As computer technology progresses, the difference between router and switch products is becoming fuzzier. Fundamentally, routers are Layer 3 (L3) devices designed to connect networks with one another. A typical scenario is connecting an office Ethernet network to the Internet via DSL. Switches are instead L2 devices that interface client devices within a network. Generally, routers rely on computation to send traffic using complex software, providing intelligence at the expense of throughput. Switches, by comparison, depend upon mostly fixed hardware designs to move traffic at the fastest possible speed. The current generation of routers ordinarily come with Layer 2 switching capability, and many of today’s switches include some Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the supplier of 90% of the world's routers, have advanced significantly in function and performance and Cisco now makes a comprehensive product line that features routers engineered to handle the requirements of users ranging from households to nationwide ISPs.
The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco have the performance and integrated features to support data voice and video plus virtualization while at the same time offering high availability, web-based administration, seamless scalability, and enhanced security and compliance. These routers allow you to establish a firm basis for an IT network that can evolve smoothly as you add new employees, establish extra sites, deploy additional capabilities, give access to your system to customers and partners, and support an expanding mobile user base. Progent’s Cisco certified CCIE network engineers can provide immediate and economical online support to assist you to plan, configure, administer, update, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced routers and can help you to support your older routers or migrate efficiently to Cisco’s newer router solutions.
Cisco Routers Designed for Small Companies and Branch Offices
Cisco’s routers for small businesses and remote offices offer affordable and reliable entry-level solutions that enable small sets of users to share secure connectivity to the Internet. These single-configuration desktop routers feature at minimum four 10/100 Ethernet switches with wireless options plus integrated firewall to provide advanced protection. Built for simple setup, administration, and support, Cisco’s entry-level routers reduce ownership costs by lowering equipment and maintenance investments. Progent’s online troubleshooting specialists have in-depth experience delivering immediate and economical IT help for small businesses to set up and support these routers, and Progent’s Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can help you to understand whether and how these routers can increase the business value of your IT system.
Cisco Small Business RV Series VPN Routers
Cisco's economical RV Series Routers are designed to offer small organizations with VPN technology that permits telecommuters and mobile workers to access a network securely. Devices in the RV Series Routers can handle up to 100 IPsec VPN tunnels, include 4-, 8-, or 16-port Ethernet switches, come with integrated firewalls that provide advanced data encryption, and support browser-based setup for easy set up and management. All RV Series devices accommodate 10/100 Ethernet and several models can handle Gigabit Ethernet. Wired/Wireless models are available. These routers do not incorporate Cisco’s IOS control software.
Cisco’s RV041 model Dual WAN VPN Router includes a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and can securely support up to 50 remote offices or online users through IPsec or PPTP VPN tunneling. Cisco's G version can handle Gigabit Ethernet. The Cisco RV082 model Dual WAN VPN Router has an 8-port 10/100 switch and can manage up to 100 branch offices or online workers via full IPsec VPN. The Cisco RV016 Multi WAN VPN Router comes with 16 switched 10/100 Ethernet ports, accommodates up to 100 online connections, and allows as many as seven ports to be configured for traffic load balancing or for service provider redundancy to provide zero downtime Internet connectivity.
Cisco's newer devices in the expanding selection of Small Business RV Series Wired/Wireless Routers include the RV120W Wireless-N VPN with a 4-port Ethernet switch and support for as many as 10 VPN connections, the Cisco RV180W Wireless-N VPN Router/Access Point with a 4-port Gigabit switch and support for 800 Mbps throughput and 10 IPsec VPN connections, the RV215W wired/Wireless-N Router with a 4-port Ethernet switch and a USB port for WAN connections, and Cisco's 325 RV325 WAN VPN Router that includes an integrated a 14-port Gigabit switch and redundant Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports for business continuity as well as USB ports using 3G/4G modems for broadband failover.
Cisco 800 Line of ISR Routers
Cisco's extensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop devices designed and priced for small businesses, branch locations, retail venues, telecommuters, and customers of broadband service providers. A wealth of models in Cisco's 800 product line have been released with various options over many years. The 881 line of ISR routers suggests the wide selection of options offered within Cisco's 800 product family. Models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can enable converged media environments by providing voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated appliance. Advanced security can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available options for Cisco 881 routers include redundant WAN links or support for landline broadband WAN connections such as DSL plus multiple cellular 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all on a single desktop appliance.
