Cisco Network Consultants

Today's routers usually come with Layer 2 switching capability, and many of today's switches include L3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the source of 90% of the world's routers, have improved significantly in capability and speed and Cisco now offers a comprehensive product line that features routers engineered to handle the requirements of customers from individual telecommuters to nationwide service providers.

The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the performance and built-in functionality to manage IP voice and video plus virtualization while also offering fault tolerance, web-based management, seamless extensibility, and enhanced security and compliance. Cisco's ISR routers allow you to establish a solid foundation for an information environment that can grow seamlessly as you hire new employees, establish new sites, deploy new capabilities, give access to your system to clients and partners, and support an an increasingly mobile user base. Progent's Cisco CCIE network consultants offer fast and economical remote support to assist your company to select, configure, manage, update, and support Cisco's most advanced routers and can assist you to support your older routers or move non-disruptively to Cisco's current router solutions.

Cisco Routers Designed for Home and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for small companies and branch offices provide low-cost and dependable entry-level alternatives that enable limited groups of users to share secure access to wide area networks. All these single-configuration desktop routers include at minimum four switched Ethernet with Wi-Fi options and built-in firewall for enhanced protection. Designed for simple installation, management, and troubleshooting, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce TCO by cutting equipment and maintenance expenses. Progent's online troubleshooting specialists have extensive experience delivering fast and economical IT help for small companies to set up and maintain these devices, and Progent's CCIE network consultants can assist you to understand ways Cisco's small office routers can increase the business value of your IT network.

ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series desktop routers are compact, fanless, fixed-configuration appliances intended for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These value-priced routers include four GE LAN ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. Cisco's ISR 900 router product line provides triple the IPsec throughput of Cisco's ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 models feature Group Encrypted Transport VPN, DMVPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is up to 250 Mbps. All router versions support up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported automatic failover protocols for high availability and business continuity include VRRP, Hot Standby Router Protocol, and MHSRP. Provisioning and management can be done with Cisco CP Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series routers do not work with Cisco's SD-WAN solution.

Cisco's ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN, LTE Cat 4, and an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN performance is 150 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 926 and ISR 927 models have external power supplies and support one GE WAN interface, Category 4 LTE, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. GE WAN VPN throughput for both routers is 150 Mbps. The high-performance Cisco ISR 931 router supports dual GE WAN and includes an internal power supply. VPN performance is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX portfolio of desktop routers provide software-defined wide area networking and cloud-based unified threat management (UTM) in one compact device able to handle 50 to 200 users. Each MX router needs to be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For sites with several WAN network options (e.g., MPLS, broadband, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits administrators to specify the WAN interface a given app should use or to create performance-based rules to select the preferred interface. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share key capabilities including:

• App 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 links into one fast connection with policy-based QoS, 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 Family ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) using Cisco IOS XE internetworking operating system are a line of fanless routers designed to deliver high-performance network service, wireless access, and advanced security for SMBs, enterprise branches, retail stores, customer premises equipment (CPE), and M2M environments. Multiple parallel processing CPU cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE enable these routers to offer features consistent with Cisco's complete line of Enterprise routers. 1000 and 1100 Series ISR routers are available with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and provide Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packet forwarding. Available features include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a range of integrated or pluggable options for LAN, WAN, WLAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, LTE wireless, 802.11 wireless, and SFP. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR routers work with Cisco's SD-WAN subscription services for seamless multi-cloud connectivity, advanced security, and unified administration of hybrid network models.

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

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

Cisco 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 to support hybrid network environments that can include multiple public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. All Catalyst 8000 routers use Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide expandability, intelligent cloud security, and 5G access. Performance is optimized using custom silicon, a multicore design, high port capacity, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide ongoing access to the latest SD-WAN technology and allow unified management with enhanced security, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.

Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers, offering higher IPsec throughput and scale, hardware-accelerated encryption, plus higher built-in WAN port density. These one-rack unit appliances are built to bring Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN and 5G-connection technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise WAN edge. Cisco's Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model includes four CPU cores, enables 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and allows 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, delivers 1Gb IPsec throughput, permits 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with existing container architectures. Both devices come with one NIM slot, one PIM slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN ports, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) ports. Four-port and eight-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM modules are supported by both 8200 models.

Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are intended to replace Cisco's 4400 Series ISR Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN architecture to medium-sized and large enterprise branches seeking high WAN IPSec throughput with integrated SD-WAN services. Advanced capabilities include 5G wireless connectivity, integrated security, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers support edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 Series ISR routers. All versions in the Catalyst 8300 Series line support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature backup power supplies for improved availability.

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

Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, one-rack unit aggregation routers for SD-WAN and colocation environments. Integrated features include route processor, ESP, and aggregation hardware for multiple connection options. IPsec throughput is twice that of Cisco's earlier generation ASR1001-X router. Flexible connectivity options include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN ports. These routers come with redundant power units for improved resilience. Software subscription packages provide ongoing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer centralized 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 appliance. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and supports up to 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-12X appliance has 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers as high as 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC unit comes with four built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1-Gigabit ports and delivers up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 68 Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C router includes 20 integrated SFP+ interfaces and six x 40/100GE ports. Cisco's C8500-20X6C delivers up to 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance.

Cisco ISR G2 Routers
Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers are intended to provide satellite offices of enterprises with enhanced video and voice applications, virtual networking, security, and reliable connectivity. Integrated Services G2 routers introduce a design that preserves past investments in modules for first-generation ISR routers and reduces future costs by permitting easy upgrades to additional modules when they are developed. Compared to previous Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times more throughput, far more, and easier support. All ISR G2 routers offer GE switching and include multi-core processors and ultra-fast fabric for higher throughput. ISR G2 routers also support intelligent power management for better energy conservation.

A notable advance with ISR G2 routers is the IOS Universal image which contains all of the IOS technology sets so that you can rapidly authorize and activate extra features when required without having to acquire and transfer a different IOS Software image to yourCisco router. Progent's team of CCIE network consultants can provide world-class expertise to help you to design, implement, and maintain multi-site installations of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers that improve satellite office efficiency and cut the price of upgrades and maintenance.

Cisco's ISR 800 Line of Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 family but is still widely deployed. Cisco's comprehensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop, fanless appliances intended for small businesses, branch offices, retail venues, teleworkers, and customers of ISPs. A wealth of devices in the 800 Series product line have been released with various options for many years. The 881 line of ISR routers suggests the wide array of options offered within the Cisco 800 Series product family. Various models in Cisco's 881 router catalog can enable converged media environments by providing voice and video, wireless and data in one integrated router and switch. Built-in security can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available features for Cisco 881 routers include redundant WAN links or support for landline high-speed WAN links such as DSL plus multiple 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into a single desktop appliance.

The basic Cisco 881 has a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps performance, support for up to 20 users, 2-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 compatibility. The Cisco 881W ISR router supports 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. The 881 SRST router features 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN failover with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) feature license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunk connectivity to replace legacy PRI lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks can also support remote agents in Cisco Call Center environments.

Cisco 4000 Series ISR Routers
The Cisco 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are compact modular and expandable platforms designed for organizations with multiple branches and offsite workers requiring direct communication with private data centers as well as public clouds via VPNs and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series provides the bandwidth required for distributed enterprise sites to support mobile workers, cloud services, and HD multimedia applications by utilizing wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management techniques. Models in the ISR 4000 product line are powered by Cisco's IOS XE software, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can handle Up to 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 network interface 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, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. To handle unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides comprehensive edge support for SBC, telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.

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

Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's midrange and carrier routers offer enterprises with high-performance, secure headends to aggregate branch office and off-site data packets and to offer ISPs cost-optimized wide area network edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router portfolio features the ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 ASR routers.

