Cisco Expert Network Consulting

The current generation of routers ordinarily include Layer 2 switching capability, and many of today's switches have L3 routing capability. Routers offered by Cisco, the source of 90% of the world's routers, have improved significantly in capability and performance and Cisco makes a comprehensive portfolio that includes routers engineered to meet the needs of customers from individual telecommuters to nationwide service providers.

The latest ISR routers from Cisco offer the performance and built-in functionality to manage IP voice and video plus virtual environments while also offering high availability, web-based management, seamless expandability, and enhanced protection. These routers allow your company to establish a firm foundation for an IT environment that can evolve smoothly as you hire more workers, open new offices, activate additional capabilities, give access to your network to customers and vendors, and support an an increasingly mobile user base. Progent's Cisco certified CCIE network engineers can provide fast and affordable remote support to help you to plan, deploy, administer, update, and support Cisco's latest routers and can assist you to maintain your legacy routers or move non-disruptively to Cisco's current router solutions.

Cisco Routers for Home and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for small organizations and branch offices offer low-cost and dependable entry-level solutions that allow small groups of users to have safe connectivity to wide area networks. All these single-configuration desktop devices feature at minimum four 10/100 Ethernet ports with wireless options plus integrated firewall for advanced security. Built for easy installation, management, and support, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce TCO by cutting equipment and maintenance expenses. Progent's online troubleshooting specialists have extensive experience providing immediate and affordable IT help for small businesses to configure and maintain these routers, and Progent's CCIE network engineers can help your company to understand whether and how these routers can add to the business value of your IT system.

ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series routers are compact, quiet, set-configuration devices intended for small to medium-sized businesses, branches, and home offices. These value-priced routers have four managed GE LAN ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. Cisco's ISR 900 router product line provides triple the IPsec performance of Cisco's ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 Series routers offer Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), DMVPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is as high as 250 Mbps. All models support up to 50 VLANs. Supported dynamic failover technology for business continuity include VRRP, Hot Standby Router Protocol, and Multigroup HSRP (MHSRP). Provisioning and management can be done with Cisco CP Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. ISR 900 Series routers do not work with Cisco SD-WAN.

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

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX portfolio of desktop routers combine SD-WAN and cloud-hosted unified threat management (UTM) in a single compact appliance able to handle 50 to 200 users. Each MX series appliance needs to be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For venues having multiple WAN network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits admins to assign the WAN interface a given application should use or to build performance-based rules to select the preferred interface. MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share key features that include:

• Application and identity-based firewalling
• Content and web search filtering
• PCI-compliant Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) with reputation-based filtering
• Load balancing to aggregate several WAN connections into a single high-speed interface with policy-based QoS, traffic shaping, and fast 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 Series ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers using Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless routers designed to provide network service, wireless support, and multilayer cybersecurity for small and midsize businesses, enterprise branches, retail stores, customer premises equipment (CPE), and M2M venues. Multiple parallel processing CPU cores and compatibly with Cisco IOS XE software enable these routers to deliver capabilities consistent with Cisco's entire line of Enterprise routers. 1000 family ISR routers are offered with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and provide GE packet forwarding. Various models include PoE and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a selection of built-in or pluggable connections such as LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 3G/4G Advanced wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP. Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series ISR models work with Cisco's SD-WAN services for transparent multiple-cloud connectivity, multilayer cybersecurity, and cohesive management of hybrid networks.

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

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

Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco's Catalyst 8000 line of routers are modular devices designed to work at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge to support hybrid network environments that can incorporate a mix of public and private clouds and SaaS applications. All Catalyst 8000 routers use Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide scalability, intelligent cybersecurity, and 5G access. Throughput is optimized via purpose-built hardware, a multicore design, high port density, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide continual access to current SD-WAN technology and allow unified management with enhanced cybersecurity, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.