The basic Cisco 881 features a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps throughput, the ability to handle 20 users, two-port integrated PoE, and IPv6 support. The Cisco 881W router supports 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 Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST). With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) license, Cisco's 881 ISR router supports SIP trunk connectivity as a replacement for legacy PRI lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN carrier. CUBE-based SIP trunks can also support remote call agents in Cisco Call Center environments.
Cisco ISR G2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers are designed to offer branch offices of enterprises with enhanced video and voice applications, virtual networking, security, and dependable connectivity. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers introduce a design that preserves past investments in modules for first-generation ISR routers and lowers future expenses by permitting easy upgrades to additional modules as they are developed. In comparison to older ISR routers, Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers feature 2-7 times higher performance, far more, and easier maintenance. All ISR Generation 2 routers support gigabit switching and include multi-core processors and multigigabit fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also offer smart power control for better energy conservation.
A major advance with Integrated Services Generation 2 routers is the Cisco IOS Universal image which includes all of the IOS technology sets so that your company can quickly license and deploy extra features when required without needing to download and copy a different IOS Software image over to yourrouter. Progent's team of CCIE network consultants offer proven expertise to help you to design, implement, and support multi-location deployments of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers that enhance branch office productivity and cut the costs of expansion and maintenance.
1900 Series ISR G2 Routers
Cisco 1941 and 1941W Integrated Services G2 routers offer on-board encryption, optional Cisco IOS firewall, intrusion prevention, and a maximum of 11 modular LAN switches. The Cisco 1941W ISR router includes an integrated WiFi access point that allows cordless access to high-speed data, voice, and video applications through Multi-Input, Multiple-output technology that improves the range of existing 802.11 users. Interface options for the 1900 Series ISR G2 routers include T1/E1, ADSL/SDSL, 3G, and GbE.
In comparison to the older 1841 ISR router which they are able to substitute for, the 1900 Series Integrated Services G2 routers have 256 megabytes vs. 32 of flash storage as standard, and can be expanded to 4 gigabytes vs. 128 megabytes. Standard DRAM size is 256 MB compared to 128 and top DRAM capacity is 2.25 GB instead of 384 megabytes. Unlike the 1841 router, the 1900 Series Integrated Services G2 routers feature a USB console instead of the older DB-9 interface and includes a slot for the recently introduced Internal Services Module instead of a slot for the previous and lower performance Advanced Integration Module. Unlike higher end Integrated Services G2 routers, the 1941 Series ISR G2 routers do not allow redundant power or add-in slots for PVDM modules.
Cisco 2900 ISR G2 Routers
Cisco 2900 Series ISR G2 Routers are released in four models which are intended as upgrades to the routers in Cisco’s successful 2800 router family. Cisco’s 2900 Integrated Services G2 routers include integrated hardware encryption acceleration, voice and video capable Digital Signal Processor slots, optional Cisco IOS firewall, Cisco IOS intrusion prevention, call processing, and from 16 to 50 modular Ethernet switches. The on-board encryption circuitry supports IP Security and Secure Sockets Layer VPN for safe remote access and is significantly faster than the Advanced Integration Modules supported by Cisco 2800 routers. The top-of-the-line 2951 Series Integrated Services G2 router supports 600 SIP sessions. Wired and wireless connectivity options include T1/E1, T3/E3, ADSL and SDSL, plus GbE.
2911, 2921, and 2951 Integrated Services G2 routers support Cisco’s Enhanced EtherSwitch Service Modules, providing high-performance features identical to the Catalyst 2960 and 3650-E Series Switches. In comparison to the previous Cisco 2821 Integrated Services router which the Cisco 2921 Integrated Services G2 router is designed to substitute for, the 2921 router is offered by default with 256 megabytes vs. 64 megabytes of flash storage and can be loaded with up to 4GB vs. 256 megabytes. Standard DRAM capacity is 512 megabytes vs. 256 MB and maximum DRAM capacity is 2.5 gigabytes vs. only 1.
Cisco 3900 Series Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco has released four models for the high-end 3900 Series Integrated Services G2 router, the 3925, 3945, 3925E, and 3945E. These devices offer the highest performance and slot densities in Cisco’s Integrated Services G2 family and can accept fast digital signal processors for the most demanding multimedia environments, fast integrated encryption, a broad selection of interface alternatives, a maximum 98 modular Ethernet LAN Switchports, and as many as 2,500 Session Initiation Protocol sessions. To preserve your investment, the 3900 Integrated Services G2 routers include the Cisco Services Performance Engine (SPE), a versatile motherboard that can be replaced in the field to enhance processing power without forcing you to buy another device. Like other Cisco Integrated Services G2 routers, the 3900 family also protects past investments by accepting most of the modules from older Cisco Integrated Services Routers. For advanced fault tolerance, 3900 Series Integrated Services G2 offer two integrated power supplies.
Compared to the previous model 3825 ISR router which the Cisco 2921 ISR G2 router is designed to replace, the Cisco 3925 is offered by default with 256 MB vs. 64 MB of CompactFlash storage and can be loaded with up to 4GB instead of 256 MB. Standard dynamic RAM capacity is 1 gigabyte vs. 256 MB and maximum dynamic RAM size is 4 GB instead of only 1.
Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are compact modular and scalable routers designed for businesses with a large number of branch offices and offsite workers requiring direct communication with private data centers and public clouds across VPNs and the Internet. The 4000 series delivers the bandwidth required for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile workers, cloud services, and HD video applications by using wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management techniques. Models in the ISR 4000 family are powered by Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1-rack-unit (RU) or 2RU form factor, can support as much as 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 network interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated Gigabit Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. For unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides comprehensive edge support technology for session border control, branch telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.
The primary difference between Cisco's 4400 ISR and 4300 Series Routers is the inclusion of dual power supply support in the 4400 Series, offering a higher degree of fault tolerance. Cisco's 4321 Integrated Services Router comes in a 1 RU desktop form factor and includes two network interface modules, provides up to 100 Mbps throughput, and can handle 240 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's 4331 Integrated Services Router comes in a 1 RU package and includes two network interface modules, delivers up to 300 Mbps performance, and can handle 360 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4351 ISR Router has a 2 RU form factor and includes three network interface modules, provides up to 400 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The dual power supply 4431 ISR Router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three NIMs, offers up to 1 Gbps throughput, and supports 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's redundant-power 4431 router features a 2 RU package and includes three network interface modules, offers as much as 2 Gbps throughput, and supports 1200 Digital Voice and Video Channels.
Cisco's 1st Generation ISR Routers
Cisco's original ISR routers, with in excess of six million devices in the field, have become the world's most popular technology for small to medium-sized companies and enterprise satellite offices to ensure high-performance, safe, and dependable access to vital applications. Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers are proven experts at providing online design, administrative, and problem solving support for Cisco 1800, 2800, and 3800 series Integrated Services Routers. Progent can help you to move up to the latest release of Cisco IOS control software with the least possible disruption to your network, evaluate the security vulnerability of your router setup, and help business to migrate efficiently to the latest releases of Cisco ISR G2 routers when it makes sense for your business.
Cisco 1800 ISR Routers
The modular Cisco 1800 family of routers embed data and protection within a single resilient solution for high-speed, scalable connectivity with mission-critical business applications. The 1800 Series router design has been especially developed to satisfy the needs of small and midsize businesses (SMBs), small enterprise branch offices, and service provider-managed services applications for delivery of simultaneous services at high speed. The integrated services systems architecture of the Cisco 1800 Series offers optimum business agility and investment protection.
The Cisco 1841 router offers important advantages in comparison to previous generations of Cisco 1700 Series routers by delivering more than a 5x throughput increase and integrated hardware-based encryption activated by an available Cisco IOS Software protection image. Cisco's 1841 device dramatically increases interface card slot performance as well as capacity over the Cisco 1700 Series while maintaining support for over 30 available Wide Area Network interface cards (WICs) and multiflex trunk cards (voice/WICs-for data only on the 1841 router). The Cisco 1841 router provides further improvement of Virtual Private Network throughput via an available VPN acceleration module; IPS and firewall functions; compatibility with a wide range of interface requirements, such as support for integrated switch ports; and enough performance and slot capacity for ongoing network expansion and next-generation applications.
Cisco 2800 Series Integrated Services Routers
Intended for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) and enterprise satellite offices, Cisco's 2800 Series comprises four basic versions: the Cisco 2801, the Cisco 2811, the 2821, and the 2851. Cisco's 2800 routers provide substantial added value compared to older generations of Cisco routers at similar price points by delivering up to a five times throughput improvement, as much as a tenfold increase in security and voice speed, embedded service features, and dramatically improved plug-in slot performance and density while preserving support for the vast majority of the more than 90 popular expansion modules in use today for the Cisco 1700 Series, the Cisco 2600 Series, and the Cisco 3700 devices.
Cisco's 2800 provides a range of popular security functions such as a Cisco IOS Software Firewall, an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS), IP security VPN, SSL Virtual Private Network, advanced application inspection and management, Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol V 2.0, and Simple Network Management Protocol in a single secure solution. Also, by integrating security features within the router, Cisco can offer special smart protection solutions other security devices can't, such as network admissions control (NAC) for virus protection; Voice and Video Enabled VPN (V3PN) for quality-of-service (QoS) enforcement when combining voice, video, and Virtual Private Networks; DMVPN; Group Encrypted Transport; and Easy Virtual Private Networks for supporting more scalable and easier to manage VPN environments.
Companies can utilize the 2800 Series router to create an integrated IP telephony environment for up to 96 IP telephones, and can securely deploy data, voice, and IP telephony on a single platform for their small to midsize branch offices.
The Cisco 2800 router supports an integrated access point for 802.11x wireless LAN access, Wi-Fi Hotspot services for shared public wireless LANs, and infrastructure services for portable wireless LAN telephony and for high-density locations.
Cisco 3800 ISR Routers
The Cisco 3800 Series integrated services routers are designed for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprise satellite locations to offer companies the highest levels of network agility, performance, and functionality. The Cisco 3800 integrated services routers smoothly incorporate the latest technologies, smart services, and protected corporate communications into a single resilient system. The Cisco 3800 Series routers ease deployment and management, lower network cost and complexity, and provide investment protection. The Cisco 3800 Series integrated services routers feature embedded security processing, fast throughput and large memory capacity, and high-capacity interfaces that deliver the performance, availability, and dependability necessary for scaling mission-critical security, IP telephony, high-volume video, network monitoring, and Web applications in the most competitive corporate environments. Engineered for performance, the 3800 Series routers provide multiple simultaneous services up to wire-speed T3/E3 data rates.
The proprietary routing architecture of the 3800 Series router is built to integrate protection and voice processing with advanced wired and wireless services for rapid installation of new applications, including application layer operations, intelligent network services, and converged communications. The 3800 integrated services router supports the throughput demands of multiple 100Mbps interfaces for every expansion slot, time-division multiplexing interconnections, and fully integrated power sourcing to expansion modules compatible with 802.3af PoE, while still supporting the traditional portfolio of interface modules. This enables continuing ROI by allowing network scaling or accommodating innovations in technology as new applications are added. By combining the functions of several separate devices into a single compact unit, the 3800 router significantly lowers the cost and hassle of managing wide area networks.
Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco’s midrange WAN aggregation and service provider routers offer larger businesses with fast, protected headends to aggregate branch office and off-site data packets and to offer ISPs economical WAN edge routing. Cisco’s WAN aggregation and service provider router portfolio features the Cisco 7600 Series, the ASR 1000 ASR Routers, the ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, and the Cisco CRS-X System.
Progent's nationwide group of CCIE network consultants have in-depth backgrounds helping enterprises and service providers to plan optimal deployments and smooth expansion of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants offer objective, third-party security vulnerability evaluations, penetration testing and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help enterprises that use Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to comply with industry standards and statutory mandates for IT data protection and incident reporting.
Cisco 7600 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco 7600 Series router takes advantage of the Catalyst 6500 Series infrastructure by using an NEBS-3 chassis, 256-Gbps crossbar, and 30-Mpps switching performance. Fault tolerance is implemented through redundancy as well as Cisco IOS Software functions. Also, the Cisco 7600 router offers a rich set of high-touch IP network services at optical rates via various Optical Services Modules (OSMs) enabled by Cisco proprietary PXF technology.
The 7609 router has the option to select a 256-Gbps Switch Fabric Module or a 32-Gbps data bus, delivering performance of 30 Mpps or 15 Mpps respectively. If the Switch Fabric Module is used, the 7609 Series can in addition support distributed switching with throughput up to 168 Mpps by using the Catalyst 6500 16-port Gigabit Ethernet network module, which is powered by the DFC and the SFM.
