Today's routers ordinarily incorporate L2 switches, and many of today's switches include Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers offered by Cisco, the producer of the vast majority of the world's routers, have advanced significantly in capability and performance and Cisco makes an extensive portfolio that features routers engineered to meet the requirements of customers from households to the world's largest ISPs.
The most recent Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the performance and integrated features to support IP voice and video plus virtual environments while at the same time providing fault tolerance, web-based management, easy scalability, and enhanced protection. Cisco's ISR routers enable your business to establish a firm foundation for an information environment that can grow smoothly as you hire new employees, open extra sites, configure new functions, give access to your network to customers and partners, and support an an increasingly mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco qualified CCIE network consultants can provide fast and affordable remote support to help you to plan, configure, administer, update, and support Cisco's latest router technology and can assist you to support your older routers or migrate non-disruptively to Cisco's current router products.
Cisco Routers for Home and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for small businesses and branch offices offer low-cost and reliable entry-level solutions that enable limited groups of workers to share secure connectivity to wide area networks. All these single-configuration desktop devices include at minimum four 10/100 Ethernet switches with Wi-Fi options plus built-in firewall to provide enhanced protection. Designed for simple installation, administration, and support, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce total cost of ownership by lowering equipment and operational investments. Progent's remote troubleshooting experts have extensive backgrounds providing fast and affordable IT assistance for small companies to configure and support these routers, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can help your company to determine how these routers can increase the business value of your information network.
Cisco ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series routers are small-footprint, fanless, set-configuration devices designed for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These value-priced routers have four managed GE LAN ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connections. The ISR 900 router product line provides three times the IPsec throughput of Cisco's ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 Series routers offer Group Encrypted Transport VPN, DMVPN, Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is up to 250 Mbps. All router versions allow up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover technology for business continuity include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), and Multigroup HSRP (MHSRP). Provisioning and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series routers do not work with Cisco's SD-WAN solution.
The Cisco ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN ports, Category 4 LTE, and an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN performance is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 models use external power and support a single WAN interface, LTE Cat 4, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. GE WAN VPN performance for both routers is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line Cisco ISR 931 features dual GE WAN ports and has an internal power supply. VPN performance 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 (UTM) in a single small-footprint appliance able to handle 50 to 200 users. Every MX series appliance must be licensed for the Meraki cloud. For venues having several WAN network options (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows admins to assign the WAN interface a given app uses or to create performance-based algorithms to select the appropriate interface. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share important features that include:
Cisco 1000 and 1100 Family ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 family Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) running Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless appliances intended to provide network connectivity, wireless access, and multilayer security for small and midsize businesses, enterprise branch offices, retail stores, kiosks, and M2M venues. Multiple parallel processing cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE software enable these routers to offer features consistent with Cisco's entire family of Enterprise routers. 1000 and 1100 Series ISR routers are offered with 4 or 8 LAN ports and provide GE packet forwarding. Available features include PoE and PoE+, auto provisioning, plus a selection of built-in or pluggable connections such as LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, LTE Advanced wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 family ISR models can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN services for transparent multi-cloud connectivity, advanced cybersecurity, and cohesive administration of hybrid network models.
Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 1100-4G router includes four built-in GE ports, integrated 3G/4G LTE wireless with two LTE antenna SMA connectors, and one micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption packet processing performance is 200 Mbps. The ISR 1100-6G router also includes two 1G SFP connections and delivers encryption throughput of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop 1101-4P ISR router includes four built-in GE connections, offers 802.11ac and 3G/4G LTE wireless, and delivers encryption speed of 280 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 1109-2P/4p desktop routers have two or four integrated switched GE connections and dual pluggable 3G/4G LTE wireless ports. Encryption packet processing throughput 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 provide PoE) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP Fiber. Encryption throughput is 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1RU or desktop 1111X-8P ISR router has eight built-in GE ports (four with POE) and supports SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing performance is 340 Mbps. The 112x-8P ISR router has eight integrated GE interfaces with Power over Ethernet and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP. Encryption packet processing performance is 340 Mbps. Cisco's 1161X-8P ISR router includes eight switched GE connections with Power over Ethernet and provides 3G/4G LTE and SFP. Encryption packet processing rate is 450 Mbps.
Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 family of routers are modular appliances intended to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid network environments that can incorporate multiple public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. Catalyst 8000 routers use Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and offer expandability, advanced cloud security, and 5G access. Throughput is optimized using purpose-built 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 allow unified management with enhanced cybersecurity, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud integration.
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs), delivering higher IPsec throughput and scale, hardware-accelerated encryption, plus greater integrated WAN interface density. These 1RU routers are designed to provide Cisco's SASE, SD-WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise WAN edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model includes four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec throughput, and permits 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L router does not support container-based apps. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T model features eight CPU cores, provides 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with existing container models. Both appliances include a NIM slot, one Pluggable Interface Module (PIM) slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and two 1G Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable ports. Four-port and eight-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 routers.
Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 line of ISR Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN architecture to mid-sized and large company branches seeking high WAN IPSec performance combined with unified SD-WAN services. Enhanced features include 5G wireless connectivity, integrated security, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and DPI with application optimization. Catalyst 8300 Series routers enable edge computing for an existing container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 Series ISR routers. All models in the Catalyst 8300 line support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature backup power supplies for high uptime.
The Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router is a one-rack unit device that includes eight CPU cores and offers 2G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance of up to 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 model is a two-rack unit model that features 8 CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance of up to 1.9Gbps. The unit includes two SM expansion slots, two NIM slots, and six built-in 1G Ethernet WAN ports. The Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router model is a one-rack unit appliance that includes eight CPU cores and delivers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec throughput as high as 15Gbps. The router features one a single Service Module plug-in slot, one NIM slot, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces, and four integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X router is a 2RU appliance that includes 12 CPU cores and delivers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance as high as 18Gbps. The unit includes two Service Module expansion slots, two NIM slots, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. LAN modules modules offered by Cisco range from a 4-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet switch Network Interface Module module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch Service Module.
Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed form factor, one-rack unit aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Built-in features include route processor, embedded services processor, and aggregation hardware for various connection choices. IPsec performance is double compared to Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Available connectivity options include 1GE to 100 GE WAN ports. 8500 Series routers come with redundant power supplies for enhanced availability. Software subscription suites provide continuing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable unified management of cybersecurity, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.
The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X Aggregation Edge router is designed to offer a similar key features as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X has four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and offers up to 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-12X appliance includes 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 120 Gbps aggregate performance. 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 interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 68 Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C router includes 20 built-in 1/10GE ports and 6 x QSFP+ ports. Cisco's C8500-20X6C supports up to 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance.
Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers are intended to offer branch offices of large businesses with enhanced video and voice applications, virtual networking, security, and dependable WAN access. Integrated Services G2 routers introduce an architecture that preserves past investments in modules for first-generation ISR routers and lowers down-the-line costs by allowing easy upgrades to new modules when they are developed. In comparison to older Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's ISR G2 routers offer 2-7 times higher throughput, substantially more, and more affordable support. All Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer GE switching and incorporate multi-core CPUs and multigigabit fabric for faster throughput. ISR G2 routers also offer smart power control for improved energy conservation.
A major advance with Integrated Services G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Software Universal image which includes all of the Cisco IOS feature sets so that you can rapidly license and deploy extra features when desired without having to download and transfer a new IOS image to yourrouter. Progent's team of CCIE-certified network engineers offer proven skills to assist you to plan, configure, and support multi-site deployments of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers that enhance satellite office efficiency and cut the price of upgrades and support.
Cisco's ISR 800 Family of Routers
Cisco's 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 line but is still widely deployed. Cisco's comprehensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop, fanless appliances intended for small organizations, branch offices, retail venues, teleworkers, and customers of broadband service providers. Many models in the 800 Series family of routers have been released with various options over many years. Cisco's 881 Series 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 security can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available features for 881 routers include duplicate WAN connections or support for landline broadband WAN connections such as DSL plus multiple 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into one desktop appliance.
The baseline Cisco 881 has a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps throughput, support for 20 users, two-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 compatibility. Cisco's 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. The 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 CUBE feature license, Cisco's 881 ISR router allows SIP trunk connectivity as a replacement for legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks can also connect offsite agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.
