The current generation of routers ordinarily come with L2 switches, and many modern switches have some Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers offered by Cisco, the producer of the vast majority of the world's routers, have improved significantly in capability and speed and Cisco offers a comprehensive portfolio that includes routers built to handle the needs of customers from individual telecommuters to the world's largest ISPs.
The latest Integrated Services Routers from Cisco offer the performance and built-in features to support IP voice and video as well as virtual environments while also offering high availability, remote administration, seamless extensibility, and advanced security and compliance. These routers allow your company to establish a firm foundation for an IT network that can grow seamlessly as you hire more workers, establish extra offices, configure additional functions, give access to your network to customers and vendors, and build an expanding mobile user base. Progent's Cisco qualified CCIE network consultants offer fast and affordable remote expertise to assist your company to plan, configure, administer, update, and support Cisco's latest routers and can help you to maintain your older routers or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current networking solutions.
Cisco Routers for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for small organizations and remote offices offer affordable and dependable entry-level solutions that enable small groups of users to have safe access to the Internet. These fixed-configuration desktop devices include at minimum four switched Ethernet with Wi-Fi options and integrated firewall to provide enhanced protection. Built for simple installation, management, and troubleshooting, Cisco's small business and home routers minimize ownership costs by lowering acquisition and operational expenses. Progent's online troubleshooting specialists have extensive backgrounds providing immediate and affordable technical assistance for small businesses to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can help you to understand whether and how Cisco's entry-level routers can increase the strategic value of your information network.
ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series routers are small-footprint, quiet, set-configuration appliances intended for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These value-priced routers include four GE LAN ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. Cisco's ISR 900 router product line provides three times the IPsec performance of the ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 models feature Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), DMVPN, Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN performance is as high as 250 Mbps. All router versions support up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover technology for business continuity include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), Hot Standby Router Protocol, and Multigroup HSRP. Setup and management can be performed with Cisco CP Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series devices do not support Cisco's SD-WAN solution.
Cisco's ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN, LTE Cat 4, and a built-in power supply. VPN performance is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers include external power supplies and support one GE WAN interface, Category 4 LTE, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. VPN performance for both routers is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line Cisco ISR 931 router supports dual GE WAN ports and includes an internal power supply. VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.
Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX portfolio of desktop routers combine software-defined wide area networking and cloud-based unified threat management in one small-footprint appliance able to support 50 to 200 users. Each MX router must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For venues having multiple external network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows administrators to assign the WAN interface an app should use or to create performance-based algorithms to select the appropriate connection. MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share key capabilities that include:
Cisco 1000 Series ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers powered by Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless appliances designed to provide network connectivity, wireless support, and advanced security for small and midsize businesses, branch offices, retail stores, kiosks, and M2M environments. Parallel CPU cores and compatibly with Cisco IOS XE enable these routers to offer features consistent with Cisco's complete line of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 and 1100 Series ISR models are available with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and offer Gigabit Ethernet packet forwarding. Various models include PoE and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a selection of built-in or pluggable connections for LAN, WAN, WLAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 3G/4G Advanced wireless, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series ISR routers can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN subscription services for seamless multiple-cloud connectivity, multilayer cybersecurity, and cohesive management of hybrid networks.
Cisco's rackmount or desktop 1100-4G ISR router includes four integrated GE WAN/LAN ports, integrated 3G/4G LTE with two LTE antenna SMA connectors, and one micro-SIM slot. Encryption throughput is 200 Mbps. The Cisco 1100-6G ISR router also includes two 1G SFP Fiber ports and features encryption throughput of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop-only ISR 1101-4P router includes four built-in switched GE connections, offers 802.11ac Wi-Fi as well as 3G/4G LTE wireless, and features encryption rates of 280 Mbps. The ISR 1109-2P/4p desktop routers have two or four built-in switched GE ports and two pluggable 3G/4G LTE wireless ports. Encryption packet processing performance is 200 Mbps.
The Cisco rackmount or desktop 111x-4P/8P ISR routers include four or eight built-in switched GE interfaces (two or four provide PoE) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP. Encryption throughput is 280 Mbps. Cisco's rackmount or desktop 1111X-8P ISR router has eight switched GE interfaces (four with POE) and a port for 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing throughput is 340 Mbps. The 112x-8P ISR router features eight built-in switched GE connections with Power over Ethernet and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing rate is 340 Mbps. The 1161X-8P ISR router features eight integrated GE ports with Power over Ethernet and provides 3G/4G LTE wireless and SFP. Encryption performance is 450 Mbps.
