Today's routers ordinarily come with L2 switches, and many modern switches include Layer 3 routing capability. Routers offered by Cisco, the producer of 90% of the world's routers, have improved dramatically in function and speed and Cisco now offers a comprehensive product line that features routers built to handle the needs of customers ranging from individual telecommuters to the world's largest service providers.
The latest ISR routers released by Cisco offer the performance and integrated features to support IP voice and video plus virtual environments while also providing fault tolerance, web-based management, seamless scalability, and enhanced security and compliance. These routers enable your company to build a solid foundation for an information network that can evolve smoothly as you hire new employees, open new sites, activate additional services, give access to your system to clients and partners, and build an expanding mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco CCIE network engineers can provide fast and economical online expertise to assist you to select, deploy, manage, upgrade, and support Cisco's latest routers and can assist you to support your legacy routers or move efficiently to Cisco's current router products.
Cisco Routers Designed for Home and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for small companies and remote offices offer low-cost and reliable entry-level solutions that allow small sets of users to have safe connectivity to wide area networks. These fixed-configuration desktop devices feature at least four 10/100 Ethernet switches with Wi-Fi options and integrated firewall to provide enhanced security. Designed for easy setup, management, and troubleshooting, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce ownership costs by lowering acquisition and maintenance investments. Progent's remote troubleshooting experts have extensive backgrounds delivering immediate and economical technical help for small organizations to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can assist your company to understand how these routers can increase the business value of your IT system.
Cisco ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco ISR 900 Series desktop routers are small-footprint, quiet, set-configuration devices designed for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These value-priced routers include four GE LAN ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connections. The ISR 900 router family provides triple the IPsec throughput of Cisco's ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 models feature Group Encrypted Transport VPN, dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is up to 250 Mbps. All router versions allow up to 50 VLANs. Supported dynamic failover technology for high availability include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), and Multigroup HSRP. Setup and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. ISR 900 Series devices do not work with Cisco's SD-WAN solution.
The Cisco ISR 921 router comes with dual GE WAN, Category 4 LTE, and a built-in power supply. GE WAN VPN throughput is 150 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers have external power and support a single WAN interface, Category 4 LTE, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+. VPN throughput for both routers is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line ISR 931 features dual GE WAN ports and has an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.
Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX family of desktop routers provide software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud-hosted unified threat management in a single small-footprint device able to support 50 to 200 users. Every MX router must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For sites having several external network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows admins to assign the WAN connection an application should use or to create performance-based algorithms to select the appropriate interface. MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share key capabilities including:
Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers using Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless routers designed to provide network connectivity, wireless support, and multilayer cybersecurity for SMBs, branch offices, retail outlets, kiosks, and M2M venues. Multiple parallel processing cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE allow these routers to offer capabilities consistent with Cisco's entire family of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 family ISR routers are offered with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and offer GE packet forwarding. Various models include PoE and PoE+, auto provisioning, plus a selection of integrated or pluggable options including LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, G.fast DSL, 4G LTE wireless, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and SFP. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR models work with Cisco's SD-WAN services for seamless multiple-cloud access, multilayer cybersecurity, and unified administration of hybrid network models.
Cisco's 1RU or desktop ISR 1100-4G router comes with four built-in GE ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE with two LTE antenna sockets, and one micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption packet processing performance is 200 Mbps. The 1100-6G ISR router adds two 1G SFP Fiber ports and features encryption speed of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop-only 1101-4P ISR router has four built-in GE connections, supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi and 3G/4G LTE wireless, and delivers encryption speed of 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1109-2P/4P ISR desktop routers include two or four integrated switched GE interfaces and two pluggable 3G/4G LTE wireless ports. Encryption performance is 200 Mbps.
The 1RU or desktop 111x-4P/8P ISR routers come with four or eight built-in switched GE interfaces (two or four with PoE) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing speed is 280 Mbps. Cisco's rackmount or desktop 1111X-8P ISR router has eight built-in GE ports (four with Power over Ethernet) and a port for SFP Fiber. Encryption rate is 340 Mbps. The 112x-8P ISR router features eight integrated GE ports with Power over Ethernet and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP. Encryption performance is 340 Mbps. The 1161X-8P ISR router has eight GE connections with PoE and supports 3G/4G LTE wireless and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing performance is 450 Mbps.
Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 family of routers are modular devices designed to work 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. Catalyst 8000 routers are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide expandability, intelligent cybersecurity, and 5G access. Throughput is enhanced using custom silicon, a multicore architecture, high port density, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide continual access to current SD-WAN technology and enable centralized management with enhanced security, application-optimized policies, segmentation, and cloud integration.
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 routers are upgrades to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers, delivering higher IPsec performance and expandability, hardware-accelerated crypto, plus greater built-in WAN interface density. These one-rack unit appliances are built to bring Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise access edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model features four CPU cores, enables 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based apps. The Catalyst C8200-1N-4T model includes eight CPU cores, provides 1Gb IPsec performance, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with existing container architectures. Both devices include a Network Interface Module (NIM) slot, one PIM slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN copper ports, and two 1G Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) interfaces. 4-port and 8-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 models.
Cisco Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers are intended to supersede Cisco's 4400 family of Integrated Services Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to medium-sized and large enterprise branch offices seeking high WAN IPSec performance combined with integrated SD-WAN services. Enhanced features include 5G wireless support, built-in cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and DPI with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 routers enable edge computing for an existing container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 family of ISR appliances. All models in the Catalyst 8300 Series line allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include dual power supplies for improved availability.
The Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router model is a 1RU appliance that features 8 CPU cores and offers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance of up to 1.9Gbps. The unit comes with one Service Module expansion slot, a NIM slot, and six integrated 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 router includes two SM plug-in slots, two NIM slots, and six built-in 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. The Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router model is a 1RU appliance that has 8 CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec throughput up to 15Gbps. The device includes one a single SM expansion slot, one NIM slot, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four built-in 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X model is a two-rack unit router that features 12 CPU cores and delivers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec data rates up to 18Gbps. The unit has two SM expansion slots, two NIM slots, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four fixed 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. LAN plug-in modules offered by Cisco range from a four-port 1G Ethernet switch Network Interface Module module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch Service Module.
Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, 1RU aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Built-in features include route processor, embedded services processor, plus aggregation hardware for multiple connection options. IPsec throughput is double compared to Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X aggregation services router. Available interface alternatives include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN ports. 8500 routers include redundant power units for enhanced availability. Software subscription suites allow ongoing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable unified management of cybersecurity, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.
The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is designed to offer a similar experience as Cisco's ASR 1000 appliance. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers as high as 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X router includes 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 120 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC model comes with four integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1GE interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 68 Gbps. The C8500-20X6C router comes with 20 integrated 1/10GE interfaces and six x 40/100GE interfaces. Cisco's C8500-20X6C supports up to 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput.
Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers are intended to provide satellite offices of enterprises with enhanced collaboration, virtualization, security, and reliable connectivity. ISR Generation 2 routers introduce a design that preserves past investments in service modules for older Integrated Services Routers and lowers future expenses by permitting easy installation of additional modules as they become available. Compared to older Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers offer 2-7 times higher throughput, substantially more, and more affordable support. All Integrated Services Generation 2 routers support Gbit switching and include multi-core CPUs and ultra-fast fabric for faster performance. ISR G2 routers also support intelligent power control for improved energy efficiency.
A key advance with ISR G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Universal image which includes all of the IOS technology sets so that you can quickly authorize and activate extra features when required without having to download and transfer a new IOS Software image over to yourrouter. Progent's group of CCIE-certified network engineers offer world-class skills to help your business to design, configure, and support multi-site installations of Cisco ISR G2 routers that improve branch office productivity and cut the costs of upgrades and maintenance.
Cisco's ISR 800 Series Routers
Cisco's 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 series but is still widely used. Cisco's comprehensive line of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop devices intended for small businesses, branch locations, retail shops, teleworkers, and customers of broadband service providers. A wealth of models in Cisco's 800 product line have been developed with many options over many years. Cisco's 881 line of ISR routers suggests the vast selection of options available within Cisco's 800 product family. Models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can support unified media networks by providing IP voice and video, wireless and data in a single integrated appliance. Built-in security can include encryption, VPN, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available features for 881 ISR routers include redundant wide area network links or support for wired high-speed WAN connections like DSL as well as multiple different 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into a single appliance.
