As technology advances, the distinction between router and switch products is becoming blurred. Essentially, routers are Layer 3 devices that connect networks. A common scenario is connecting a small business network to the Internet. Switches are L2 devices that interface client devices that share the same network. Basically, routers rely on CPUs to steer data based on sophisticated software, offering flexibility at the cost of throughput. Switches, in contrast, depend upon largely fixed hardware designs to forward data at the fastest possible speed. The current generation of routers ordinarily include L2 switching capability, and many of today’s switches have L3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the producer of the vast majority of the world's routers, have advanced dramatically in capability and speed and Cisco makes a comprehensive product line that includes routers designed to meet the needs of customers from households to the world's largest ISPs.
The most recent Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the performance and built-in features to support data voice and video plus virtual environments while at the same time offering high availability, remote management, easy extensibility, and advanced security and compliance. These routers enable your business to build a firm basis for an information environment that can grow seamlessly as you add new employees, open extra sites, activate additional functions, extend your system to clients and vendors, and support an an increasingly mobile user base. Progent’s Cisco certified CCIE network consultants can provide immediate and economical online support to help you to plan, deploy, manage, update, and troubleshoot Cisco's latest router technology and can help you to maintain your older routers or migrate efficiently to Cisco’s current networking solutions.
Cisco Routers for Small Companies and Remote Offices
Cisco’s routers for smaller organizations and branch offices provide low-cost and dependable no-frills solutions that enable limited sets of workers to have secure connectivity to wide area networks. These single-configuration desktop routers include at minimum four 10/100 Ethernet switches with Wi-Fi options plus built-in firewall to provide enhanced protection. Built for easy setup, administration, and troubleshooting, Cisco’s entry-level routers minimize TCO by cutting acquisition and operational investments. Progent’s online troubleshooting specialists have in-depth experience providing fast and affordable IT help for small organizations to configure and support these routers, and Progent’s CCIE-certified network consultants can help you to determine ways Cisco-s small office routers can increase the business value of your IT system.
Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers
Cisco's economical RV Series Routers are designed to offer small organizations with VPN technology that permits telecommuters and mobile workers to access a network without compromising security. Devices in the Cisco RV Series VPN Routers can support up to 100 VPN tunnels, incorporate 4 to 16-port Ethernet switches, come with integrated firewalls that provide sophisticated data encryption, and allow web-based setup for remote set up and troubleshooting. All RV Series devices support fast Ethernet and some models can handle Gigabit Ethernet. Both wired and wireless versions are offered. Cisco's RV Series VPN routers do not incorporate Cisco’s IOS software.
Cisco’s RV042 VPN Router features a 4-port 10/100 switch and can securely handle as many as 50 branch offices or off-site workers through Internet Protocol Security or PPTP VPN tunneling. The G version can handle Gigabit Ethernet. The Cisco RV082 model Dual WAN VPN Router features an 8-port 10/100 switch and can support up to 100 remote offices or off-site users via full IPsec VPN tunneling. The Cisco RV016 Multi WAN VPN Router features 16 10/100 Ethernet ports, supports up to 100 online connections, and lets as many as 7 switched ports to be configured for traffic load balancing or for ISP failover to ensure non-stop Internet connectivity.
Later products in Cisco's line of RV Series VPN Wired/Wireless Routers include the Cisco RV110W Wireless-N Firewall with a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and support for up to four VLANs, the Cisco RV130W Wireless-N Multifunction VPN Router with a 4-port Gigabit switch and support for 12000 Concurrent sessions, the RV220W Wireless Network Security Firewall with a 4-port Gigabit Ethernet switch and support for 25 IPsec VPN connections, and the Cisco 320 RV320 WAN VPN Router with a 4-port Gigabit switch and Dual Gbit WAN ports for load balancing.
Cisco 800 Series ISR Routers
Cisco's comprehensive line of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop, fanless appliances intended for small organizations, branch offices, retail shops, telecommuters, and clients of ISPs. A wealth of models in the 800 Series family of routers have been developed with various options over the course of many years. Cisco's 881 Series of ISR routers suggests the wide selection of options available within Cisco's 800 product family. Various models in Cisco's 881 router catalog can support unified media networks by delivering IP voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in one integrated appliance. Built-in security can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available features for 881 ISR routers include duplicate wide area network links or support for landline broadband WAN connections like DSL plus multiple different cellular 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all on a single desktop appliance.
