsite workers who need direct access to in-house data centers as well as public clouds via VPN tunnels and the Internet. The 4000 series provides the throughput needed for distributed enterprise sites to accommodate mobile workers, Cloud-based services, and HD multimedia applications by utilizing WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management technology. Models in the ISR 4000 Series are powered by Cisco's powerful IOS XE software, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can handle as much as 2 Gbps of traffic, and can have up to 3 interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. To handle unified communications, the 400o ISR offers extensive edge support for policy-enhanced session border control, branch telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.

The major difference between Cisco's 4400 and 4300 Series Routers is the inclusion of dual power supply capability in the 4400 Series, offering a higher level of fault tolerance. The 4321 ISR Router has a 1 RU desktop package and includes two network interface modules (NIMs), delivers up to 100 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The 4331 router comes in a 1 RU form factor and includes two network interface modules, provides up to 300 Mbps performance, and can handle 360 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4351 ISR Router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three network interface modules, offers as much as 400 Mbps performance, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The power-redundant 4431 model has a 2 RU form factor with three network interface modules, delivers up to 1 Gbps throughput, and can handle 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The redundant-power 4431 Integrated Services Router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three network interface modules, offers up to 2 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels.

Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and service provider routers can provide enterprises with fast, secure head ends to aggregate branch office and off-site data packets and to provide ISPs cost-optimized wide area network edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router product line features the ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services routers.

Progent's nationwide group of Cisco CCIE network experts have in-depth backgrounds working with enterprise businesses and service providers to design optimal deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts can provide unbiased, third-party network security inventory evaluations, stealth penetration testing services and comprehensive Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help enterprises that use Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to meet industry standards and statutory regulations for IT data security and incident reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for PEN testing. NodeZero depends on AI technology to streamline the threat evaluation cycle of finding security gaps in network perimeters and within the internal network infrastructure, recommending repairs, fixing weaknesses, and confirming successful repairs.

Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services line of routers is positioned in the middle of Cisco's midrange devices that concentrate on acting as headends at the WAN edge. Cisco's ASR 1000 routers provide a small form factor, single-product answer for large businesses requiring branch office aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet speeds. ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers introduce a revolutionary design that mixes on-board acceleration with programmable versatility in order to offer a multitude of simultaneous services while preserving consistent performance.

ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers feature Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that in combination can handle as many as 160 concurrent threads. This massive parallelism, combined with hardware acceleration for every service, enables the high-end ASR 1006 router to expand up to 000 queues, 32,000 clients, 4,000 IPsec tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2M Netflow log records. This CPU power permits Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers to deliver a broad range of advanced services concurrently in massive volume without suffering performance degradation that might compromise compliance with service level agreements. These advanced services include Cisco IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, Network Address Translation, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also allows tiered traffic control for applying numerous levels of QoS to a data packet in a single pass, improving responsiveness for high-bandwidth multimedia applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are intended as edge routers for service providers who need to deliver world-class HD multimedia services to home, commercial, and mobile customers by providing continual availability, high performance, and application-aware intelligence. All models in the ASR 9000 line of Routers are powered by the IOS XR, a distributed operating system built for continuous uptime. Performance of the Cisco ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers can be expanded up to 96 Tbps per chassis. the Cisco ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers can handle high-density Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, and fan trays plus redundant control planes and switch fabric.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a carrier-edge router that comes in a 6 RU package with 120 Gbps of nonblocking, full-duplex fabric capacity. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two modular bays which can support port adapters for 1 Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The chassis has four 10 GE enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports as well as ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, building integrated timing supply (BITS), and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU form factor and offers dense 10 and 100 GE connectivity in space-constrained sites. The 4-slot router can scale up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in a single box. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router comes in a 30 RU form factor and includes 10 line-card slots able to provide up to 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 incorporates 2 route processors and 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.

How Progent's Consultants Can Help You with Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE certified consultants can help you to design, configure, and maintain an integrated network infrastructure that can automate processes, lower costs, and speed the path to positive return on investment. By teaming Cisco integrated services routers with Cisco Catalyst switches support and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless integration, Progent can dramatically increase the strategic value of your network infrastructure. Progent can provide in-person and remote support and offers data center support throughout the U.S.

To learn more information about Progent's professional expertise for Cisco technology, select a topic:

• Overview of Cisco Expertise
• Fast and Affordable Online Help from a CCIE Consultant
• Cisco Firepower Firewalls: Configuration and Management Expertise
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Firewall with Cisco Firepower Services: Setup and Troubleshooting Expertise
• ASA 5500 Series Firewall Troubleshooting Help
• PIX 500 Series Firewall Maintenance Assistance
• Cisco Wireless Deployment Help
• Cisco Aironet Wireless APs Deployment Services
• Cisco Small Business WiFi APs Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6/6E Access Points Solution Design, Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Experts
• Cisco Meraki APs Consulting Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and CallManager Configuration and Technical Support
• Cisco Voice over IP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting and Wireless IP Phone Solutions
• Cisco Jabber Consulting and Support Services
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Meraki Switches Support and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco VPN Integration Support
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunking and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication Services for an At-Home Workforce
• Design Solutions for Cisco-powered Data Centers
• Data Center Design Expertise for ISPs
• Unified Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Strategies for Cisco Environments