Progent's nationwide group of Cisco CCIE certified network engineers have in-depth backgrounds working with enterprises and service providers to design efficient deployments and seamless upgrades of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants can provide objective, third-party network security inventory evaluations, penetration testing and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help companies that use Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to comply with business guidelines and government regulations for IT data protection and incident reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for PEN testing. NodeZero relies on AI technology to simplify the threat evaluation cycle of discovering security gaps in perimeters and within the internal network infrastructure, prioritizing repairs, mitigating weaknesses, and verifying fixes.

Cisco ASR 1000 Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge line of routers is positioned in the middle of Cisco's midrange products that concentrate on acting as headends at the WAN edge. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers provide a small form factor, single-product answer for enterprises looking for branch office aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers introduce an innovative design that mixes hardware acceleration with programmable flexibility in order to offer a multitude of simultaneous services without sacrificing consistent responsiveness.

ASR 1000 routers feature Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor composed of 40 custom Packet Processing Engines that in combination can support up to 160 simultaneous threads. This parallel CPU architecture, combined with hardware acceleration for every service, allows the high-end ASR 1006 Aggregation Services router to expand up to 128 queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4K IPsec VPN tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing power allows ASR 1000 routers to deliver a variety of sophisticated services concurrently in massive volume without suffering performance degradation that could threaten compliance with SLAs. Examples of these advanced services include IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, FPM, and in-line deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also allows sophisticated traffic control for performing multiple levels of Quality of Service to a data packet in one operation, enhancing the user experience for next-generation voice, video, and conferencing 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 need to support world-class data, voice and video services to home, business, and mobile customers by offering continual operation, high performance, and application awareness. All models in the Cisco ASR 9000 line of Routers run the IOS XR operating system, a self-healing, distributed operating system designed for non-stop availability. Performance of Cisco's ASR 9000 Series of Routers can be expanded up to 96 Tbps per system. the ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and 100 GE and feature redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, plus redundant control planes and switch fabric.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a provider-edge router that comes in a 6 RU form factor with 120 Gbps of nonblocking fabric performance. The ASR 9001 has two modular bays which can accept port adapters for 1 GE, 10 GE, and 40 GE. The base chassis has four 10 GE SFP+ ports and ports for GPS clocking, building integrated timing supply, and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU form factor and offers dense 10 GE and 100 GE connections in space-limited environments. The 4-slot router can support up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in a single box. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router has a 30 RU form factor and includes 12 slots slots able to support up to 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The ASR 9912 has 2 route processors and 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.

Ways Progent's Consultants Can Assist Your Company with Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified engineers can assist your company to plan, configure, and manage a converged network infrastructure that can automate operations, reduce expenses, and accelerate time to positive ROI. By combining Cisco integrated services routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless integration, Progent can dramatically increase the business value of your network infrastructure. Progent can provide in-person and remote help and offers data center support throughout the U.S.

For additional information concerning Progent's engineering assistance for Cisco products, choose a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Consulting Services
• Fast Remote Help from a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Engineer
• Cisco Firepower Firewalls: Integration and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Firewall with Cisco Firepower: Setup and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco ASA 5500 Series Firewall Engineering Help
• PIX 500 Firewall Maintenance Support
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Help
• Aironet Access Points Engineering Help
• Cisco Small Business WiFi Access Points Consulting Services
• Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Access Points Solution Design, Configuration and Debugging Support
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Integration Consulting
• Meraki Access Points Engineering Services
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Integration and Technical Support
• Cisco VoIP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting and Cisco Wireless IP Phone Configuration
• Cisco Jabber Deployment Expertise
• Catalyst Switches Engineering Services
• Nexus Switches Configuration and Maintenance Services
• Meraki MS Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Security Integration Support
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Consulting
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for an At-Home Workforce
• Infrastructure Design for Cisco-based Datacenters and Colocation Centers
• Network Design Consulting for ISPs
• Centralized Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Techniques for Cisco-based Infrastructure