Cisco Certified Network Consultants

Generally, routers rely on processors to steer data using sophisticated algorithms, offering flexibility at the cost of speed. Switches, in contrast, depend on largely fixed hardware configurations to send data at the highest feasible speed. Today's routers usually include Layer 2 switching capability, and many modern switches have Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers offered by Cisco, the supplier of 90% of the world's routers, have improved significantly in function and speed and Cisco makes an extensive product line that includes routers designed to meet the requirements of users from households to nationwide service providers.

The most recent ISR routers from Cisco have the performance and integrated features to manage data voice and video as well as virtualization while at the same time providing high availability, remote administration, easy scalability, and enhanced protection. Cisco's ISR routers enable your company to establish a firm foundation for an IT network that can grow seamlessly as you add more employees, establish new offices, configure new services, give access to your system to customers and vendors, and support an an increasingly mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco CCIE network consultants offer immediate and affordable remote support to help your company to select, deploy, administer, update, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced router technology and can help you to maintain your older routers or migrate efficiently to Cisco's newer router solutions.

Cisco Routers Designed for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for smaller companies and remote offices provide low-cost and dependable no-frills solutions that enable small groups of workers to have safe connectivity to the Internet. These single-configuration desktop routers include at minimum four 10/100 Ethernet switches with wireless options plus built-in firewall for advanced protection. Designed for easy installation, administration, and support, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce total cost of ownership by lowering acquisition and maintenance expenses. Progent's remote troubleshooting specialists have extensive backgrounds delivering fast and economical IT assistance for small organizations to set up and support these devices, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers can help your company to determine ways these routers can increase the business value of your IT network.

Cisco ISR 900 Series Routers
The Cisco ISR 900 Series desktop routers are small-footprint, fanless, fixed-configuration devices designed for SMBs, branch offices, and home offices. These value-priced routers include four managed GE LAN ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. The ISR 900 router family provides three times the IPsec throughput of the ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 models offer Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN, Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN performance is as high as 250 Mbps. All router models allow up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover technology for high availability include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, Hot Standby Router Protocol, and MHSRP. Provisioning and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS Software. ISR 900 Series devices do not support Cisco SD-WAN.

Cisco's ISR 921 router comes with dual GE WAN ports, Category 4 LTE, and an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN performance is 150 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 926 and ISR 927 models use external power supplies and feature one GE WAN interface, Category 4 LTE, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+. GE WAN VPN performance for both routers is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line ISR 931 supports dual GE WAN ports and has an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX line of desktop routers provide software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud-based unified threat management in one compact device able to handle 50 to 200 users. Every MX series appliance needs to be licensed for the Meraki cloud. For venues having multiple WAN network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows admins to assign the WAN connection an application uses or to build performance-based algorithms to determine the preferred interface. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share key capabilities including:

• App and ID-based firewalling
• Content and web search filtering
• PCI-compliant Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) with reputation-based filtering
• Load balancing to aggregate multiple WAN connections into one fast connection with policy-based QoS, 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 Family ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 family Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) using Cisco IOS XE internetworking operating system are a selection of fanless appliances intended to provide high-performance network connectivity, wireless access, and multilayer cybersecurity for SMBs, branch offices, retail outlets, customer premises equipment (CPE), and machine-to-machine environments. Multiple parallel processing cores and compatibly with Cisco IOS XE software allow these routers to deliver capabilities consistent with Cisco's entire line of Enterprise routers. 1000 family ISR models are offered with 4 or 8 LAN ports and provide Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packet forwarding. Various models include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a selection of integrated or pluggable connections for LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, G.fast DSL, 3G/4G wireless, 802.11 wireless, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR routers work with Cisco's SD-WAN services for transparent multiple-cloud connectivity, multilayer security, and cohesive management of hybrid network models of any complexity.