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series routers are modular appliances intended to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid networks that can incorporate multiple public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. Catalyst 8000 devices are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide expandability, intelligent cybersecurity, and 5G access. Performance is enhanced via purpose-built silicon, a multicore design, high port density, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites offer continual access to the latest SD-WAN technology and enable centralized management with enhanced cybersecurity, application-optimized policies, network segmentation, and cloud integration.
Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series ISRs, delivering higher IPsec performance and expandability, hardware-accelerated encryption, plus higher built-in WAN interface density. These one-rack unit appliances are designed to bring Cisco's Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), SD-WAN and 5G-connection technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise access edge. Cisco's Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model includes four CPU cores, enables 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and permits 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. Cisco's Catalyst 8200L router does not support container-based applications. The Catalyst C8200-1N-4T model includes eight CPU cores, provides 1Gb IPsec throughput, permits 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with existing container models. Both devices come with a NIM slot, one Pluggable Interface Module slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN SFP ports. Four-port and eight-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM modules are supported by both 8200 routers.
Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 Series Integrated Services Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN technology to mid-sized and large enterprise branches seeking high WAN IPSec throughput with cohesive SD-WAN services. Enhanced capabilities include 5G wireless support, integrated security, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application-aware optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers support edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 Series ISR routers. All versions in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series line allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include backup power supplies for high availability.
The Cisco Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router model is a 1RU device that features eight CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance as high as 1.9Gbps. The unit includes one Service Module expansion slot, a NIM slot, and six built-in 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. The Catalyst 8300-2N2S-6T appliance is a 2RU device that includes 8 CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN performance and IPsec data rates of up to 1.9Gbps. The appliance includes two SM plug-in slots, two NIM slots, and six built-in 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router model is a 1RU appliance that includes 8 CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance up to 15Gbps. The router has one one SM plug-in slot, one NIM slot, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four fixed 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X model is a two-rack unit device that includes 12 CPU cores and supports 5G SD-WAN data rates and IPsec data rates as high as 18Gbps. The unit includes two SM plug-in slots, two NIM slots, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four fixed 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. LAN plug-in modules offered by Cisco range from a four-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet switch Network Interface Module module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch Service Module.
Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, one-rack unit aggregation models for SD-WAN and colocation environments. Integrated features include route processor, embedded services processor, and aggregation hardware for multiple interfaces and connectivity choices. IPsec performance is double compared to Cisco's earlier generation ASR1001-X router. Available interface alternatives include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN interfaces. The routers come with redundant power supplies for improved resilience. Software subscription suites provide continuing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable centralized management of cybersecurity, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud support.
The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is intended to provide a similar basic functionality as Cisco's ASR 1000 appliance. The C8500L-8S4X has four 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers up to 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X appliance has 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and supports as high as 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC aggregation router includes four integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1GE interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 68 Gbps. Cisco's C8500-20X6C high-density router includes 20 integrated 1/10GE ports and six x QSFP+ ports. The C8500-20X6C supports up to 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput.
Cisco Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers are intended to offer satellite offices of large businesses with advanced collaboration, virtualization, protection, and reliable connectivity. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers introduce a design that preserves past investments in service modules for older ISR routers and lowers future costs by allowing field installation of additional modules as they are developed. Compared to previous ISR routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times higher throughput, substantially greater expandability, and easier support. All Cisco ISR Generation 2 routers offer gigabit switching and incorporate multi-core CPUs and ultra-fast fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also offer intelligent power management for better energy conservation.
A notable advance with ISR G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Universal image which includes all of the IOS feature sets so that you can rapidly authorize and activate new functions when desired without having to download and transfer a new IOS image to yourCisco router. Progent's group of Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers offer proven skills to assist you to design, configure, and support multi-location deployments of Cisco ISR Generation 2 routers that improve satellite office efficiency and cut the price 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 family but remains widely deployed. Cisco's extensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop devices designed and priced for small businesses, branch offices, retail shops, teleworkers, and clients of ISPs. Many models in Cisco's 800 product line have been released with various options over many years. Cisco's 881 Series of ISR routers exemplifies the wide selection of options offered within Cisco's 800 Series product family. Models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can enable unified media networks by delivering voice and video, wireless and data in one integrated router and switch. Advanced data protection can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available features for Cisco 881 routers include redundant WAN links or support for wired high-speed WAN links such as DSL plus multiple 3G and 4G wireless connections all on a single appliance.