Catalyst 8200 Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series ISRs, delivering higher IPsec throughput and scale, accelerated crypto, plus greater built-in WAN interface density. These one-rack unit routers are built to provide Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branch offices and the enterprise WAN edge. Cisco's Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T router includes four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and permits 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based apps. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router includes eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec performance, permits 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with existing container models. Both devices come with one Network Interface Module (NIM) slot, one Pluggable Interface Module 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 available for both 8200 models.

Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are intended to supersede Cisco's 4400 line of Integrated Services Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN technology to mid-sized and large enterprise branch offices looking for high WAN IPSec performance with cohesive SD-WAN services. Advanced features include 5G wireless connectivity, built-in security, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and DPI with application-aware optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 routers enable edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 family of ISR routers. All models in the Catalyst 8300 portfolio allow 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include backup power supplies for improved availability.

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

Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed form factor, one-rack unit aggregation routers for SD-WAN and colocation environments. Built-in features include route processor, ESP, plus aggregation hardware for multiple connection options. IPsec throughput is twice that of Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Flexible connectivity options include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN ports. 8500 routers include dual AC or DC power units for enhanced resilience. Software subscription packages provide ongoing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer unified management of security, application-aware policies, segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.

The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is intended to offer a similar key features as Cisco's ASR 1000 appliance. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN ports and can deliver as high as 20 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X appliance includes 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 120 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC unit comes with four integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1GE ports and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 68 Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C router has 20 built-in SFP+ ports and 6 x 40/100GE ports. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C supports as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput.

Cisco ISR Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers are designed to provide branch offices of large businesses with advanced collaboration, virtual networking, protection, and dependable WAN access. Integrated Services G2 routers feature an architecture that protects prior investments in service modules for first-generation ISR routers and reduces future expenses by permitting field upgrades to new modules as they become available. In comparison to previous Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers feature 2-7 times more performance, far greater expandability, and more affordable support. All Integrated Services G2 routers offer gigabit switching and include multi-core processors and multigigabit fabric for higher performance. Integrated Services G2 routers also support smart power control for improved energy efficiency.

A notable innovation with Integrated Services G2 routers is the Cisco IOS Universal image which contains all of the IOS feature sets so that you can rapidly authorize and activate extra functions when required without needing to download and transfer a new IOS image to yourrouter. Progent's group of CCIE network engineers can provide world-class skills to assist your business to design, configure, and support multi-location installations of Cisco Integrated Services G2 routers that improve branch office efficiency and cut the costs of expansion and maintenance.

Cisco's ISR 800 Line of Routers
Cisco's 800 Series of ISR routers has been superseded by the faster Cisco ISR 900 line but remains widely deployed. Cisco's comprehensive line of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop devices intended for small businesses, branch offices, retail venues, telecommuters, and customers of broadband service providers. A wealth of devices in Cisco's 800 product line have been released with many options for many years. Cisco's 881 Series of ISR routers exemplifies the vast 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 delivering voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated router and switch. Advanced data protection can include encryption, VPN, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available options for 881 ISR routers include duplicate wide area network links or support for landline high-speed WAN connections such as DSL plus multiple cellular 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all on one desktop appliance.

The basic Cisco 881 has a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps throughput, the ability to handle 20 users, 2-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 compatibility. The Cisco 881W router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router includes 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN failover with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) license, the Cisco 881 ISR router allows SIP trunking to replace legacy PRI lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN carrier. CUBE-based SIP trunks also support offsite agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.

Cisco 4000 Series ISR Routers
The Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers are compact modular and scalable routers intended for businesses with a large number of branches and offsite workers requiring direct access to in-house data centers as well as public clouds via VPN tunnels and the Internet. The 4000 series delivers the throughput needed for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile users, cloud services, and multimedia applications by using network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management techniques. Devices in the ISR 4000 Series run Cisco's powerful IOS XE software, come in a 1-rack-unit (RU) or 2RU package, can support as much as 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. To manage unified communications, the 400o ISR provides extensive edge support technology for session border control, branch telephony survivability, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.

