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Today's routers typically incorporate L2 switches, and many modern switches include some Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers offered by Cisco, the supplier of 90% of the industry's routers, have improved dramatically in capability and performance and Cisco offers an extensive product line that features routers engineered to handle the needs of users from households to nationwide service providers.

The most recent Integrated Services Routers from Cisco offer the speed and integrated functionality to support IP voice and video plus virtual environments while also offering fault tolerance, remote administration, seamless scalability, and enhanced security and compliance. These routers allow you to build a firm foundation for an information network that can evolve seamlessly as you add new workers, establish extra sites, deploy new functions, extend your network to clients and partners, and build an an increasingly mobile user base. Progent's Cisco certified CCIE network engineers offer immediate and economical remote expertise to assist your company to plan, configure, administer, upgrade, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced routers and can assist you to support your older routers or migrate non-disruptively to Cisco's newer router products.

Cisco Routers Designed for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for small companies and remote offices offer low-cost and dependable no-frills alternatives that allow small groups of users to have safe access to the Internet. These fixed-configuration desktop routers feature at minimum four Ethernet ports with Wi-Fi options and integrated firewall to provide enhanced security. Built for simple installation, administration, and support, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce total cost of ownership by lowering acquisition and operational investments. Progent's remote support experts have extensive experience delivering fast and affordable IT assistance for small companies to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's CCIE-certified network consultants can assist you to determine how Cisco's small office routers can increase the strategic value of your IT network.

ISR 900 Series Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series desktop routers are compact, fanless, fixed-configuration appliances designed for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These entry-level routers have four managed GE switch ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. The ISR 900 router product line provides triple the IPsec throughput of the ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 models offer GETVPN, dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN, Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is up to 250 Mbps. All versions allow up to 50 VLANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for high availability include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), and Multigroup HSRP. Setup and management can be done with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series routers do not support Cisco's SD-WAN solution.

The Cisco ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN ports, LTE Cat 4, and a built-in power supply. VPN throughput is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers use external power and feature one GE WAN interface, LTE Cat 4, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+. VPN performance for both routers is 150 Mbps. The high-performance Cisco ISR 931 router features dual GE WAN and has an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN performance is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX line of desktop routers combine software-defined wide area networking and cloud-based unified threat management (UTM) in a single compact appliance able to support 50 to 200 users. Each MX router must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For sites having multiple WAN network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows administrators to assign the WAN connection an app uses or to build performance-based rules to determine the preferred connection. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share important capabilities including:

• Application and ID-based firewalling
• Content and web search filtering
• PCI-compliant Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Advanced Malware Protection with reputation-based filtering
• Load balancing to aggregate multiple WAN connections into a single high-speed connection 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 of each model have 802.11ac Wave 2 2x2 MU-MIMO

Cisco 1000 Series ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 family Integrated Services Routers running Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless routers intended to deliver network service, wireless access, and advanced security for SMBs, enterprise branch offices, retail outlets, kiosks, and M2M environments. Multiple parallel processing cores and compatibly with Cisco IOS XE software enable these routers to deliver features consistent with Cisco's entire family of Enterprise routers. 1000 and 1100 family ISR models are offered with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and offer Gigabit Ethernet packet forwarding. Available features include PoE and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a range of built-in or pluggable options including LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, SHDSL, LTE wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP. Cisco 1000 Series ISR routers can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN services for transparent multi-cloud access, advanced cybersecurity, and unified administration across hybrid network models.

Cisco's 1RU or desktop 1100-4G ISR router comes with four built-in GE WAN/LAN ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE with two LTE SMA sockets, and a micro-SIM slot. Encryption packet processing performance is 200 Mbps. The 1100-6G ISR router also includes two 1G SFP Fiber ports and features encryption performance of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop 1101-4P ISR router comes with four integrated switched 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 include two or four integrated GE ports and dual pluggable 3G/4G LTE ports. Encryption performance is 200 Mbps.

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

Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series routers are modular devices designed to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid networks that can incorporate a mix of public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. All Catalyst 8000 devices use Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide expandability, advanced cybersecurity, and 5G connectivity. Performance is enhanced via custom hardware, a multicore architecture, high port capacity, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software services provide continual access to the latest SD-WAN technology and enable unified management with advanced cybersecurity, application-optimized policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.

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

Catalyst 8300 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are intended to supersede Cisco's 4400 line of ISR Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to mid-sized and large enterprise branch offices looking for high WAN IPSec throughput combined with cohesive SD-WAN services. Enhanced capabilities include 5G wireless support, integrated cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 routers support edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 line of ISR appliances. All models in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 portfolio allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature backup power supplies for improved availability.

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

Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, 1RU aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Built-in features include route processor, embedded services processor (ESP), plus aggregation hardware for various connection choices. IPsec throughput is twice that of Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Flexible interface alternatives include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN ports. The routers include redundant AC or DC power units for enhanced resilience. Software subscription suites allow continuing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer unified management of cybersecurity, application-aware policies, segmentation, and cloud support.

The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is intended to provide the same key features as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN ports and offers as high as 20 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X router features 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and supports as high as 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC unit includes four integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1-Gigabit ports and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 68 Gbps.

Cisco Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers are intended to offer branch offices of enterprises with enhanced video and voice applications, virtual networking, security, and dependable connectivity. ISR Generation 2 routers introduce a design that preserves prior investments in service modules for older Integrated Services Routers and lowers future expenses by allowing easy installation of new modules as they are developed. In comparison to previous ISR routers, Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times higher performance, substantially more, and easier support. All Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer Gbit switching and incorporate multi-core CPUs and multigigabit fabric for faster throughput. ISR G2 routers also offer intelligent power management for improved energy efficiency.