The basic Cisco 881 has a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch with up to 15 Mbps performance, support for up to 20 users, two-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. The Cisco 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router features 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for public-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) failover with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) feature license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking as a replacement for legacy Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or FXO voice connectivity to a PSTN carrier. CUBE-based SIP trunks can also support offsite agents in Cisco Call Center environments.
Cisco Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco's ISR G2 routers are designed to offer satellite offices of enterprises with advanced collaboration, virtual networking, protection, and dependable WAN access. Integrated Services G2 routers introduce a design that protects past investments in service modules for older Integrated Services Routers and reduces down-the-line expenses by permitting easy installation of additional modules as they become available. In comparison to previous ISR routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times more performance, far greater expandability, and more affordable support. All ISR G2 routers offer gigabit switching and include multi-core processors and multigigabit fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also support smart power control for better energy conservation.
A key innovation with Integrated Services G2 routers is the IOS Universal image which includes all of the Cisco IOS technology sets so that you can quickly authorize and activate new services as required without having to acquire and copy a different IOS image over to yourCisco router. Progent's team of CCIE network consultants can provide world-class expertise to assist your business to plan, configure, and support multi-site deployments of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers that improve branch office efficiency and reduce the costs of expansion and support.
Cisco 1900 Integrated Services G2 Routers
1900 Series ISR G2 routers include on-board encryption, optional IOS firewall, intrusion prevention, and as many as 11 modular LAN switchports. The Cisco 1941W router includes an integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi access point that enables wireless connectivity to high-bandwidth data, voice, and video through Multi-Input, Multiple-output technology that expands the range of existing 802.11a/b/g users. Connectivity options for the 1900 Series ISR G2 routers include T1/E1, ADSL/SDSL, 3G, and GbE.
In comparison to the older 1841 Integrated Services router which they are able to substitute for, the 1900 Series ISR G2 routers have 256 megabytes vs. 32 of CompactFlash memory as a default, and can be expanded to 4 gigabytes compared to 128 megabytes. Standard dynamic RAM size is 256 MB compared to 128 MB and maximum dynamic RAM size is 2.25 GB vs. 384 megabytes. Unlike the 1841 router, the Cisco 1941 and 1941W Integrated Services G2 routers include a USB console in place of the older DB-9 interface and has an add-in slot for the recently introduced Internal Services Module instead of a slot for the previous and lower performance Advanced Integration Module. In contrast to top-of-the-line Integrated Services G2 routers, the Cisco 1941 and 1941W Integrated Services G2 routers do not support redundant power or slots for PVDM modules.
Cisco 2900 Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco 2900 Series Integrated Services G2 Routers are released in four versions which are intended as upgrades to the models in Cisco’s popular 2800 router family. Cisco’s 2901, 2911, 2921, and 2951 Integrated Services G2 routers offer on-board hardware encryption acceleration, voice and video capable Digital Signal Processor slots, optional firewall, IOS intrusion prevention, call processing, and from 16 up to 50 LAN switches. The on-board encryption hardware supports IPsec and Secure Sockets Layer VPN for safe off-site access and is significantly faster than the AIM modules supported by 2800 series routers. The top-of-the-line Cisco 2951 ISR G2 router supports 600 Session Initiation Protocol sessions. Wired and wireless connectivity options include T1/E1, T3/E3, ADSL and SDSL, plus copper and fiber Gigabit Ethernet.
2900 Series ISR G2 routers accommodate the Cisco Enhanced EtherSwitch Service Modules, providing high-throughput capability identical to Cisco’s Catalyst 2960 and 3650-E Series Switches. In comparison to the previous 2821 Integrated Services router which the Cisco 2921 ISR G2 router is intended to substitute for, the 2921 is shipped by default with 256 megabytes vs. 64 megabytes of CompactFlash memory and can be expanded to 4GB compared to 256 megabytes. Standard dynamic RAM capacity is 512 MB vs. 256 MB and maximum dynamic RAM capacity is 2.5 GB compared to 1 GB.