The 7603 router provides only the standard 32-Gbps data bus version and provides 15 million packets per second centralized switching performance. The 7603 Series router does not offer Cisco's distributed switching technology.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco’s ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge family of routers is positioned in the center of Cisco’s midrange devices that concentrate on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 Series routers provide a small footprint, single-product solution for enterprises looking for branch office service aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco’s ASR 1000 routers incorporate a revolutionary design that mixes hardware acceleration with software flexibility to offer a rich set of simultaneous services while preserving consistent performance.
Cisco’s ASR 1000 routers feature Cisco’s proprietary QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 custom Packet Processing Engines that in combination can handle up to 160 concurrent threads. This massive parallelism, in conjunction with on-board acceleration for all services, enables the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 Aggregation Services router to expand up to 128K hardware queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4,000 IPsec VPN tunnels at 10,000 sessions/second, and 2M Netflow records. This CPU capability permits ASR 1000 Series routers to support a broad range of sophisticated services simultaneously in high volume without suffering throughput degradation that could compromise compliance with SLAs. Examples of these advanced services include Cisco IOS Firewall, IPS, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also allows sophisticated traffic management for performing numerous levels of Quality of Service to a packet in a single pass, enhancing responsiveness for next-generation multimedia applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are designed as WAN-edge routers for carriers who need to support world-class data, voice and video services to residential, business, and mobile customers by providing continual operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All platforms in Cisco's ASR 9000 Series of Routers are powered by Cisco's IOS XR, a self-healing, distributed OS built for non-stop availability. Performance of the Cisco ASR 9000 line of Routers can be expanded to as high as 96 Tbps per system. the Cisco ASR 9000 portfolio of Aggregation Services Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and feature redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, plus backup control planes and switch fabric.
The ASR 9001 platform is a carrier-edge router in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of nonblocking, full-duplex fabric capacity. The ASR 9001 has two bays which can accept adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The chassis includes four 10 Gbit Ethernet SFP+ ports and ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, BITS, and management. The ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU form factor and offers dense 10 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connections in space-constrained sites. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can scale up to 4 Tbps of capacity in a single box. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router comes in a 30 RU chassis with 12 slots slots that can support up to 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router incorporates 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.
The CRS Carrier Routing System
Cisco's Carrier Routing System family, powered by Cisco's IOS XR high-availability operating system, offers carriers world-class performance and availability. The Cisco CRS portfolio was first released in 2004, has been continuously improved, and now includes the industry's most widely deployed multishelf network core router system. To protect existing capital investments in network infrastructure, new Carrier Routing System models are compatible with previous products.
Current product families in the Carrier Routing System family are the CRS-1, CRS-3, and CRS-X Series Routers. Every Carrier Routing System series includes single-shelf 4, 8, and 16 slot systems as well as multi-shelf models. The Cisco CRS-1 Series is built on Cisco's Silicon Packet Processor technology and offers up to 92 Tbps of performance. Products in the CRS-3 Series use QuantumFlow Array technology and are capable of as much as 322 Tbps. Cisco's CRS-X Routers incorporate CMOS photonics CPAK technology and scale to sustain up to 922 Tbps.
Cisco's Carrier Routing System Multichassis models can expand to support up to 72 line-card shelves that have the ability to provide 400-Gbps of uninterrupted performance for each slot. CRS Multichassis models can support 1 to 8 fabric shelves. Modular services cards and PLIMs are compatible across the whole Cisco CRS family.
Older Cisco Routers Supported by Progent's Experts
Progent's Cisco certified support experts are familiar with older Cisco routers no longer offered by Cisco. Progent can help you to manage these older routers and can also assist you to rationalize and carry out upgrades to newer versions. Popular Cisco routers maintained by Progent include:
Cisco's discontinued 870 routers are targeted for small networks with as many as 20 users or for telecommuter locations where high-quality VoIP and video and resilient connectivity using standby Internet links are needed. Cisco 870 Series access routers deliver excellent throughput for small workgroups plus enhanced security through features that include stateful Inspection Firewall, IPsec VPN, 3DES or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) plus Dynamic Multipoint VPN and GETVPN, an intrusion prevention system, virus protection through Network Admission Control, and policing of secure connection policies.
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