Cisco Network Consulting

Basically, routers rely on computation to steer traffic based on complex algorithms, offering flexibility at the expense of throughput. Switches, in contrast, rely upon mostly predefined hardware designs to forward traffic at the fastest feasible rate. Today's routers usually come with Layer 2 switches, and many of today's switches have Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the producer of the vast majority of the industry's routers, have improved significantly in function and performance and Cisco now offers an extensive product line that includes routers designed to handle the needs of customers ranging from households to the world's largest service providers.

The most recent Integrated Services Routers from Cisco have the speed and built-in features to support data voice and video as well as virtualization while at the same time providing high availability, web-based administration, seamless expandability, and advanced security and compliance. These routers allow you to establish a solid basis for an information network that can evolve seamlessly as you add more employees, open extra sites, activate new functions, extend your network to clients and vendors, and build an expanding mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco CCIE network consultants offer immediate and economical remote expertise to assist your company to plan, configure, manage, upgrade, and support Cisco's most advanced routers and can assist you to support your legacy routers or move efficiently to Cisco's newer networking solutions.

Cisco Routers Designed for Home and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for small organizations and branch offices provide affordable and reliable entry-level solutions that allow small sets of workers to have secure connectivity to wide area networks. These fixed-configuration desktop devices feature at minimum four 10/100 Ethernet ports with wireless options plus integrated firewall for enhanced protection. Built for easy installation, management, and support, Cisco's entry-level routers minimize ownership costs by cutting equipment and maintenance investments. Progent's online support specialists have extensive backgrounds providing immediate and affordable IT assistance for small companies to configure and support these devices, and Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can assist you to understand whether and how Cisco's small office routers can increase the business value of your information network.

Cisco ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco ISR 900 Series routers are small-footprint, quiet, set-configuration appliances designed for SMBs, branch offices, and home offices. These value-priced routers include four managed GE LAN ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connectivity. The ISR 900 router product line provides three times the IPsec throughput of the ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 models offer GETVPN, dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN (DMVPN), FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN performance is up to 250 Mbps. All models support up to 50 VLANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for high availability and business continuity include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, Hot Standby Router Protocol, and Multigroup HSRP. Provisioning and management can be done with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series routers do not work with Cisco SD-WAN.

The Cisco ISR 921 router features dual GE WAN ports, Category 4 LTE, and an internal power supply. VPN performance is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers have external power supplies and feature one GE WAN interface, Category 4 LTE, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+. GE WAN VPN throughput for both devices is 150 Mbps. The top-of-the-line ISR 931 supports dual GE WAN and has an internal power supply. VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX series of desktop routers combine software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud-based unified threat management (UTM) in one compact appliance able to support 50 to 200 users. Every MX series appliance must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For sites with multiple WAN network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows administrators to specify the WAN connection a given app uses or to create performance-based algorithms to select the appropriate interface. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share important capabilities that include:

• App and identity-based firewalling
• Content and web search filtering
• PCI-compliant Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) with sandboxing
• Load balancing to aggregate multiple WAN connections into one fast connection with policy-based Quality of Services, traffic shaping, and fast failover
• Works with all IPsec VPN devices and services
• USB port for fast 3G/4G failover
• Wi-Fi versions of each model have 802.11ac Wave 2 2x2 MU-MIMO

Cisco 1000 Family ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers running Cisco IOS XE internetworking operating system are a selection of fanless appliances designed to provide high-performance network service, wireless access, and multilayer cybersecurity for small and midsize businesses, branch offices, retail stores, customer premises equipment (CPE), and machine-to-machine venues. Multiple parallel processing cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE software enable these routers to offer capabilities consistent with Cisco's entire family of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 Series ISR routers are available with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and provide GE packet forwarding. Available features include PoE and PoE+, auto provisioning, plus a range of integrated or pluggable connections such as LAN, WAN, WLAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 4G LTE wireless, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series ISR routers can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN services for transparent multiple-cloud connectivity, multilayer security, and centralized administration of hybrid networks.

