Cisco Network Consulting and Support

Today's routers typically come with L2 switching capability, and many modern switches include L3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the source of the vast majority of the industry's routers, have improved dramatically in function and performance and Cisco offers a comprehensive portfolio that includes routers designed to handle the needs of users ranging from households to nationwide ISPs.

The most recent Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the speed and built-in functionality to support data voice and video plus virtualization while at the same time offering fault tolerance, web-based management, seamless expandability, and advanced protection. These routers allow your business to build a solid foundation for an information environment that can evolve smoothly as you add more workers, establish new sites, configure additional functions, extend your network to customers and partners, and support an an increasingly mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco CCIE network consultants offer immediate and economical online support to assist your company to select, configure, administer, upgrade, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced router technology and can assist you to maintain your older routers or move non-disruptively to Cisco's newer router solutions.

Cisco Routers for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for smaller organizations and remote offices offer low-cost and reliable entry-level alternatives that allow small groups of users to have secure access to wide area networks. All these fixed-configuration desktop routers feature at least four switched Ethernet with wireless options and integrated firewall to provide enhanced protection. Designed for simple installation, administration, and troubleshooting, Cisco's entry-level routers reduce TCO by lowering equipment and maintenance expenses. Progent's remote troubleshooting experts have in-depth backgrounds delivering immediate and affordable technical help for small companies to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers can help you to determine ways these routers can increase the strategic value of your IT system.

ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series desktop routers are compact, fanless, set-configuration appliances intended for SMBs, branch offices, and home offices. These entry-level routers include four GE LAN ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connections. Cisco's ISR 900 router family delivers three times the IPsec performance of the ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 Series routers feature Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN (DMVPN), Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is as high as 250 Mbps. All router versions allow up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for business continuity include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), 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 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. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 models use external power supplies and support a single WAN interface, LTE Cat 4, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. VPN performance for both devices is 150 Mbps. The high-performance Cisco ISR 931 router supports dual GE WAN and includes an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX family of desktop routers provide software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud-hosted unified threat management in a single small-footprint appliance able to handle 50 to 200 users. Each MX router must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For sites having several external network connections (e.g., MPLS, broadband, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits admins to specify the WAN connection a given application should use or to create performance-based algorithms to select the preferred interface. MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share key capabilities including:

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

Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series Integrated Services Routers using Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless appliances designed to provide high-performance network connectivity, wireless support, and advanced security for small and midsize businesses, branch offices, retail stores, kiosks, and M2M venues. Multiple parallel CPU cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE software allow these routers to offer capabilities consistent with Cisco's complete family of Enterprise routers. 1000 family ISR routers are available with 4 or 8 LAN ports and provide Gigabit Ethernet packet forwarding. Available features include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a range of built-in or pluggable connections for LAN, WAN, WLAN, SHDSL, LTE wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 family ISR routers can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN subscription services for seamless multiple-cloud connectivity, multilayer security, and centralized management across hybrid network models.

Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 1100-4G router comes with four integrated GE WAN/LAN ports, integrated 3G/4G LTE wireless with two LTE antenna sockets, and a micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption throughput is 200 Mbps. The Cisco 1100-6G ISR router adds two 1G SFP Fiber ports and features encryption performance of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop 1101-4P ISR router comes with four built-in GE interfaces, offers 802.11ac Wi-Fi as well as 3G/4G LTE, and delivers encryption speed of 280 Mbps. The 1109-2P/4P ISR desktop routers have two or four built-in GE ports and two pluggable 3G/4G LTE ports. Encryption throughput is 200 Mbps.

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

Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series routers are modular devices intended to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge to support hybrid network environments that can include a mix of public and private clouds and SaaS applications. All Catalyst 8000 devices are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and offer scalability, advanced cloud security, and 5G connectivity. Throughput is optimized using purpose-built silicon, a multicore design, high port density, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide ongoing access to current SD-WAN technology and allow centralized management with enhanced security, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud integration.

Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series routers are upgrades to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers, delivering higher IPsec throughput and scale, accelerated crypto, plus higher built-in WAN port density. These one-rack unit appliances are designed to bring Cisco's Secure Access Service Edge, Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and 5G-connection 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 allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based applications. The Catalyst C8200-1N-4T model includes eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with in-place container architectures. Both appliances come with one NIM slot, one Pluggable Interface Module slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN copper ports, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable interfaces. 4-port and 8-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 models.

Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 line of ISR Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to mid-sized and large enterprise branches looking for high WAN IPSec throughput with unified SD-WAN services. Enhanced features include 5G wireless support, built-in cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application-aware optimization. Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers support edge computing for an existing container environment for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 line of ISR routers. All models in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series family support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature backup power supplies for high uptime.

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

Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed form factor, one-rack unit aggregation routers for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Built-in features include route processor, embedded services processor, plus aggregation hardware for various interfaces and connectivity options. IPsec performance is twice that of Cisco's earlier generation ASR1001-X router. Flexible interface alternatives include 1GE to 100 GE WAN interfaces. These routers come with dual AC or DC power supplies for enhanced availability. Software subscription suites allow ongoing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer centralized management of cybersecurity, application-aware policies, segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.

The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X Aggregation Edge router is intended to provide the same basic functionality as Cisco's ASR 1000 appliance. The C8500L-8S4X includes four 1/10GE WAN ports and supports as high as 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X appliance has 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC model includes four built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1-Gigabit ports and delivers up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 68 Gbps. Cisco's C8500-20X6C high-density router includes 20 built-in SFP+ interfaces and six x 40/100GE interfaces. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C delivers as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput.

Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers are intended to offer satellite offices of large businesses with enhanced collaboration, virtualization, security, and dependable WAN access. ISR Generation 2 routers feature an architecture that preserves prior investments in modules for first-generation ISR routers and reduces down-the-line costs by allowing easy installation of additional modules when they become available. In comparison to previous Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times higher performance, far greater expandability, and more affordable support. All Cisco ISR Generation 2 routers support GE switching and include multi-core processors and ultra-fast fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also support intelligent power control for improved energy conservation.

A notable advance with Integrated Services G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Software Universal image which contains all of the Cisco IOS feature sets so that your company can rapidly license and deploy new functions when desired without needing to download and transfer a different IOS Software image over to yourrouter. Progent's group of CCIE-certified network engineers can provide world-class expertise to assist your business to plan, configure, and maintain multi-site installations of Cisco ISR Generation 2 routers that improve satellite office efficiency and cut the price of upgrades and support.

Cisco's ISR 800 Series Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been superseded by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 line but is still widely used. Cisco's extensive line of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop, fanless devices intended for small businesses, branch offices, retail venues, telecommuters, and clients of broadband service providers. Many models in Cisco's 800 family of routers have been developed with many options over the course of many years. The 881 line of ISR routers exemplifies the wide array of options available within the Cisco 800 line of routers. Various models in Cisco's 881 Series router catalog can enable unified media networks by delivering IP 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 features for 881 routers include duplicate WAN links or support for landline broadband WAN links like DSL as well as multiple different cellular 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into one desktop appliance.

The baseline Cisco 881 router features a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps throughput, support for 20 users, 2-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 compatibility. The Cisco 881W ISR router supports 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router includes 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN fallback with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST). With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) feature license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunk connectivity to replace outdated Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks can also support offsite call agents in Cisco Call Center environments.

Cisco 4000 Series ISR Routers
Cisco's 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers are compact modular and scalable platforms intended for organizations with multiple branches and remote users who need direct communication with in-house data centers and public clouds across VPNs and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series delivers the bandwidth needed for hybrid WAN environments to accommodate mobile workers, cloud services, and multimedia applications by using WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management techniques. Models in the 4000 family are powered by Cisco's IOS XE software, come in a 1-rack-unit (RU) or 2RU package, are able to handle as much as 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 network interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated Gigabit Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. ISR 4000 models can support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. To manage unified communications, the 400o ISR offers comprehensive edge support for policy-enhanced SBC, telephony fault tolerance, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.