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

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

Catalyst 8000 Series WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco's Catalyst 8000 Series routers are modular appliances intended to operate at the WAN edge to support hybrid network environments that can include a mix of public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. All Catalyst 8000 routers use Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and offer expandability, intelligent cloud security, and 5G connectivity. Throughput is enhanced via custom silicon, a multicore architecture, high port capacity, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software services provide ongoing access to the latest SD-WAN technology and enable centralized management with advanced cybersecurity, application-optimized policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.

Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers, delivering higher IPsec throughput and expandability, hardware-accelerated encryption, plus greater integrated WAN interface density. These 1RU appliances are designed to bring Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branch offices and the enterprise access edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model features four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec traffic, and permits 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based apps. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router includes eight CPU cores, provides 1Gb IPsec performance, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and allows edge computing with existing container models. Both devices include one NIM slot, one Pluggable Interface Module (PIM) slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and two 1G Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) ports. 4-port and 8-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM modules are supported by both 8200 routers.

Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 line of Integrated Services Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to mid-sized and large enterprise branch offices seeking high WAN IPSec throughput with cohesive SD-WAN services. Enhanced features include 5G wireless support, integrated cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application-aware optimization. Catalyst 8300 Series routers enable edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 Series ISR appliances. All models in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 line support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include backup power supplies for high availability.

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

Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, 1RU aggregation routers for SD-WAN and colocation environments. Built-in features include route processor, ESP, plus aggregation hardware for multiple connection options. IPsec performance is twice that of Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Available connectivity options include 1GE to 100 GE WAN interfaces. The routers include dual power supplies for improved availability. Software subscription packages allow ongoing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable centralized management of security, application-aware policies, segmentation, and cloud support.

The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is intended to provide the same basic functionality as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 20 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 19Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-12X router features 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and supports up to 120 Gbps aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC model comes with four integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1-Gigabit ports and delivers up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 68 Gbps.

Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's ISR G2 routers are intended to offer branch offices of large businesses with enhanced video and voice applications, virtualization, security, and dependable WAN access. Integrated Services G2 routers feature an architecture that protects past investments in service modules for first-generation Integrated Services Routers and lowers down-the-line expenses by permitting field installation of new modules as they become available. Compared to previous ISR routers, Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times higher performance, substantially more, and easier maintenance. All Cisco ISR G2 routers offer GE switching and include multi-core CPUs and ultra-fast fabric for faster performance. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also support intelligent power management for improved energy efficiency.

A key innovation with ISR Generation 2 routers is the IOS Universal image which includes all of the IOS technology sets so that your company can quickly authorize and deploy extra services when required without having to download and transfer a new IOS image to yourrouter. Progent's group of CCIE network engineers offer proven expertise 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 upgrades and maintenance.

Cisco's ISR 800 Series Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been superseded by the faster Cisco ISR 900 family but is still widely deployed. Cisco's extensive line of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop, fanless devices intended for small organizations, branch locations, retail shops, telecommuters, and customers of ISPs. A wealth of devices in Cisco's 800 Series family of routers have been developed with various options for many years. The 881 Series of ISR routers exemplifies the vast array of options available within the Cisco 800 product family. Models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can enable unified media environments by providing voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated appliance. Built-in data protection can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available options for Cisco 881 ISR routers include redundant WAN links or support for wired broadband WAN connections like DSL plus multiple different 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into a single desktop appliance.

The baseline Cisco 881 router includes a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch with up to 15 Mbps throughput, support for up to 20 users, two-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. Cisco's 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router features 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for public-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) failover with Cisco SRST. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking as a replacement for legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN carrier. SIP trunks also support offsite agents in Cisco Call Center environments.

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are modular and expandable routers intended for organizations with multiple branch offices and offsite users requiring direct communication with in-house data centers and public clouds via VPNs and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series provides the throughput required for distributed enterprise sites to support mobile users, Cloud-based services, and HD multimedia applications by using wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management technology. Models in Cisco's 4000 Series run Cisco's IOS XE software, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can handle Up to 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 network interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in Gigabit Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. ISR 4000 models can support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. For unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR offers extensive edge support technology for policy-enhanced SBC, branch telephony survivability, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.

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

Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's midrange and service provider routers can provide enterprises with high-performance, protected distribution points to manage satellite office and remote user data packets and to offer ISPs cost-optimized WAN edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router portfolio features the Cisco ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services routers.

Progent's nationwide team of CCIE network engineers have in-depth experience helping enterprise businesses and ISPs to design optimal deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants can provide objective, independent security inventory assessments, penetration testing and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help companies that use Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to meet industry guidelines and government requirements for IT information protection and reporting.

Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services line of routers is designed to fill the middle of Cisco's midrange products that focus on aggregating services at the WAN edge. ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers offer a small footprint, multi-function answer for large businesses looking for branch office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 routers incorporate an innovative architecture that combines hardware acceleration with software flexibility in order to deliver a multitude of simultaneous services without sacrificing consistent performance.

Cisco's ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers feature Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines that together can support up to 160 concurrent processor threads. This parallel CPU architecture, in conjunction with hardware acceleration for every service, allows the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 router to expand up to 128K hardware queues, 32,000 clients, 4K IPsec tunnels at 10,000 sessions per second, and 2 million Netflow log records. This CPU power permits ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers to support a variety of advanced services concurrently in massive volume while avoiding performance decay that might violate compliance with SLAs. These advanced services include IOS Firewall, IPS, NAT, FPM, and in-line deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also permits tiered traffic management for applying multiple levels of Quality of Service to a data packet in one pass, improving responsiveness for high-bandwidth multimedia applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are intended as WAN-edge routers for service providers who are required to deliver world-class data, voice and video services to home, business, and mobile users by providing always-on operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All models in the ASR 9000 Series of Aggregation Services Routers run Cisco's IOS XR, a distributed operating system built for continuous uptime. Throughput of the Cisco ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers can be expanded up to 96 Tbps per system. the Cisco ASR 9000 Series of Routers support Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, and fan trays plus backup switch fabric.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a provider-edge router that comes in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of full-duplex fabric capacity. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two bays to support port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis has four 10 GE enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports as well as ports for Stratum 1 clocking, BITS, and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU form factor and provides line-rate 10 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in space-constrained sites. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can support up to 4 Tbps of capacity in one chassis. The ASR 9912 platform comes in a 30 RU chassis and includes 10 line-card slots able to provide 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router includes 2 route CPUs as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.

How Progent Can Help Your Company to Support Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE Premier engineers can assist you to plan, setup, and support an integrated business network that can streamline operations, reduce expenses, and accelerate the path to productivity. By teaming Cisco integrated services routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco wireless expertise, Progent can dramatically enhance the strategic value of your network infrastructure. Progent can provide on-premises and off-site support and can provide data center support throughout and major locations nationwide.

To learn more details about Progent's engineering help for Cisco networking products, choose a subject:

• Introduction to Progent's Cisco Network Support
• Fast Online Support from a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Firewalls: Integration and Troubleshooting Expertise
• ASA 5500-X Firewalls with Cisco Firepower Services: Setup and Management Expertise
• ASA 5500 Firewalls Upgrade. Migration Help
• PIX Series Firewall Maintenance Assistance
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Services
• Aironet Wireless APs Deployment Services
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 WiFi Access Points Deployment Support
• Catalyst 802.11ax APs Solution Design, Deployment and Debugging Consulting
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Integration Consulting
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Points Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Expertise and Wireless IP Phone Configuration
• Cisco Jabber Deployment Services
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Configuration and Maintenance Services
• Cisco Nexus Switches Deployment Services
• Cisco Meraki MS Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Security Consulting Expertise
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Consulting
• Infrastructure Design for Cisco-powered Data Centers
• Infrastructure Design Services for Service Providers
• Remote Network Management Techniques for Cisco-based Infrastructure