The current generation of routers usually incorporate L2 switches, and many of today's switches include Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers offered by Cisco, the source of 90% of the world's routers, have advanced significantly in capability and speed and Cisco offers a comprehensive product line that features routers built to meet the needs of users from households to the world's largest service providers.
The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the speed and built-in features to support IP voice and video as well as virtualization while at the same time providing high availability, web-based management, easy extensibility, and advanced protection. Cisco's ISR routers allow your business to build a solid foundation for an IT environment that can evolve smoothly as you hire new workers, establish extra sites, deploy additional functions, extend your system to clients and partners, and support an expanding mobile user base. Progent's Cisco certified CCIE network consultants can provide immediate and affordable online support to assist your company to plan, deploy, manage, update, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced routers and can assist you to support your older routers or move efficiently to Cisco's current networking products.
Cisco Routers Designed for Home and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for smaller companies and remote offices offer low-cost and reliable entry-level alternatives that allow limited sets of users to have safe access to wide area networks. All these single-configuration desktop devices include at minimum four Ethernet ports with Wi-Fi options plus integrated firewall for advanced protection. Designed for easy installation, administration, and support, Cisco's small business and home routers minimize TCO by lowering equipment and maintenance expenses. Progent's online troubleshooting experts have extensive experience delivering fast and affordable IT assistance for small companies to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's CCIE-certified network consultants can assist your company to understand whether and how Cisco's entry-level routers can add to the business value of your information system.
ISR 900 Series Routers
The Cisco ISR 900 Series routers are small-footprint, quiet, fixed-configuration devices designed for SMBs, branches, and home offices. These entry-level routers have four GE LAN ports and can support Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connections. The ISR 900 router family provides triple the IPsec throughput of Cisco's ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 models feature GETVPN, DMVPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN performance is up to 250 Mbps. All router models allow up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported automatic failover technology for business continuity include VRRP, Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), and MHSRP. Setup and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series devices do not support Cisco's SD-WAN solution.
Cisco's ISR 921 router comes with dual GE WAN ports, Category 4 LTE, and an internal power supply. VPN performance is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers use external power supplies and support a single WAN interface, LTE Cat 4, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. VPN performance for both devices is 150 Mbps. The high-performance Cisco ISR 931 router features dual GE WAN ports and has an internal power supply. VPN performance is 250 Mbps.
Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX series of desktop routers provide software-defined wide area networking and cloud-based unified threat management (UTM) in one compact appliance able to handle 50 to 200 users. Each MX series appliance needs to be licensed for the Meraki cloud. For sites having several external network options (e.g., MPLS, broadband, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows administrators to assign the WAN interface an app uses or to create performance-based rules to determine the appropriate connection. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop routers share key features including:
Cisco 1000 Series ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 family Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) running Cisco IOS XE software are a selection of fanless routers intended to provide high-performance network service, wireless access, and advanced security for small and midsize businesses, enterprise branches, retail outlets, customer premises equipment (CPE), and machine-to-machine venues. Parallel processing cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE software enable these routers to deliver features 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 packet forwarding. Various models include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, auto provisioning, plus a range of built-in or pluggable connections including LAN, WAN, WLAN, G.fast DSL, 4G LTE Advanced wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP. Cisco 1000 family ISR models can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN subscription services for transparent multi-cloud access, advanced security, and centralized monitoring and management across hybrid networks.
Cisco's 1RU or desktop 1100-4G ISR router includes four integrated GE ports, integrated 3G/4G LTE with two LTE SMA connectors, and one micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption packet processing throughput is 200 Mbps. The Cisco ISR 1100-6G router adds two 1G SFP ports and delivers encryption performance of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop-only 1101-4P ISR router includes four built-in GE ports, supports 802.11ac and 3G/4G LTE, and features encryption throughput of 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1109-2P/4P ISR desktop routers include two or four integrated GE connections and dual pluggable 3G/4G LTE ports. Encryption packet processing throughput is 200 Mbps.
Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 111x-4P/8P routers come with four or eight integrated switched GE interfaces (two or four with Power over Ethernet) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing performance is 280 Mbps. Cisco's rackmount or desktop 1111X-8P ISR router has eight integrated GE connections (four with POE) and a port for SFP. Encryption speed is 340 Mbps. The 112x-8P ISR router has eight integrated switched GE connections with PoE and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing rate is 340 Mbps. The ISR 1161X-8P router includes eight built-in switched GE ports with PoE and provides 3G/4G LTE and SFP. Encryption packet processing performance is 450 Mbps.
Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 line of routers are modular devices intended to work at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid network environments that can incorporate multiple public and private clouds and SaaS applications. All Catalyst 8000 routers are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and offer expandability, advanced cybersecurity, and 5G connectivity. Throughput is optimized using 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 allow unified management with advanced security, application-optimized policies, segmentation, and cloud readiness.
Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series routers are upgrades to Cisco's 4300 Series ISRs, offering higher IPsec throughput and scale, hardware-accelerated crypto, plus higher built-in WAN port density. These 1RU routers are designed to bring Cisco's Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), Software-Defined WAN and 5G-interface technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise access edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T router includes four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec traffic, and allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L router does not support container-based applications. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T model includes eight CPU cores, provides 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and allows edge computing with in-place container architectures. Both appliances come with a Network Interface Module slot, a Pluggable Interface Module (PIM) slot, two 1G Ethernet WAN copper ports, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable interfaces. 4-port and 8-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 models.
Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to supersede Cisco's 4400 family of ISR Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to medium-sized and large enterprise branch offices looking for high WAN IPSec performance combined with unified SD-WAN services. Advanced features include 5G wireless support, integrated security, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application optimization. Catalyst 8300 routers support edge computing for an existing container environment for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 family of ISR appliances. All versions in the Catalyst 8300 Series line support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature dual power supplies for high uptime.
The Catalyst 8300-1N1S-6T router model is a 1RU device that includes eight CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance of up to 1.9Gbps. The router comes with one Service Module plug-in slot, one Network Interface Module slot, and six integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst 8300-2N2S-6T router is a two-rack unit router that features 8 CPU cores and delivers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance as high as 1.9Gbps. The router has two SM plug-in slots, two NIM slots, and six built-in 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router model is a one-rack unit appliance that includes eight CPU cores and delivers 5G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance up to 15Gbps. The device includes one one Service Module plug-in slot, a Network Interface Module slot, two built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four fixed 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X router is a 2RU device that includes 12 CPU cores and delivers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance up to 18Gbps. The appliance includes two Service Module expansion slots, two Network Interface Module slots, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports, and four integrated 1G Ethernet WAN interfaces. LAN modules modules offered by Cisco range from a four-port 1-Gigabit Ethernet switch Network Interface Module module to a 50-port Catalyst L2 switch SM module.
Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, 1RU aggregation routers for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Integrated features include route processor, embedded services processor, plus aggregation hardware for various connection choices. IPsec performance is twice that of Cisco's earlier generation ASR1001-X router. Available connectivity options include 1GE to 100 GE WAN interfaces. 8500 Series routers come with dual power units for enhanced availability. Software subscription packages allow ongoing use of Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and enable unified management of cybersecurity, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.
The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X Aggregation Edge router is intended to provide a similar experience as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN ports and can deliver up to 20 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X router has 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and supports as high as 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC unit includes four built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1GE ports and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 68 Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C high-density router comes with 20 built-in SFP+ interfaces and 6 x 40/100GE ports. Cisco's C8500-20X6C delivers as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance.
Cisco ISR G2 Routers
Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers are designed to offer branch offices of enterprises with enhanced video and voice applications, virtual networking, protection, and dependable connectivity. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers introduce an architecture that protects prior investments in modules for older Integrated Services Routers and reduces future expenses by allowing easy installation of additional modules as they become available. Compared to older Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers offer 2-7 times higher performance, far more, and more affordable support. All Cisco Integrated Services G2 routers offer gigabit switching and include multi-core CPUs and multigigabit fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services G2 routers also offer smart power management for better energy conservation.
A key advance 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 features when required without needing to acquire and transfer a different IOS image to yourrouter. Progent's group of Cisco-certified CCIE network engineers offer world-class skills to help your business to plan, configure, and maintain multi-location installations of Cisco ISR G2 routers that improve branch office productivity and cut the costs of upgrades and support.
Cisco's ISR 800 Series Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the faster Cisco ISR 900 line but remains widely used. Cisco's extensive line of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop, fanless appliances intended for small businesses, branch locations, retail venues, teleworkers, and customers of broadband service providers. A wealth of devices in the 800 Series product line have been developed with various options over many years. Cisco's 881 line of ISR routers suggests the vast array of options available within Cisco's 800 line of routers. Various models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can enable unified media environments by providing IP voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in one integrated router and switch. Advanced security can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available features for 881 ISR routers include redundant wide area network connections or support for wired high-speed WAN links such as DSL plus multiple different cellular 3G and 4G wireless connections all on one appliance.
The basic Cisco 881 router includes 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 support. The Cisco 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. The 881 SRST router includes four FXS ports and 1 FXO port for public-switched-telephone-network (PSTN) failover with Cisco SRST. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking as a replacement for outdated PRI lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks can also connect offsite agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.
