The current generation of routers typically incorporate L2 switching capability, and many modern switches have Layer 3 routing capability. Routers developed by Cisco, the producer of 90% of the world's routers, have advanced significantly in function and speed and Cisco now makes an extensive product line that features routers engineered to handle the needs of users ranging from individual telecommuters to the world's largest service providers.
The latest ISR routers released by Cisco offer the performance and built-in features to support data voice and video as well as virtualization while at the same time offering high availability, remote administration, seamless scalability, and advanced security and compliance. Cisco's ISR routers enable you to establish a firm basis for an information network that can grow smoothly as you hire more employees, establish extra sites, activate new services, extend your network to customers and vendors, and support an expanding mobile user base. Progent's Cisco CCIE network consultants can provide fast and affordable online support to assist you to plan, deploy, administer, update, and support Cisco's most advanced routers and can assist you to maintain your legacy routers or migrate efficiently to Cisco's newer router products.
Cisco Routers for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for smaller organizations and branch offices offer low-cost and dependable entry-level alternatives that enable small sets of users to share secure access to the Internet. All these fixed-configuration desktop devices feature at least four 10/100 Ethernet switches with Wi-Fi options plus built-in firewall to provide enhanced security. Built for easy installation, management, and support, Cisco's entry-level routers minimize ownership costs by lowering acquisition and maintenance expenses. Progent's online troubleshooting experts have in-depth experience providing immediate and economical technical help for small companies to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can assist your company to determine how Cisco's entry-level routers can add to the business value of your information network.
Cisco ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco ISR 900 Series routers are small-footprint, quiet, fixed-configuration devices designed for small to medium-sized businesses, branches, and home offices. These entry-level routers have four GE LAN ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. The ISR 900 router product line delivers triple the IPsec performance of the ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 Series routers feature GETVPN, DMVPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is as high as 250 Mbps. All models allow up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for high availability include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), HSRP, and Multigroup HSRP (MHSRP). Provisioning and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS Software. Cisco ISR 900 Series devices do not work with Cisco SD-WAN.
Cisco's ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN ports, 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 feature one GE WAN port, Category 4 LTE, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. GE WAN VPN throughput for both devices is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line Cisco ISR 931 router supports dual GE WAN ports and has an internal power supply. VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.
Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX line of desktop routers combine software-defined wide area networking and cloud-hosted unified threat management in a single small-footprint device able to support 50 to 200 users. Every MX series appliance must be licensed for the Meraki cloud. For venues with multiple WAN network connections (e.g., MPLS, broadband, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits admins to specify the WAN interface a given app should use or to build performance-based rules to determine the appropriate interface. MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share key capabilities including:
Cisco 1000 Family ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 family Integrated Services Routers running Cisco IOS XE internetworking operating system are a selection of fanless appliances intended to deliver high-performance network connectivity, wireless access, and advanced cybersecurity for small and midsize businesses, branch offices, retail stores, customer premises equipment (CPE), and M2M environments. Multiple parallel CPU cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE software enable these routers to deliver capabilities consistent with Cisco's entire family of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 and 1100 family ISR routers are offered with 4 or 8 LAN ports and provide Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packet forwarding. Available features include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a selection of integrated or pluggable options for LAN, WAN, WLAN, SHDSL, LTE wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR models can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN services for transparent multi-cloud access, multilayer security, and centralized administration across hybrid network models.
Cisco's 1RU or desktop ISR 1100-4G router comes with four built-in GE ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE wireless with two LTE antenna SMA connectors, and a micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption packet processing speed is 200 Mbps. The Cisco ISR 1100-6G router also includes two 1G SFP Fiber ports and delivers encryption speed of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop ISR 1101-4P router includes four built-in GE connections, supports 802.11ac and 3G/4G LTE wireless, and features encryption throughput of 280 Mbps. The Cisco ISR 1109-2P/4p desktop routers include two or four built-in switched GE interfaces and two pluggable 3G/4G LTE wireless ports. Encryption speed is 200 Mbps.
Cisco's 1RU or desktop ISR 111x-4P/8P routers have four or eight integrated GE interfaces (two or four provide Power over Ethernet) and feature VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP. Encryption packet processing speed is 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1RU or desktop 1111X-8P ISR router comes with eight built-in GE interfaces (four with Power over Ethernet) and supports SFP. Encryption speed is 340 Mbps. The 112x-8P ISR router has eight GE connections with Power over Ethernet and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP. Encryption speed is 340 Mbps. The 1161X-8P ISR router has eight integrated GE connections with PoE and provides 3G/4G LTE and SFP Fiber. Encryption speed is 450 Mbps.
Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series routers are modular appliances intended to work at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid network environments that can incorporate a mix of public and private clouds and SaaS applications. All Catalyst 8000 devices are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide expandability, intelligent cloud security, and 5G access. Throughput is enhanced using purpose-built silicon, a multicore design, high port density, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software services offer ongoing access to current SD-WAN technology and enable unified management with advanced security, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco 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 port density. These one-rack unit appliances are built to provide Cisco's Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), SD-WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branch offices and the enterprise WAN edge. Cisco's Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T router features four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec throughput, and permits 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. Cisco's Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based applications. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router features eight CPU cores, provides 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with in-place container architectures. Both devices include one Network Interface Module slot, a Pluggable Interface Module slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN copper ports, 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 Branch Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 family of Integrated Services Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN technology to medium-sized and large enterprise branches seeking high WAN IPSec performance combined with cohesive SD-WAN services. Advanced features include 5G wireless support, built-in security, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers enable edge computing for an existing container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 line of ISR appliances. All models in the Catalyst 8300 Series line allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include dual power supplies for improved uptime.
The Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router model is a 1RU device that features eight CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance of up to 1.9Gbps. The unit comes with a single SM expansion slot, one NIM slot, and six integrated 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. The Catalyst 8300-2N2S-6T router is a two-rack unit appliance that features 8 CPU cores and offers 2G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance of up to 1.9Gbps. The appliance has two SM plug-in slots, two NIM slots, and six built-in 1G Ethernet WAN ports. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router is a one-rack unit appliance that includes 8 CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN data rates and IPsec data rates as high as 15Gbps. The appliance includes one one SM plug-in slot, one Network Interface Module slot, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces, and four fixed 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X model is a 2RU appliance that includes 12 CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec data rates as high as 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 integrated 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. LAN expansion modules available from Cisco range from a 4-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch Service Module.
Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, one-rack unit aggregation appliances for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Built-in features include route processor, embedded services processor, plus aggregation hardware for various connection options. IPsec performance is double compared to Cisco's earlier generation ASR1001-X router. Available connectivity alternatives include 1GE to 100 GE WAN ports. 8500 routers come with dual power supplies for enhanced resilience. Software subscription suites allow ongoing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable centralized management of security, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.
The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is intended to offer a similar key features as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X router features 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers up to 120 Gbps aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC model comes with four built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1-Gigabit interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 68 Gbps. Cisco's C8500-20X6C router comes with 20 integrated 1/10GE ports and 6 x 40/100GE interfaces. Cisco's C8500-20X6C supports as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput.
Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers are designed to provide satellite offices of large businesses with advanced video and voice applications, virtualization, protection, and dependable WAN access. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers feature an architecture that preserves past investments in service modules for older ISR routers and reduces down-the-line expenses by allowing easy upgrades to additional modules as they are developed. Compared to older Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times more performance, substantially more, and more affordable maintenance. All ISR G2 routers support GE switching and include multi-core processors and multigigabit fabric for higher performance. ISR Generation 2 routers also support smart power management for improved energy conservation.
A notable innovation with Integrated Services Generation 2 routers is the Cisco IOS Universal image which contains all of the Cisco IOS technology sets so that your company can quickly authorize and deploy new features when desired without needing to download and transfer a new IOS image over to yourCisco router. Progent's group of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants offer world-class expertise to assist your business to design, configure, and maintain multi-location installations of Cisco ISR G2 routers that enhance branch office productivity and cut the price of expansion and maintenance.
Cisco's ISR 800 Family of 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 appliances designed and priced for small businesses, branch locations, retail venues, telecommuters, and clients of ISPs. A wealth of models in the 800 family of routers have been released with many options over many years. The 881 line of ISR routers suggests the wide selection of options available within Cisco's 800 Series line of routers. Models in Cisco's 881 router catalog can enable unified media environments by providing voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated appliance. Built-in data protection can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available features for 881 ISR routers include duplicate WAN links or support for wired broadband WAN links such as DSL plus multiple cellular 3G and 4G wireless connections all built into a single appliance.