The baseline Cisco 881 router has a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch with up to 15 Mbps performance, the ability to handle 20 users, 2-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. Cisco's 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router features 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for public-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) failover with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco CUBE feature license, Cisco's 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking as a replacement for legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks also support remote call agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.
4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers are modular and scalable platforms intended for organizations with multiple branch offices and offsite users who need direct access to in-house data centers and public clouds across VPN tunnels and the Internet. The 4000 series provides the throughput required for distributed enterprise sites to accommodate mobile workers, cloud services, and HD video applications by using WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management techniques. Devices in the ISR 4000 product line run Cisco's IOS XE operating system, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can support Up to 2 Gbps of traffic, and can have up to 3 interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. For unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR offers comprehensive edge support for SBC, branch telephony fault tolerance, and TDM gateways.
The main difference between Cisco's 4400 ISR and 4300 Series is redundant power supply capability in the 4400 Series, providing a greater degree of fault tolerance. The 4321 ISR Router has a 1 RU desktop package with two network interface modules (NIMs), delivers up to 100 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4331 model comes in a 1 RU package and includes two NIMs, provides up to 300 Mbps throughput, and can handle 360 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4351 model comes in a 2 RU form factor and includes three NIMs, offers as much as 400 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's power-redundant 4431 router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three NIMs, provides up to 1 Gbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The fault-tolerant 4431 router features a 2 RU package with three NIMs, provides as much as 2 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels.
Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and service provider routers can provide larger businesses with fast, secure distribution points to aggregate branch office and remote user traffic and to provide service providers cost-effective WAN edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router portfolio includes the ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 ASR family.
Progent's national group of CCIE network experts have in-depth experience helping global businesses and Internet service providers to plan efficient deployments and smooth expansion of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants can provide unbiased, third-party security inventory assessments, stealth penetration testing services and advanced SIEM solutions to help companies with Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to comply with industry guidelines and government regulations for IT information protection and reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for threat assessment. NodeZero depends on AI technology to streamline the vulnerability evaluation cycle of finding security gaps in perimeters and within the internal network, prioritizing repairs, fixing problems, and verifying fixes.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge family of routers is positioned in the middle of Cisco's midrange devices that concentrate on acting as headends at the WAN edge. ASR 1000 routers provide a small form factor, single-product answer for large businesses who need satellite office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers introduce an innovative design that combines hardware acceleration with programmable versatility to offer a rich set of simultaneous services without sacrificing consistent performance.
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services routers feature Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 custom Packet Processing Engines that together can support as many as 160 simultaneous threads. This multi-processing structure, in conjunction with hardware acceleration for every service, allows the high-end ASR 1006 router to scale up to 128K hardware queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4,000 IPsec VPN tunnels at 10K sessions/second, and 2 million Netflow records. This CPU capability allows Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services routers to support a variety of advanced services simultaneously in high volume without suffering throughput decay that could threaten adherence to service level agreements. These advanced services include IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also allows tiered traffic control for performing numerous levels of QoS to a packet in one operation, improving responsiveness for resource-intensive multimedia applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are intended as edge routers for service providers who need to deliver the highest quality HD multimedia services to residential, commercial, and mobile customers by offering zero downtime availability, high speed, and application awareness. All platforms in the ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers are powered by Cisco's IOS XR operating system, a distributed operating system built for non-stop uptime. Performance of the ASR 9000 Series of Aggregation Services Routers can scale to as high as 96 Tbps per system. Cisco's ASR 9000 family of Routers support Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, and fan trays plus redundant switch fabric.
The ASR 9001 model is a carrier-edge router that comes in a 6 RU form factor with 120 Gbps of nonblocking fabric performance. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two bays which can support adapters for 1 Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis includes four 10 Gbit Ethernet SFP+ ports and ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, BITS, and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU chassis and provides dense 10 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in space-constrained environments. The 4-slot router can scale up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in one chassis. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router comes in a 30 RU form factor and includes 12 slots slots that can provide 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 includes 2 route processors and 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.
How Progent's Consultants Can Assist Your Company to Support Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE certified consultants can help your business to design, setup, and manage a converged business network that can automate operations, lower costs, and speed the path to positive ROI. By teaming Cisco integrated services routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can significantly enhance the business value of your integrated network. Progent can provide onsite and remote support and offers data center support throughout the U.S.
For additional information about Progent's consulting help for Cisco networking products, select a subject: