Today's routers typically incorporate Layer 2 switching capability, 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 function and speed and Cisco offers an extensive product line that includes routers designed to handle the needs of customers ranging from individual telecommuters to the world's largest ISPs.
The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco have the speed and built-in features to support data voice and video plus virtual environments while at the same time offering fault tolerance, remote administration, seamless scalability, and advanced protection. These routers enable your business to establish a solid foundation for an IT network that can grow seamlessly as you hire new workers, establish new offices, deploy additional services, extend your system to customers and partners, and support an an increasingly mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco qualified CCIE network engineers offer immediate and affordable online support to help you to plan, configure, manage, upgrade, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced router technology and can help you to support your legacy routers or move efficiently to Cisco's current networking solutions.
Cisco Routers for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for small companies and remote offices provide affordable and reliable entry-level alternatives that allow small sets of users to share safe connectivity to the Internet. These fixed-configuration desktop routers include at least four switched Ethernet with Wi-Fi options and integrated firewall to provide enhanced protection. Designed for easy installation, administration, and troubleshooting, Cisco's entry-level routers minimize TCO by lowering equipment and maintenance investments. Progent's remote troubleshooting experts have in-depth backgrounds delivering fast and economical IT help for small organizations to set up and maintain these devices, and Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers can assist your company to understand how Cisco's entry-level routers can increase the business value of your information system.
Cisco ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series desktop routers are small-footprint, fanless, set-configuration appliances designed for SMBs, branch offices, and home offices. These value-priced routers include four managed GE switch ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. The ISR 900 router family delivers triple the IPsec throughput of Cisco's ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 Series routers feature Group Encrypted Transport VPN, DMVPN, Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is up to 250 Mbps. All router models allow up to 50 VLANs. Supported automatic failover technology for business continuity include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, HSRP, and Multigroup HSRP. Provisioning and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS Software. ISR 900 Series devices do not support Cisco SD-WAN.
Cisco's ISR 921 router comes with dual GE WAN, LTE Cat 4, and an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN throughput is 150 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 926 and ISR 927 models have external power and support one GE WAN port, LTE Cat 4, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. VPN throughput for both routers is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line ISR 931 router supports dual GE WAN ports and has 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 combine software-defined wide area networking and cloud-hosted unified threat management (UTM) in a single compact device able to handle 50 to 200 users. Each MX router needs to be licensed for the Meraki cloud. For venues having several external network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows admins to assign the WAN interface a given app uses or to build performance-based algorithms to determine the preferred connection. MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share key capabilities including:
Cisco 1000 and 1100 Family ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) using Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless routers designed to deliver network service, wireless access, and multilayer security for SMBs, enterprise branch offices, retail stores, kiosks, and M2M environments. Parallel processing cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE allow these routers to deliver features consistent with Cisco's complete family of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 Series ISR models are offered with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and offer Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packet forwarding. Various models include PoE and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a selection of built-in or pluggable connections including LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 3G/4G Advanced wireless, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series ISR models work with Cisco's SD-WAN services for seamless multi-cloud access, advanced cybersecurity, and centralized monitoring and management of hybrid network models of any complexity.
Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 1100-4G router comes with four built-in GE WAN/LAN ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE wireless with two LTE antenna sockets, and a micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption performance is 200 Mbps. The Cisco 1100-6G ISR router adds two 1G SFP Fiber ports and delivers encryption performance of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop-only 1101-4P ISR router comes with four built-in switched GE ports, supports 802.11ac as well as 3G/4G LTE, and delivers encryption throughput of 280 Mbps. The Cisco ISR 1109-2P/4p desktop routers have two or four built-in switched GE connections and two pluggable 3G/4G LTE ports. Encryption packet processing speed is 200 Mbps.
The 1RU or desktop 111x-4P/8P ISR routers include four or eight integrated switched GE interfaces (two or four with Power over Ethernet) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing rate is 280 Mbps. Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 1111X-8P router has eight integrated switched GE connections (four with POE) and supports 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing throughput is 340 Mbps. The ISR 112x-8P router features eight integrated GE interfaces with Power over Ethernet and features SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE, and 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing performance is 340 Mbps. Cisco's 1161X-8P ISR router includes eight GE interfaces with Power over Ethernet and provides 3G/4G LTE wireless and SFP. Encryption packet processing throughput is 450 Mbps.
Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco's Catalyst 8000 family of routers are modular appliances designed to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid network environments that can incorporate multiple public and private clouds and SaaS applications. All Catalyst 8000 devices are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and offer expandability, advanced cybersecurity, and 5G access. Throughput is optimized using purpose-built hardware, a multicore design, high port density, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide ongoing access to current SD-WAN technology and allow centralized management with enhanced cybersecurity, application-optimized policies, network segmentation, and cloud integration.
Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series ISRs, delivering higher IPsec throughput and expandability, hardware-accelerated crypto, plus higher built-in WAN interface density. These one-rack unit routers are built to provide Cisco's SASE, SD-WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise access edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model features four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L router does not support container-based apps. The Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router includes eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec throughput, permits 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and allows edge computing with in-place container architectures. Both appliances include a NIM slot, one PIM slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) interfaces. Four-port and eight-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 models.
Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers are intended to replace Cisco's 4400 Series Integrated Services Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to mid-sized and large company branch offices seeking high WAN IPSec performance combined with integrated SD-WAN services. Enhanced features include 5G wireless support, built-in cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and DPI with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers enable edge computing for an existing container environment for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 Series ISR routers. All models in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 portfolio allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include dual power supplies for high availability.
The Cisco Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router is a 1RU device that features eight CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec data rates as high as 1.9Gbps. The router comes with a single SM plug-in slot, a Network Interface Module slot, and six integrated 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst 8300-2N2S-6T router is a 2RU device that features 8 CPU cores and offers 2G SD-WAN performance and IPsec data rates as high as 1.9Gbps. The device has two Service Module plug-in slots, two NIM slots, and six integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router model is a 1RU appliance that includes eight CPU cores and supports 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance as high as 15Gbps. The unit includes one a single Service Module plug-in slot, a NIM slot, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four fixed 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X model is a 2RU model that includes 12 CPU cores and delivers 5G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec throughput up to 18Gbps. The router has two Service Module plug-in slots, two Network Interface Module slots, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces, and four built-in 1G Ethernet WAN ports. LAN expansion modules available from Cisco range from a 4-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet switch Network Interface Module module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch Service Module.
Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed form factor, one-rack unit aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Integrated features include route processor, embedded services processor (ESP), plus aggregation hardware for various interfaces and connectivity options. IPsec throughput is double compared to Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Flexible connectivity alternatives include 1GE to 100 GE WAN ports. These routers include redundant power supplies for enhanced resilience. Software subscription packages allow continuing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable centralized management of cybersecurity, application-aware policies, network segmentation, and cloud support.
The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is designed to offer the same basic functionality as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and offers up to 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X appliance has 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers as high as 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC model comes with four integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1GE ports and delivers up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 68 Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C high-density router has 20 integrated 1/10GE interfaces and six x QSFP+ ports. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C supports up to 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput.
Cisco Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers are intended to offer satellite offices of large businesses with enhanced collaboration, virtual networking, security, and reliable WAN access. ISR G2 routers introduce a design that protects past investments in service modules for older ISR routers and lowers down-the-line costs by permitting field installation of new modules as they become available. In comparison to older Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times higher performance, far greater expandability, and easier support. All Cisco ISR G2 routers offer GE switching and include multi-core processors and multigigabit fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also support smart power management for better energy efficiency.
A major innovation with Integrated Services G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Software Universal image which includes all of the IOS feature sets so that your company can quickly license and activate new functions as required without having to acquire and transfer a new IOS image to yourrouter. Progent's team of CCIE network consultants offer world-class expertise to help your business to design, implement, and support multi-site installations of Cisco ISR G2 routers that enhance satellite office efficiency and reduce the costs of upgrades and support.
Cisco's ISR 800 Series Routers
Cisco's 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the faster Cisco ISR 900 line but is still widely used. Cisco's comprehensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop, fanless devices designed and priced for small businesses, branch offices, retail venues, telecommuters, and customers of ISPs. Many models in Cisco's 800 family of routers have been released with various options over many years. Cisco's 881 Series of ISR routers exemplifies the wide selection of options available within the Cisco 800 product family. Various models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can support unified media networks by providing IP voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular 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 options for 881 ISR routers include duplicate WAN connections or support for landline high-speed WAN connections like DSL as well as multiple different 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all on one 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 up to 20 users, two-port integrated PoE, and IPv6 compatibility. Cisco's 881W router supports 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. The 881 SRST router features four FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN failover with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST). With a Cisco CUBE feature license, the Cisco 881 ISR router allows SIP trunk connectivity as a replacement for outdated Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks also support offsite call agents in Cisco Call Center environments.
4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Line of ISR Routers are compact modular and scalable routers designed for organizations with multiple branch offices and remote users who need direct access to private data centers and public clouds across VPNs and the Internet. The 4000 series delivers the bandwidth required for hybrid WAN environments to accommodate mobile users, Cloud-based services, and multimedia applications by utilizing WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management technology. Devices in Cisco's 4000 family are powered by Cisco's powerful IOS XE software, come in a 1RU or 2RU package, are able to support Up to 2 Gbps of throughput, 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 server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. To manage unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides extensive edge support technology for session border control, branch telephony fault tolerance, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.
The main difference between Cisco's 4400 ISR and 4300 Series is the inclusion of redundant power supply capability in the 4400 ISR Series, providing a higher level of availability. The 4321 ISR Router has a 1 RU desktop form factor with two network interface modules (NIMs), offers as much as 100 Mbps performance, and supports 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's 4331 model has a 1 RU package and includes two network interface modules, delivers as much as 300 Mbps performance, and supports 360 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's 4351 router comes in a 2 RU package with three network interface modules, provides up to 400 Mbps performance, and supports 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The power-redundant 4431 ISR Router has a 2 RU form factor with three NIMs, provides up to 1 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's redundant-power 4431 Integrated Services Router features a 2 RU package and includes three NIMs, offers up to 2 Gbps throughput, and can handle 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels.
Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and carrier routers offer larger businesses with high-performance, secure headends to aggregate satellite office and off-site traffic and to offer service providers cost-effective wide area network edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router portfolio includes the ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services routers.
Progent's national group of Cisco CCIE network consultants have in-depth backgrounds helping enterprise businesses and ISPs to design optimal deployments and smooth upgrades of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts can provide objective, independent network security vulnerability evaluations, stealth penetration testing and comprehensive Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help companies with Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to meet industry guidelines and statutory requirements for IT data protection and reporting.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services line of routers is positioned in the center of Cisco's midrange devices that focus on acting as headends at the WAN edge. ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers offer a small footprint, single-product solution for large businesses looking for satellite office aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers introduce a revolutionary design that mixes on-board acceleration with programmable flexibility in order to deliver a multitude of concurrent services while preserving dependable responsiveness.
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines that together can support up to 160 simultaneous threads. This multi-processing structure, combined with on-board acceleration for every service, allows the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 router to expand up to 000 queues, 32,000 clients, 4K IPsec VPN tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2M Netflow log records. This processing power allows ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers to deliver a broad range of sophisticated services simultaneously in massive volume while avoiding throughput degradation that might threaten compliance with SLAs. These advanced services include Cisco IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, Network Address Translation, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also allows sophisticated traffic management for applying numerous levels of QoS to a data packet in a single pass, enhancing the user experience for high-bandwidth IP voice and video applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are intended as edge routers for service providers who are required to support the highest quality HD multimedia services to residential, business, and mobile customers by providing non-stop availability, high speed, and application awareness. All platforms in the Cisco ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers are powered by Cisco's IOS XR, a self-healing, distributed operating system built for continuous uptime. Performance of Cisco's ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers can be expanded to as high as 96 Tbps per system. the Cisco ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, plus redundant control planes.
The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a provider-edge router that comes in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of nonblocking, full-duplex fabric performance. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two bays to accept adapters for 1 GE, 10 GE, and 40 GE. The chassis incorporates four 10 Gbit Ethernet SFP+ ports as well as ports for GPS clocking, BITS, and management. The ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU form factor and provides dense 10 and 100 GE connections in space-limited sites. The 4-slot router can scale up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in a single chassis. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU form factor and includes 12 slots slots that can handle 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The ASR 9912 Router has 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.
How Progent's Consultants Can Help Your Business to Support Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE certified engineers can assist your company to plan, setup, and manage an integrated business network that can automate operations, reduce expenses, and speed the path to positive return on investment. By teaming Cisco routers with Catalyst switches expertise and Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can significantly increase the business value of your network infrastructure. Progent can provide onsite and off-site support and can provide data center support throughout the U.S.
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