The baseline Cisco 881 router features a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch with up to 15 Mbps throughput, support for 20 users, two-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. 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 fallback with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) feature license, Cisco's 881 ISR router allows SIP trunking to replace legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks also connect remote agents in Cisco Call Center environments.
4000 Series ISR Routers
The Cisco 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are compact modular and expandable platforms designed for businesses with multiple branches and remote users who need direct communication with in-house data centers as well as public clouds across VPN tunnels and the Internet. The 4000 series provides the throughput required for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile users, cloud services, and HD video applications by using WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management techniques. Devices in the 4000 product line run Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1-rack-unit (RU) or 2RU package, are able to handle as much as 2 Gbps of traffic, and can include up to 3 interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports, and 8 CPU core server modules. ISR 4000 models can support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. To manage unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides extensive edge support for policy-enhanced SBC, branch telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.
The major difference between the Cisco 4400 ISR and 4300 Series is the inclusion of redundant power supply support in the 4400 ISR Series, providing a greater level of availability. The 4321 ISR Router comes in a 1 RU desktop package and includes two network interface modules (NIMs), delivers up to 100 Mbps performance, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4331 Integrated Services Router has a 1 RU form factor with two NIMs, delivers as much as 300 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's 4351 model has a 2 RU package and includes three NIMs, delivers as much as 400 Mbps throughput, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's dual power supply 4431 Integrated Services Router comes in a 2 RU package and includes three NIMs, offers up to 1 Gbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's redundant-power 4431 model comes in a 2 RU package with three NIMs, delivers as much as 2 Gbps performance, and allows up to 1200 Digital Voice and Video Channels.
Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and carrier routers offer enterprises with fast, secure head ends to manage branch office and off-site traffic and to offer ISPs cost-optimized WAN edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router portfolio includes the Cisco ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services family.
Progent's national team of Cisco CCIE certified network consultants have in-depth experience working with enterprise businesses and ISPs to plan efficient installations and smooth upgrades of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts offer objective, third-party network security inventory assessments, penetration testing and comprehensive Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help companies with Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to comply with business guidelines and statutory requirements for IT information protection and reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for penetration testing. NodeZero depends on AI technology to streamline the threat evaluation cycle of finding security gaps in network perimeters and within the internal network, recommending remediation, fixing problems, and confirming successful repairs.
Cisco ASR 1000 WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services family of routers is positioned in the center of Cisco's midrange products that focus on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers offer a small footprint, multi-function solution for enterprises who need satellite office aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers incorporate a revolutionary design that mixes hardware acceleration with software versatility to offer a rich set of simultaneous services without sacrificing dependable responsiveness.
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that in combination can handle as many as 160 simultaneous threads. This parallel CPU architecture, combined with on-board acceleration for all services, enables the high-end ASR 1006 router to scale up to 000 hardware queues, 32K clients, 4,000 IP security VPN tunnels at 10,000 sessions/second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing power allows Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers to deliver a wide variety of advanced services concurrently in high volume while avoiding throughput decay that could violate adherence to SLAs. These services include Cisco Firewall, IPS, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also allows tiered traffic management for performing numerous levels of Quality of Service to a packet in a single operation, enhancing the user experience for resource-intensive multimedia applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers are designed as edge routers for carriers who are required to deliver world-class data, voice and video services to home, commercial, and mobile customers by offering zero downtime operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All models in Cisco's ASR 9000 portfolio of Aggregation Services Routers run the IOS XR, a self-healing, distributed OS designed for continuous availability. Throughput of the Cisco ASR 9000 Series of Aggregation Services Routers can be expanded up to 96 Tbps per chassis. the Cisco ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and feature redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, plus redundant switch fabric.
The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a carrier-edge router that comes in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of nonblocking fabric capacity. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two modular bays to accept port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis has four 10 GE enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports as well as ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, building integrated timing supply (BITS), and management. The ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU form factor and offers dense 10 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connections in space-constrained sites. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can support up to 4 Tbps of capacity in one chassis. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU form factor with 12 slots slots able to support up to 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The Cisco ASR 9912 has 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.
Ways Progent's Consultants Can Help Your Company with Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE certified engineers can assist your company to design, setup, and maintain an integrated network infrastructure that can streamline processes, lower expenses, and speed time to positive ROI. By combining Cisco integrated services routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can significantly increase the strategic value of your integrated network. Progent offers onsite and remote troubleshooting and offers data center support throughout the U.S.
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