4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco 4000 Series ISR Routers are modular and expandable routers designed for organizations with a large number of branch offices and remote users who need direct access to private data centers and public clouds via VPNs and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series delivers the throughput required for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile users, Cloud-based services, and HD video applications by utilizing network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management techniques. Models in Cisco's 4000 Series are powered by Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1-rack-unit (RU) or 2RU form factor, are able to handle as much as 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core server modules. ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. For unified communications, the 400o ISR provides extensive edge support for policy-enhanced session border control, telephony fault tolerance, and TDM gateways.
The primary difference between the Cisco 4400 and 4300 Series is dual power supply support in the 4400 Series, providing a higher level of availability. Cisco's 4321 ISR Router has a 1 RU desktop package and includes two network interface modules, delivers up to 100 Mbps performance, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4331 Integrated Services Router has a 1 RU form factor with two network interface modules, offers up to 300 Mbps performance, and can handle 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's 4351 model comes in a 2 RU package and includes three NIMs, delivers as much as 400 Mbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's dual power supply 4431 Integrated Services Router features a 2 RU package with three NIMs, delivers up to 1 Gbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's redundant-power 4431 ISR Router comes in a 2 RU form factor and includes three NIMs, provides as much as 2 Gbps performance, and can handle 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels.
Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider routers can provide enterprises with fast, secure headends to manage branch office and remote user traffic and to offer ISPs cost-effective WAN edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router product line includes the Cisco ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services routers.
Progent's nationwide team of CCIE certified network engineers have extensive experience helping enterprise businesses and service providers to plan efficient installations and seamless upgrades of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts offer unbiased, independent security inventory evaluations, stealth penetration testing services and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help enterprises that use Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to meet business standards and statutory requirements for network data protection and reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for threat assessment. NodeZero relies on AI technology to streamline the vulnerability assessment cycle of finding security gaps in perimeters and inside the internal network infrastructure, recommending remediation, mitigating weaknesses, and confirming fixes.
Cisco ASR 1000 Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge line of routers is designed to fill the middle of Cisco's midrange routers that focus on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers offer a small form factor, multi-function answer for large businesses looking for satellite office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services routers incorporate a revolutionary design that combines on-board acceleration with software flexibility in order to offer a multitude of simultaneous services while preserving dependable responsiveness.
Cisco's ASR 1000 routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 custom Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that together can support as many as 160 simultaneous threads. This massive parallelism, combined with on-board acceleration for all services, allows the high-end ASR 1006 WAN Edge router to scale up to 128 hardware queues, 32K subscribers, 4,000 IPsec VPN tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2 million Netflow records. This processing capability allows Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers to support a broad range of sophisticated services simultaneously in massive volume while avoiding performance degradation that could compromise adherence to SLAs. These advanced services include Cisco IOS Firewall, IPS, Network Address Translation, Flexible Packet Matching, and deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also allows tiered traffic management for performing numerous levels of Quality of Service to a data packet in a single operation, enhancing responsiveness for next-generation voice, video, and conferencing applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers are designed as edge routers for carriers who need to deliver world-class data, voice and video services to residential, commercial, and mobile customers by providing non-stop operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All platforms in the ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers are powered by Cisco's IOS XR operating system, a distributed OS built for non-stop uptime. Performance of the Cisco ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers can be expanded up to 96 Tbps per chassis. the Cisco ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers support Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and feature redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, plus backup control planes.
The ASR 9001 platform is a carrier-edge router in a 6 RU package with 120 Gbps of nonblocking, full-duplex fabric performance. The ASR 9001 has two modular bays to support port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis incorporates four 10 Gbit Ethernet SFP+ ports as well as ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, building integrated timing supply, and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU chassis and offers dense 10 and 100 GE connectivity in space-limited environments. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can scale up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in one box. The ASR 9912 Router has a 30 RU chassis with 10 line-card slots that can support 550 Gbps of throughput. The ASR 9912 has 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.
Ways Progent's Consultants Can Help Your Business to Support Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified engineers can assist your business to design, setup, and maintain an integrated business network that can streamline operations, lower costs, and speed time to positive return on investment. By combining Cisco integrated services routers with Catalyst switches support and Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can dramatically enhance the business value of your connectivity environment. Progent can provide on-premises and off-site support and offers data center support throughout the U.S.
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