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

Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider routers can provide larger businesses with fast, secure headends to manage branch office and off-site traffic and to offer carriers cost-optimized wide area network edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router product line features the ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 ASR routers.

Progent's national team of Cisco CCIE network consultants have in-depth experience working with enterprise businesses and ISPs to plan optimal installations and seamless expansion of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts can provide unbiased, independent security inventory evaluations, penetration testing services and advanced SIEM solutions to help enterprises that use Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to meet industry standards and statutory mandates for network information protection and incident reporting. Progent also can provide expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for PEN testing. NodeZero relies on AI technology to simplify the vulnerability assessment cycle of discovering security gaps in perimeters and inside the internal network infrastructure, recommending repairs, mitigating problems, and confirming fixes.

Cisco ASR 1000 WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge family of routers is designed to fill the center of Cisco's midrange devices that focus on aggregating services at the WAN edge. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers provide a small form factor, single-product solution for enterprises looking for satellite office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet performance. Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services routers introduce an innovative design that combines hardware acceleration with software flexibility in order to offer a multitude of simultaneous services while preserving dependable responsiveness.

Cisco's ASR 1000 routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 custom Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that together can support as many as 160 concurrent threads. This parallel CPU architecture, in conjunction with on-board acceleration for all services, allows the high-end ASR 1006 router to scale up to 128K queues, 32,000 subscribers, 4K IP security VPN tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing power permits ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers to deliver a variety of sophisticated services concurrently in massive volume without suffering performance degradation that might violate adherence to SLAs. Examples of these services include Cisco Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, FPM, and deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also allows tiered traffic management for performing numerous levels of Quality of Service to a data packet in a single operation, improving responsiveness for next-generation multimedia 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 world-class data, voice and video services to home, business, and mobile customers by offering zero downtime availability, high performance, and application awareness. All platforms in the Cisco ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers run Cisco's IOS XR operating system, a self-healing, distributed OS designed for non-stop availability. Throughput of Cisco's ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers can scale to as high as 96 Tbps per system. the ASR 9000 line of Aggregation Services Routers support Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and feature redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, plus backup control planes.

The ASR 9001 model is a carrier-edge router in a 6 RU form factor with 120 Gbps of nonblocking, full-duplex fabric capacity. The ASR 9001 has two bays to support port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The chassis incorporates four 10 GE enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports and ports for Stratum 1 clocking, BITS, and management. The 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 ASR 9094 can support up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in a single box. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU chassis with 10 line-card slots that can provide 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router includes 2 route CPUs and 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.

How Progent's Consultants Can Assist You with Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified consultants can assist you to design, configure, and support a converged network infrastructure that can automate processes, reduce expenses, and accelerate time to positive return on investment. By teaming Cisco routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless integration, Progent can significantly enhance 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.

To find out additional information concerning Progent's professional support for Cisco solutions, pick a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Expertise
• Timely Remote Support from a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Engineer
• Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewalls: Configuration and Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Firewalls with Cisco Firepower Services: Configuration and Management Services
• Cisco ASA 5500 Firewall Troubleshooting Assistance
• PIX 500 Firewall Consulting Help
• Cisco Wireless Network Design Help
• Aironet Wireless Access Points Deployment Help
• Cisco Small Business WiFi APs Engineering Support
• Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless APs Solution Design, Configuration and Debugging Support
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Support Services
• Meraki Access Points Design Expertise
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Troubleshooting
• Cisco VoIP Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Expertise and Wireless VoIP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber Migration and Support Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Nexus Switches Support and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco Meraki Switches Deployment Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Network Security Engineering Support
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunking and CUBE Integration Expertise
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Teleworkers
• Design Solutions for Cisco-based Datacenters
• Infrastructure Design Consulting for Service Providers
• Centralized Cloud-based and Hybrid Network Management Solutions for Cisco-powered Environments