Cisco 3900 Series Integrated Services G2 Routers
Cisco offers four platforms for the high-end 3900 Series ISR Generation 2 router, the 3925, 3945, 3925E, and 3945E. These models deliver the highest throughput and slot densities in Cisco’s Integrated Services G2 family and support fast digital signal processors for the most demanding voice/video environments, fast integrated encryption, a wide range of interface alternatives, up to 98 modular Ethernet LAN Switchports, and as many as 2,500 Session Initiation Protocol sessions. To safeguard your investment, the 3900 Series ISR G2 routers include the Cisco Services Performance Engine (SPE), a modular motherboard that can be replaced in the field to enhance throughput without requiring your business to buy another router. As with other Integrated Services G2 routers, Cisco’s 3900 Series also preserves past investments by accepting the majority of the add-in modules from older Cisco Integrated Services Routers. For improved uptime, 3900 Series Integrated Services G2 support two power supplies.
Compared to the previous 3825 Integrated Services router which the Cisco 2921 Integrated Services G2 router is intended to substitute for, the Cisco 3925 is shipped by default with 256 megabytes vs. 64 MB of CompactFlash storage and can be loaded with up to 4GB instead of 256 megabytes. Default DRAM capacity is 1 GB vs. 256 megabytes and maximum DRAM capacity is 4 GB compared to 1 gigabytes.
4000 Series ISR Routers
The Cisco 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are compact modular and scalable platforms intended for organizations with multiple branch offices and remote users requiring direct access to in-house data centers as well as public clouds across VPN tunnels and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series delivers the bandwidth required for distributed enterprise sites to support mobile users, Cloud-based services, and multimedia applications by using network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management technology. Devices in Cisco's 4000 family are powered by Cisco's IOS XE software, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, can handle Up to 2 Gbps of throughput, and can include up to 3 interface module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models can support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. To handle unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides comprehensive edge support technology for policy-enhanced session border control, branch telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.
The main difference between the Cisco 4400 and 4300 Series is the inclusion of redundant power supply capability in the 4400 Series, providing a higher level of availability. The 4321 ISR Router comes in a 1 RU desktop package with two network interface modules (NIMs), provides as much as 100 Mbps throughput, and supports 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4331 ISR Router has a 1 RU package and includes two network interface modules, offers up to 300 Mbps throughput, and can handle 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The 4351 ISR Router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three NIMs, delivers as much as 400 Mbps performance, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The power-redundant 4431 router comes in a 2 RU form factor with three network interface modules, delivers as much as 1 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's fault-tolerant 4431 model has a 2 RU form factor and includes three network interface modules, offers up to 2 Gbps performance, and can handle 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels.
Cisco's First Generation ISR Routers
Cisco's original Integrated Services Routers, with in excess of 6M devices in operation, are the industry's most popular solution for small businesses and enterprise satellite offices to ensure high-performance, secure, and reliable connectivity to vital applications. Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers are proven experts at delivering online consulting, administrative, and troubleshooting services for Cisco 1800, 2800, and 3800 series ISR routers. Progent can assist your company to upgrade to the current version of Cisco IOS control software with the least possible disruption to your IT operations, evaluate the security profile of your router configuration, and assist business to migrate efficiently to the new line of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers when it is appropriate for your company.
Cisco 1800 ISR Routers
The modular Cisco 1800 Series of routers embed data and security within one resilient system for fast, expandable access to strategic business applications. The Cisco 1800 Series architecture has been specifically engineered to meet the requirements of small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs), small enterprise branch offices, and ISP-managed services environments for delivery of concurrent services at high performance. The integrated secure systems architecture of the Cisco 1800 Series routers delivers maximum flexibility and fast ROI.
Cisco's 1841 router offers important advantages in comparison to prior generations of 1700 Series routers by bringing more than a fivefold speed improvement plus built-in hardware encryption activated by an available Cisco IOS Software security image. The 1841 device significantly improves plug-in card slot throughput and density in comparison to the 1700 Series while still maintaining compatibility with over 30 existing Wide Area Network interface cards (WICs) and multiflex trunk cards (voice/WICs (VWICs)-for data only on the 1841 router). The 1841 router offers further enhancement of VPN throughput via an available Virtual Private Network acceleration module; an intrusion prevention system and firewall capabilities; support for a broad range of connectivity requirements, including support for optional switch ports; plus sufficient performance and expansion slot capacity for ongoing network growth and next-generation applications.