A key innovation with Integrated Services Generation 2 routers is the IOS Software Universal image which includes all of the IOS feature sets so that your company can quickly license and deploy extra services as desired without having to download and transfer a new IOS Software image to yourrouter. Progent's group of Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers offer world-class expertise to help your business to design, configure, and maintain multi-location installations 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 higher performance Cisco ISR 900 line but remains widely used. Cisco's comprehensive line of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop appliances designed and priced for small businesses, branch locations, retail venues, telecommuters, and clients of ISPs. A wealth of models in the 800 Series product line have been developed with many options over the course of many years. Cisco's 881 line of ISR routers suggests the wide selection of options available within Cisco's 800 Series product family. Models in Cisco's 881 Series router portfolio can support converged media environments by delivering voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in one integrated router and switch. Built-in data protection can include encryption, VPN, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available options for 881 routers include duplicate WAN links or support for wired high-speed WAN connections such as DSL plus multiple different cellular 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all on a single desktop appliance.

The basic Cisco 881 includes a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps throughput, support for up to 20 users, two-port integrated PoE, and IPv6 compatibility. Cisco's 881W router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. The 881 SRST router includes four FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN fallback with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco CUBE license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking as a replacement for legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN carrier. SIP trunks can also support remote agents in Cisco Call Center environments.

Cisco 4000 Series ISR Routers
Cisco's 4000 Series ISR Routers are compact modular and scalable routers designed for organizations with multiple branch offices and offsite workers who need direct access to in-house data centers and public clouds across VPNs and the Internet. The 4000 series provides the throughput needed for distributed enterprise sites to accommodate mobile workers, Cloud-based services, and HD video applications by utilizing WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management technology. Devices in the 4000 product line run Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1RU or 2RU package, can support Up to 2 Gbps of traffic, and can have up to 3 interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models can support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. To handle unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR offers comprehensive edge support for session border control, telephony fault tolerance, and TDM gateways.

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

Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and service provider routers offer larger businesses with fast, protected head ends to aggregate branch office and off-site data packets and to provide ISPs cost-optimized wide area network edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router portfolio features the ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 ASR family.

Progent's national group of Cisco CCIE network engineers have extensive experience helping enterprises and service providers to design efficient installations and smooth expansion of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants offer unbiased, independent network security vulnerability assessments, penetration testing and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help companies with Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to comply with industry standards and government regulations for IT information security and incident reporting.

Cisco ASR 1000 Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services family of routers is designed to fill the middle of Cisco's midrange routers that concentrate on aggregating services at the WAN edge. ASR 1000 Series routers offer a small form factor, multi-function solution for enterprises requiring satellite office service aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet speeds. ASR 1000 Series routers incorporate an innovative architecture that mixes on-board acceleration with software versatility to deliver a multitude of concurrent services while preserving dependable performance.

ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor composed of 40 custom Packet Processing Engines that in combination can support up to 160 concurrent threads. This massive parallelism, in conjunction with on-board acceleration for all services, allows the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 router to expand up to 000 hardware queues, 32,000 clients, 4K IPsec VPN tunnels at 10,000 sessions per second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing power permits Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers to support a wide variety of sophisticated services simultaneously in high volume while avoiding throughput decay that could violate compliance with SLAs. Examples of these advanced services include IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also allows sophisticated traffic control for applying multiple levels of Quality of Service to a packet in a single operation, enhancing the user experience for next-generation IP voice and video applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are designed as edge routers for service providers who are required to support world-class data, voice and video services to home, business, and mobile customers by providing continual operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All models in the ASR 9000 Series of Routers run the IOS XR operating system, a distributed OS designed for continuous availability. Performance of Cisco's ASR 9000 line of Routers can scale to as high as 96 Tbps per system. Cisco's ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers can handle high-density Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, and fan trays plus redundant control planes and switch fabric.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a provider-edge router in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of full-duplex fabric capacity. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two modular bays to accept adapters for 1 Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The chassis incorporates four 10 GE enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports and ports for GPS clocking, building integrated timing supply (BITS), and management. The ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU form factor and offers line-rate 10 GE and 100 GE connectivity in space-limited environments. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can support up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in one chassis. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU form factor with 12 slots slots able to support up to 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 incorporates 2 route CPUs as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.

Ways Progent Can Help You to Support Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE certified consultants can help your company to design, configure, and maintain a converged business network that can simplify processes, lower expenses, and accelerate the path to positive return on investment. By teaming Cisco routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can significantly 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.

For more details about Progent's engineering assistance for Cisco technology, select a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Engineering Services
• Fast Remote Access to a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Firewalls: Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Firewalls with Firepower: Configuration and Management Support
• ASA 5500 Firewall Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco PIX Firewall Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Help
• Aironet Wireless Access Points Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 Wireless APs System Design Support
• Catalyst 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6/6E Access Points Solution Design, Configuration and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Support Services
• Meraki APs Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and CallManager Integration and Technical Support
• Cisco Voice over IP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting Services and Cisco Wireless VoIP Phone Solutions
• Cisco Jabber Integration Services
• Catalyst Switches Deployment Services
• Cisco Nexus Switches Support and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco Meraki MS Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco VPN Setup and Troubleshooting Expertise
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunks and CUBE Integration Consulting
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote Workers
• Design and Support for Cisco-based Data Centers
• Infrastructure Design Expertise for Internet Service Providers
• Centralized Cloud-based and Hybrid Network Management Strategies for Cisco-powered Environments