The basic Cisco 881 router includes a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps performance, support for up to 20 users, two-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 compatibility. The Cisco 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router includes four FXS ports and 1 FXO port for public-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) failover with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST). With a Cisco CUBE license, Cisco's 881 ISR router allows SIP trunking to replace outdated Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks can also connect remote agents in Cisco Call Center environments.
Cisco 4000 Series ISR Routers
Cisco's 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers are modular and scalable platforms designed for businesses with multiple branch offices and offsite users who need direct access to private data centers as well as public clouds across VPN tunnels and the Internet. The 4000 series provides the bandwidth required for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile workers, cloud services, and multimedia applications by using WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management technology. Models in the ISR 4000 product line are powered by Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can handle Up to 2 Gbps of traffic, and can have up to 3 network interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, 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, Cisco's 400o ISR offers comprehensive edge support technology for SBC, branch telephony survivability, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.
The main difference between the Cisco 4400 ISR and 4300 Series is the inclusion of dual power supply support in the 4400 Series, offering a greater degree of availability. Cisco's 4321 Integrated Services Router has a 1 RU desktop form factor and includes two network interface modules (NIMs), delivers up to 100 Mbps throughput, and supports 240 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The 4331 ISR Router has a 1 RU form factor with two NIMs, provides up to 300 Mbps throughput, and can handle 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's 4351 ISR Router comes in a 2 RU form factor and includes three NIMs, offers up to 400 Mbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's dual power supply 4431 router features a 2 RU form factor with three network interface modules, provides as much as 1 Gbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's fault-tolerant 4431 Integrated Services Router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three NIMs, offers as much as 2 Gbps throughput, and can handle 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels.
Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's midrange and service provider routers offer enterprises with fast, secure headends to aggregate satellite office and remote user data packets and to offer carriers cost-effective wide area network edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router product line includes the ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 ASR routers.
Progent's national group of CCIE network consultants have in-depth experience helping enterprise businesses and service providers to design efficient installations and seamless upgrades of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts offer objective, third-party network security inventory assessments, stealth penetration testing and comprehensive Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help companies that use Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to meet industry guidelines and statutory regulations for network information protection and reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for PEN testing. NodeZero depends on AI technology to streamline the threat evaluation cycle of finding security gaps in network perimeters and inside the internal network, prioritizing remediation, fixing problems, and verifying successful repairs.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge line of routers is positioned in the center of Cisco's midrange products that concentrate on acting as headends at the WAN edge. Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers offer a small footprint, single-product answer for large businesses who need satellite office service aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet speeds. ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers incorporate a revolutionary design that mixes hardware acceleration with programmable versatility in order to offer a rich set of concurrent services without sacrificing consistent responsiveness.
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services routers include Cisco's new QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines that together can support up to 160 simultaneous processor threads. This parallel CPU architecture, combined with hardware acceleration for every service, enables the high-end ASR 1006 Aggregation Services router to scale up to 128K hardware queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4,000 IPsec VPN tunnels at 10,000 sessions per second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing capability permits ASR 1000 routers to support a broad range of sophisticated services simultaneously in massive volume while avoiding performance decay that might compromise adherence to SLAs. Examples of these services include IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, Network Address Translation, FPM, and in-line deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also permits tiered traffic control for performing numerous levels of Quality of Service to a data packet in one operation, improving the user experience for resource-intensive IP voice and video applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers are designed as WAN-edge routers for carriers who need to deliver the highest quality HD multimedia services to home, business, and mobile users by providing non-stop operation, high performance, and application awareness. All platforms in Cisco's ASR 9000 family of Routers run Cisco's IOS XR, a self-healing, distributed OS designed for continuous uptime. Throughput of Cisco's ASR 9000 family of Routers can scale up to 96 Tbps per system. the Cisco ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers support high-density Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, plus backup control planes and switch fabric.
The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a carrier-edge router in a 6 RU form factor with 120 Gbps of full-duplex fabric capacity. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two modular bays to support port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The chassis incorporates four 10 GE SFP+ ports as well as ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, building integrated timing supply (BITS), and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU form factor and provides dense 10 GE and 100 GE connections in space-constrained environments. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can support up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in one chassis. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform comes in a 30 RU form factor with 12 slots slots able to handle 550 Gbps of throughput. The ASR 9912 Router includes 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.
How Progent Can Assist Your Company with Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified engineers can help your company to design, setup, and support a converged network infrastructure that can streamline operations, lower expenses, and speed the path to positive ROI. By teaming Cisco routers with Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can significantly increase the business value of your information network. Progent offers in-person and off-site support and can provide data center support throughout the U.S.
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