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

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

Catalyst 8000 Series WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 line of routers are modular appliances intended to operate at the WAN edge to support hybrid network environments that can include a mix of public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. All Catalyst 8000 devices are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide scalability, intelligent cybersecurity, and 5G access. Throughput is optimized via custom hardware, a multicore design, high port capacity, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software services offer ongoing access to current SD-WAN technology and enable unified management with enhanced security, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud readiness.

Catalyst 8200 WAN Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs), delivering higher IPsec performance and expandability, accelerated crypto, plus greater built-in WAN interface density. These 1RU appliances are built to bring Cisco's Secure Access Service Edge, SD-WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branch offices and the enterprise WAN edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T model includes four CPU cores, enables 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based applications. The Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router features eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec performance, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and allows edge computing with existing container models. Both devices come with a Network Interface Module slot, one PIM slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN copper interfaces, and two 1G Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable interfaces. Four-port and eight-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 models.

Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers are intended to replace Cisco's 4400 Series ISR Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN technology to mid-sized and large enterprise branch offices looking for high WAN IPSec performance combined with cohesive SD-WAN services. Advanced capabilities include 5G wireless support, built-in security, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) with application-aware optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series routers support edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 line of ISR routers. All models in the Catalyst 8300 family support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include dual power supplies for high availability.

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

Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, one-rack unit aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation environments. Integrated features include route processor, ESP, and aggregation hardware for multiple connection options. IPsec performance is double compared to Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X aggregation services router. Flexible connectivity options include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN ports. The routers include redundant power supplies for improved resilience. Software subscription packages allow continuing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer centralized management of security, application-aware policies, segmentation, and cloud support.

The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X Aggregation Edge router is intended to offer the same key features as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 20 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 19Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-12X appliance features 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and delivers up to 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC aggregation router comes with four integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1-Gigabit interfaces and delivers up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 68 Gbps.

Cisco ISR G2 Routers
Cisco's ISR G2 routers are intended to provide satellite offices of enterprises with advanced video and voice applications, virtualization, security, and reliable connectivity. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers introduce an architecture that preserves prior investments in service modules for older Integrated Services Routers and reduces future costs by allowing field upgrades to new modules when they are developed. Compared to previous Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers feature 2-7 times more performance, substantially greater expandability, and easier maintenance. All ISR G2 routers offer GE switching and incorporate multi-core processors and ultra-fast fabric for higher performance. ISR G2 routers also offer smart power management for better energy conservation.

A major innovation with ISR Generation 2 routers is the IOS Software Universal image which includes all of the Cisco IOS technology sets so that your company can rapidly license and activate new features when required without having to acquire and transfer a new IOS Software image over to yourCisco router. Progent's team of CCIE-certified network engineers offer proven expertise to help your business to plan, configure, and support multi-location deployments of Cisco ISR Generation 2 routers that enhance branch office productivity and cut the price of expansion and support.

Cisco's ISR 800 Family of Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 series but is still widely used. Cisco's extensive line of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop, fanless devices designed and priced for small organizations, branch offices, retail shops, teleworkers, and customers of ISPs. Many models in the 800 Series family of routers have been released with many options over many years. Cisco's 881 Series of ISR routers exemplifies the wide array of options offered within the Cisco 800 product family. Various models in Cisco's 881 router catalog can enable converged media environments by delivering voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated router and switch. Built-in data protection can include encryption, VPN, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available options for Cisco 881 ISR routers include redundant WAN links or support for landline broadband WAN connections such as DSL plus multiple cellular 3G and 4G wireless connections all on a single desktop appliance.

The basic Cisco 881 features a 4-port fast Ethernet managed switch with up to 15 Mbps throughput, the ability to handle up to 20 users, 2-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. Cisco's 881W router supports 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router includes 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for public-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) fallback with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco CUBE license, Cisco's 881 ISR router allows SIP trunking to replace legacy PRI lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN carrier. SIP trunks also connect offsite agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are modular and expandable platforms intended for businesses with multiple branches and offsite users requiring direct communication with in-house data centers as well as public clouds across VPN tunnels and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series provides the bandwidth needed for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile users, cloud services, and multimedia applications by using wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management techniques. Devices in Cisco's 4000 product line run Cisco's IOS XE operating system, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can support as much as 2 Gbps of traffic, and can include up to 3 interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, and 8 CPU core server modules. ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. To handle unified communications, the 400o ISR provides extensive edge support technology for policy-enhanced SBC, branch telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.