2800 Integrated Services Routers
Intended for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and corporate satellite offices, the Cisco 2800 Series routers comprises several platforms: the Cisco 2801, the Cisco 2811, the 2821, and the Cisco 2851 router. Cisco's 2800 Series routers provide substantial added value vs. prior models of Cisco routers at comparable prices by delivering up to a five times throughput increase, as much as a 10 times improvement in protection and voice speed, embedded service options, and radically increased slot performance and capacity while preserving support for the vast majority of the almost 100 popular modules in use currently for Cisco's 1700 Series, the 2600 Series, and the 3700 Series routers.
The Cisco 2800 offers a range of popular security functions including a Cisco IOS Software Firewall, an IPS, IP security Virtual Private Network, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) VPN, powerful application inspection and control, Secure Shell Protocol V 2.0, and Simple Network Management Protocol in one secure solution set. Additionally, by incorporating security functions within the router, Cisco can provide special intelligent security solutions other security devices cannot, such as NAC for virus defense; Voice and Video Enabled VPN (V3PN) for quality-of-service (QoS) support when mixing voice, video, and Virtual Private Networks; Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN); Group Encrypted Transport; and Easy VPN for supporting increasingly scalable and easier to manage VPN environments.
Businesses can use the Cisco 2800 Series to create a converged IP telephony solution for up to 96 IP phones, and can securely combine data, voice, and IP telephony on one platform for their small-to-medium sized satellite offices.
The 2800 Series router supports an integrated wireless access point for wireless network connectivity, Wi-Fi Hotspot capability for shared public wireless LANs, and network services for portable WLAN telephony and for high-density sites.
Cisco 3800 Series Integrated Services Routers
3800 integrated services routers are engineered for small and midsize organizations and corporate branch offices to provide companies the highest levels of network agility, performance, and intelligence. 3800 Series integrated services routers seamlessly integrate advanced network engineering, smart services, and secure enterprise communications into one robust platform. The Cisco 3800 Series routers ease deployment and management, lower network cost and complexity, and provide investment protection. The Cisco 3800 integrated services routers feature internal security processing, fast throughput and large memory capacity, and high-capacity interfaces that provide the speed, resilience, and reliability necessary for scaling mission-critical protection, IP telephony, business video, network analysis, and Web applications in the most competitive corporate environments. Built for performance, the The Cisco 3800 integrated services routers deliver multiple simultaneous services up to wire-speed T3/E3 data rates.
The integrated services routing technology of the 3800 Series router is engineered to combine protection and voice handling with advanced wireline and wireless services for fast deployment of new services, including application layer operations, intelligent network services, and unified communications. The Cisco 3800 Series integrated services router meets the bandwidth requirements for several Fast Ethernet interfaces for each slot, TDM interconnections, and integrated power sourcing to expansion modules supporting 802.3af Power over Ethernet, while still accommodating the existing portfolio of modular interfaces. This enables ongoing return on investment by supporting network scaling or adapting to innovations in technology as new services are deployed. By combining the functions of several distinct devices into one small unit, the 3800 Series router dramatically lowers the expense and complexity of managing wide area networks.
Cisco's Midrange Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco’s WAN edge and carrier routers can provide larger businesses with fast, protected head ends to manage satellite office and off-site data packets and to offer service providers cost-effective wide area network edge solutions. Cisco’s midrange and carrier router portfolio includes the Cisco 7600 Series Routers, the ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services product line, the ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, and the Cisco Carrier Routing System.
Progent's national group of CCIE certified network consultants have in-depth experience helping enterprises and Internet service providers to design optimal deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants offer objective, independent security vulnerability assessments, stealth penetration services and advanced Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help enterprises that use Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to meet industry guidelines and government mandates for IT information protection and reporting.
7600 Series Routers
The Cisco 7600 Series router takes advantage of the Catalyst 6500 Series infrastructure with an NEBS-3 chassis, 256-Gbps crossbar switch fabric, and 30-Mpps switching speed. High availability is provided through redundancy as well as Cisco IOS Software capabilities. In addition, the 7600 offers a rich set of high-touch IP network services at optical speed through a variety of OSMs enabled by Cisco patented PXF technology.
The 7609 provides the option to use a 256-Gbps Switch Fabric Module or the standard 32-Gbps bus, providing centralized switching performance of 30 or 15 Mpps each. When the SFM is installed, the Cisco 7609 can in addition allow distributed switching with performance up to 168 Mpps by running the Cisco Catalyst 6500 16-port Gbit Ethernet card, which is powered by the DFC and the SFM.