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

Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's midrange and service provider routers offer enterprises with fast, secure headends to manage satellite office and remote user data packets and to provide service providers cost-effective WAN edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router product line includes the Cisco ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 ASR family.

Progent's nationwide group of Cisco CCIE network consultants have in-depth experience working with enterprise businesses and ISPs to design efficient deployments and smooth upgrades of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts can provide objective, third-party security vulnerability assessments, stealth penetration testing and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help enterprises with Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to meet industry standards and statutory regulations for network information security and incident reporting. Progent also offers help with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for pentesting. NodeZero depends on AI technology to simplify the vulnerability assessment cycle of discovering security gaps in network perimeters and inside the internal network infrastructure, recommending repairs, mitigating weaknesses, and verifying fixes.

Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services family of routers is positioned in the middle of Cisco's midrange devices that concentrate on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers offer a small footprint, single-product answer for enterprises looking for satellite office aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers introduce an innovative design that combines hardware acceleration with software flexibility to offer a multitude of concurrent services while preserving dependable responsiveness.

ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that together can handle up to 160 concurrent processor threads. This massive parallelism, combined with hardware acceleration for all services, allows the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 router to expand up to 000 queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4K IPsec VPN tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing power allows Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers to deliver a variety of sophisticated services simultaneously in high volume while avoiding performance decay that could violate compliance with SLAs. These services include IOS Firewall, IPS, Network Address Translation, Flexible Packet Matching, and deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also permits tiered traffic management for applying multiple levels of QoS to a data packet in one pass, enhancing the user experience for high-bandwidth multimedia applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are intended as edge routers for carriers who are required to support world-class data, voice and video services to residential, business, and mobile customers by providing zero downtime availability, high speed, and application awareness. All models in the ASR 9000 portfolio of Aggregation Services Routers run Cisco's IOS XR operating system, a self-healing, distributed operating system built for continuous uptime. Throughput of the ASR 9000 line of Routers can be expanded to as high as 96 Tbps per chassis. the ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers support high-density Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and have fully redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, plus backup switch fabric.

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

How Progent Can Assist Your Business with Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified consultants can assist your business to design, setup, and support a converged network infrastructure that can automate processes, lower costs, and speed the path to positive ROI. By combining Cisco routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless integration, Progent can dramatically increase the strategic value of your information network. Progent offers in-person and remote help and can provide data center support throughout the U.S.

For additional information about Progent's consulting assistance for Cisco technology, select a topic:

• Introduction to Progent's Cisco Support
• Timely Online Support from a CCIE Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Firewalls: Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
• ASA 5500-X Firewall with Cisco Firepower: Consulting and Management Services
• ASA 5500 Series Firewall Engineering Help
• Cisco PIX Firewall Upgrade. Migration Assistance
• Cisco Wireless Deployment Help
• Aironet Wireless Access Points Deployment Help
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 WiFi Access Points Engineering Support
• Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless Access Points Solution Design, Deployment and Troubleshooting Consulting
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Integration Consulting
• Meraki Wireless Access Points Design Expertise
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and CallManager Configuration and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Consulting Services and Wireless VoIP Phone Configuration
• Cisco Jabber Integration Expertise
• Catalyst Switches Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Nexus Switches Support and Troubleshooting Services
• Meraki Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco Security and VPN Setup and Troubleshooting Support
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP PSTN Trunks and CUBE Integration Consulting
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Teleworkers
• Design Solutions for Cisco-powered Datacenters
• Data Center Design Expertise for ISPs
• Centralized Cloud-based and Hybrid Network Management Solutions for Cisco-based Infrastructure