4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers are compact modular and expandable routers intended for organizations with a large number of branch offices and offsite workers who need direct access to private data centers as well as public clouds across VPN tunnels and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series delivers the throughput required for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile workers, Cloud-based services, and multimedia applications by using wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management technology. Models in the ISR 4000 family run Cisco's IOS XE software, come in a 1RU or 2RU form factor, are able to handle Up to 2 Gbps of traffic, and can include up to 3 network interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated Gigabit Ethernet ports, 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 manage unified communications, the 400o ISR provides extensive edge support technology for policy-enhanced SBC, branch telephony survivability, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.
The main difference between Cisco's 4400 and 4300 Series is the inclusion of dual power supply capability in the 4400 ISR Series, offering a higher degree of availability. Cisco's 4321 ISR Router has a 1 RU desktop package and includes two network interface modules, offers up to 100 Mbps performance, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's 4331 ISR Router has a 1 RU package with two network interface modules, offers as much as 300 Mbps performance, and supports 360 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's 4351 Integrated Services Router comes in a 2 RU form factor and includes three NIMs, delivers as much as 400 Mbps performance, and supports 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The dual power supply 4431 Integrated Services Router comes in a 2 RU package and includes three network interface modules, provides up to 1 Gbps throughput, and supports 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's fault-tolerant 4431 ISR Router features a 2 RU form factor with three network interface modules, delivers as much as 2 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 1200 Digital Voice and Video Channels.
Cisco's Midrange WAN Aggregation Routers and Carrier-class Routers
Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier routers offer larger businesses with high-performance, secure distribution points to aggregate branch office and remote user traffic and to provide service providers cost-effective wide area network edge routing. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router product line features the Cisco ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 ASR family.
Progent's nationwide team of Cisco CCIE network consultants have in-depth backgrounds working with global businesses and Internet service providers to design optimal installations and smooth upgrades of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants offer unbiased, independent security vulnerability evaluations, stealth penetration testing services and advanced Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help enterprises with Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to comply with business standards and statutory requirements for network information security and incident reporting. Progent also can provide expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for penetration testing. NodeZero relies on AI technology to simplify the vulnerability assessment cycle of finding security gaps in network perimeters and inside the internal network, prioritizing repairs, mitigating problems, and confirming successful repairs.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge family of routers is designed to fill the middle of Cisco's midrange routers that focus on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 routers offer a small footprint, single-product solution for large businesses requiring satellite office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet performance. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers incorporate a revolutionary design that combines on-board acceleration with programmable flexibility to deliver a multitude of concurrent services without sacrificing dependable performance.
ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers feature Cisco's new QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines that in combination can handle up to 160 concurrent threads. This parallel CPU architecture, combined with hardware acceleration for all services, enables the high-end ASR 1006 router to expand up to 128K hardware queues, 32,000 clients, 4K IPsec VPN tunnels at 10,000 sessions/second, and 2M Netflow records. This CPU power permits Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers to support a variety of advanced services concurrently in massive volume without suffering throughput decay that could threaten adherence to service level agreements. These advanced services include Cisco Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also permits sophisticated traffic management for applying multiple levels of QoS to a packet in a single operation, improving the user experience for resource-intensive multimedia applications.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers are intended as WAN-edge routers for carriers who need to support world-class HD multimedia services to residential, commercial, and mobile users by offering continual operation, high speed, and application-aware intelligence. All platforms in Cisco's ASR 9000 Series of Aggregation Services Routers are powered by Cisco's IOS XR operating system, a self-healing, distributed operating system designed for non-stop availability. Performance of the ASR 9000 family of Routers can scale up to 96 Tbps per system. the ASR 9000 portfolio of Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and 100 GE and feature redundant fabric and power modules, power entry modules, plus redundant switch fabric.
The ASR 9001 model is a provider-edge router in a 6 RU form factor with 120 Gbps of full-duplex fabric performance. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two bays which can support port adapters for 1 GE, 10 GE, and 40 GE. The base chassis incorporates four 10 GE SFP+ ports and ports for GPS clocking, building integrated timing supply, and management. The Cisco ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU chassis and offers line-rate 10 and 100 GE connections in space-constrained sites. The 4-slot router can scale up to 4 Tbps of capacity in a single box. The ASR 9912 platform comes in a 30 RU form factor and includes 10 line-card slots that can provide 550 Gbps of throughput. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router includes 2 route processors and 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy.
Ways Progent's Consultants Can Help You with Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified consultants can assist your business to plan, configure, and support a converged network infrastructure that can simplify processes, reduce costs, and accelerate the path to positive ROI. By teaming Cisco integrated services routers with Cisco Catalyst switches support and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless integration, Progent can significantly enhance the strategic value of your information network. Progent can provide on-premises and off-site help and can provide data center support throughout the U.S.
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