The Cisco 7603 Series router provides only the standard 32-Gbps bus option and provides 15 million packets per second performance. The Cisco 7603 Series router does not support distributed switching.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco’s ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge line of routers is designed to fill the center of Cisco’s midrange routers that focus on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. Cisco’s ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers offer a small form factor, single-product solution for large businesses requiring satellite office service aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet performance. ASR 1000 Series routers introduce an innovative architecture that combines on-board acceleration with software versatility in order to deliver a rich set of simultaneous services while preserving consistent performance.
ASR 1000 Series routers include Cisco’s new QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that together can handle up to 160 concurrent threads. This massive parallelism, in conjunction with hardware acceleration for all services, enables the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 WAN Edge router to expand up to 000 queues, 32K clients, 4K IP security tunnels at 10,000 sessions per second, and 2M Netflow log records. This processing capability permits ASR 1000 Series routers to support a broad range of sophisticated services concurrently in massive volume without suffering throughput degradation that might compromise compliance with SLAs. Examples of these services include Cisco IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also allows sophisticated traffic control for applying numerous levels of QoS to a data packet in a single pass, improving responsiveness for resource-intensive IP voice and video applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Routers are intended as WAN-edge routers for carriers who need to deliver world-class HD multimedia services to home, commercial, and mobile users by providing continual operation, high speed, and application awareness. All platforms in the ASR 9000 Series of Routers run the IOS XR, a distributed operating system built for continuous uptime. Throughput of Cisco's ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers can scale to as high as 96 Tbps per chassis. the ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and 100 GE and have fully redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, and fan trays plus redundant switch fabric.
The Cisco ASR 9001 model is a provider-edge router in a 6 RU package with 120 Gbps of full-duplex fabric performance. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two modular bays to accept port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis incorporates four 10 GE SFP+ ports and ports for Stratum 1 clocking, building integrated timing supply (BITS), and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU chassis and offers line-rate 10 GE and 100 GE connectivity in space-constrained environments. The 4-slot router can support up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in one box. The ASR 9912 Router comes in a 30 RU chassis and includes 10 line-card slots able to provide 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router has 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards to provide N+1 redundancy.
The CRS Carrier Routing System
Cisco's Carrier Routing System product line, powered by Cisco's IOS XR self-healing, distributed operating system, gives carriers world-class performance and uptime. The CRS portfolio was introduced in 2004, has been steadily enhanced, and now includes the industry's most popular multishelf network core router system. To protect past investments in infrastructure, new CRS platforms are compatible with earlier CRS versions.
Available product lines in Cisco's CRS portfolio are the CRS-1, CRS-3, and CRS-X Series. Every Carrier Routing System series features single-shelf 4, 8, and 16 slot systems plus multi-shelf models. The Cisco CRS-1 Series is built on Cisco's Silicon Packet Processor technology and offers as much as 92 Tbps throughput. Routers in Cisco's CRS-3 Series are based on QuantumFlow Array technology and are able to deliver as much as 322 Tbps. Cisco's CRS-X Routers use Cisco's CMOS photonics CPAK technology and scale to deliver an impressive 922 Tbps performance.
Cisco's Carrier Routing System Multichassis models can scale from 2 to 72 line-card shelves that have the capability to deliver 400-Gbps of uninterrupted performance for each slot. CRS Multichassis platforms can accommodate up to 8 fabric shelves. Modular services cards and physical layer interface modules (PLIMs) can be used throughout the whole Cisco CRS family.
Older Routers Maintained by Progent's Experts
Progent's Cisco certified consultants are familiar with older routers no longer available from Cisco. Progent can help you to maintain these older routers and can in addition help you to plan and carry out upgrades to newer models. Older Cisco routers supported by Progent include:
Cisco's discontinued 870 Series access routers are designed for small offices with as many as 20 users or for telecommuter locations where advanced VoIP and video and resilient access using backup WAN connections are needed. Cisco 870 Series access routers deliver high performance in small workgroups plus tight security through features that include stateful Inspection Firewall, IP Security VPN, 3DES or AES plus Dynamic Multipoint VPN and Tunnel-less Group Encrypted Transport (GETVPN), an intrusion prevention system, virus protection using Network Admission Control (NAC), and policing of safe connection policies.
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