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

Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and service provider routers can provide enterprises with high-performance, secure distribution points to manage satellite office and off-site data packets and to provide ISPs cost-optimized wide area network edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router product line includes the Cisco ASR 1000 routers and the 9000 ASR family.

Progent's national team of CCIE certified network consultants have in-depth experience working with global businesses and service providers to design optimal deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants offer objective, independent network security vulnerability assessments, stealth penetration testing and comprehensive Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help companies that use Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to meet industry guidelines and statutory mandates for IT information protection and incident reporting.

Cisco ASR 1000 Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge line of routers is positioned in the center of Cisco's midrange devices that concentrate on acting as headends at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 routers provide a small form factor, multi-function solution for large businesses looking for satellite office aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers introduce a revolutionary architecture that mixes on-board acceleration with programmable versatility to offer a rich set of concurrent services while preserving dependable responsiveness.

ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers feature Cisco's new QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 custom Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that in combination can handle up to 160 simultaneous processor threads. This massive parallelism, combined with hardware acceleration for every service, enables the high-end ASR 1006 Aggregation Services router to scale up to 000 queues, 32,000 clients, 4,000 IPsec tunnels at 10,000 sessions/second, and 2M Netflow records. This CPU capability allows Cisco's ASR 1000 routers to support a variety of advanced services concurrently in massive volume without suffering performance degradation that could threaten compliance with SLAs. These advanced services include IOS Firewall, IPS, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The ASR 1000 also permits sophisticated traffic management for applying numerous levels of Quality of Service to a packet in one operation, improving responsiveness for next-generation 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 carriers who are required to deliver the highest quality HD multimedia services to residential, business, and mobile customers by offering continual operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All models in the ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers run the IOS XR operating system, a distributed OS designed for non-stop availability. Throughput of the ASR 9000 line of Routers can be expanded up to 96 Tbps per chassis. the Cisco ASR 9000 Series of Aggregation Services Routers support high-density Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, and fan trays plus backup control planes.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a carrier-edge router in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of full-duplex fabric capacity. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two bays which can support port adapters for 1 Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis includes four 10 Gbit Ethernet SFP+ ports as well as ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, building integrated timing supply, and management. The ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU form factor and offers line-rate 10 GE and 100 GE connectivity in space-limited environments. The 4-slot router can support up to 4 Tbps of capacity in a single chassis. The ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU chassis and includes 10 line-card slots that can handle up to 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The ASR 9912 Router includes 2 route processors and 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.

Ways Progent Can Assist You with Cisco Routers
Progent's Cisco certified engineers can help your company to design, setup, and maintain a converged network infrastructure that can simplify operations, reduce costs, and speed time to positive return on investment. By teaming Cisco routers with Catalyst switches expertise and Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can dramatically increase the strategic value of your network infrastructure. Progent offers onsite and remote help and offers data center support throughout the U.S.

To see additional details about Progent's consulting support for Cisco products, choose a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Network Support
• Fast Remote Help from a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Engineer
• Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewalls: Integration and Management Services
• ASA 5500-X Series Firewall with Firepower Services: Integration and Management Expertise
• Cisco ASA 5500 Firewall Engineering Services
• Cisco PIX Firewall Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco Wireless Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Aironet Wireless Access Points Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 Wireless APs Engineering Support
• Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless Access Points Planning, Deployment and Debugging Services
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Support Services
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Points Consulting Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP Phones and IP Video Phones Consulting and Wireless IP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Cisco Nexus Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco Meraki Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Network Security Setup and Troubleshooting Assistance
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP Trunks and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
• Infrastructure Design for Cisco-powered Datacenters and Colocation Centers
• Data Center Design Consulting for Service Providers
• Remote Management Technologies for Cisco-powered Infrastructure