Cisco Network Consultants

The current generation of routers ordinarily incorporate L2 switches, and many modern switches include L3 routing functionality. Routers developed by Cisco, the producer of the vast majority of the industry's routers, have improved significantly in function and speed and Cisco now makes an extensive product line that features routers engineered to meet the requirements of users ranging from individual telecommuters to nationwide service providers.

The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the speed and integrated functionality to support data voice and video as well as virtualization while at the same time offering fault tolerance, web-based management, seamless extensibility, and enhanced protection. Cisco's ISR routers allow your company to establish a firm foundation for an IT environment that can grow seamlessly as you add more employees, establish new offices, deploy additional services, give access to your network to customers and vendors, and support an an increasingly mobile user base. Progent's Cisco CCIE network engineers can provide immediate and affordable online support to assist your company to plan, configure, administer, upgrade, and support Cisco's most advanced routers and can assist you to maintain your legacy routers or move non-disruptively to Cisco's current router products. Cisco Routers Designed for Home and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for small businesses and branch offices provide affordable and reliable no-frills alternatives that allow small sets of workers to share safe access to the Internet. These fixed-configuration desktop devices feature at least four switched Ethernet with Wi-Fi options plus built-in firewall for advanced protection. Designed for easy installation, administration, and support, Cisco's small business and home routers minimize ownership costs by lowering acquisition and maintenance investments. Progent's remote troubleshooting specialists have in-depth backgrounds providing fast and economical IT help for small organizations to configure and support these routers, and Progent's CCIE-certified network consultants can help your company to understand ways these routers can increase the strategic value of your information network.

Cisco ISR 900 Series Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series routers are compact, quiet, fixed-configuration appliances designed for SMBs, branch offices, and home offices. These value-priced routers have four managed GE LAN ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connections. The ISR 900 router product line delivers triple the IPsec performance of the ISR 800 Series family of routers. All ISR 900 models feature Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN, Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN throughput is as high as 250 Mbps. All router versions support up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for high availability and business continuity include VRRP, Hot Standby Router Protocol, and MHSRP. Setup and management can be done with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS Software. ISR 900 Series routers do not support Cisco's SD-WAN solution.

Cisco's ISR 921 router comes with dual GE WAN, Category 4 LTE, and an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN throughput is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 routers use external power supplies and support a single WAN port, Category 4 LTE, plus VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+. VPN performance for both routers is 150 Mbps. The high-performance ISR 931 features dual GE WAN ports and includes an internal power supply. VPN throughput is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX line of desktop routers combine SD-WAN and cloud-hosted unified threat management (UTM) in one small-footprint device able to support 50 to 200 users. Every MX router needs to be licensed for the Meraki cloud. For venues with several WAN network options (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits administrators to assign the WAN interface an app uses or to create performance-based rules to select the preferred connection. 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 with reputation-based filtering
• Load balancing to aggregate several WAN connections into a single high-speed connection with policy-based Quality of Services, traffic shaping, and 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 and 1100 Series ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 Series Integrated Services Routers running Cisco IOS XE software are a line of fanless routers intended to deliver high-performance network connectivity, wireless support, and multilayer cybersecurity for SMBs, enterprise branches, retail outlets, kiosks, and machine-to-machine (M2M) environments. Multiple parallel processing CPU cores and compatibly with Cisco IOS XE allow these routers to offer capabilities consistent with Cisco's entire line of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 Series ISR routers are offered with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and offer Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packet forwarding. Various models include Power over Ethernet (PoE) and PoE+, zero-touch provisioning, plus a selection of integrated or pluggable options for LAN, WAN, wireless LAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 4G LTE Advanced wireless, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and SFP Fiber. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR models work with Cisco's SD-WAN subscription services for transparent multiple-cloud connectivity, multilayer cybersecurity, and cohesive monitoring and management across hybrid networks.

Cisco's rackmount or desktop ISR 1100-4G router comes with four built-in GE ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE with two LTE SMA sockets, and one micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption packet processing throughput is 200 Mbps. The ISR 1100-6G router adds two 1G SFP Fiber connections and delivers encryption performance of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop-only ISR 1101-4P router includes four built-in switched GE ports, supports 802.11ac and 3G/4G LTE, and delivers encryption speed of 280 Mbps. The ISR 1109-2P/4p desktop routers have two or four built-in switched GE ports and dual pluggable 3G/4G LTE wireless ports. Encryption throughput is 200 Mbps.

The 1RU or desktop 111x-4P/8P ISR routers have four or eight integrated switched GE connections (two or four with Power over Ethernet) and feature VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing throughput is 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1RU or desktop ISR 1111X-8P router includes eight built-in GE interfaces (four with POE) and a port for 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing rate is 340 Mbps. The ISR 112x-8P router features eight switched GE ports with Power over Ethernet and features SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing speed is 340 Mbps. The Cisco 1161X-8P ISR router has eight integrated GE interfaces with Power over Ethernet and provides 3G/4G LTE wireless and SFP Fiber. Encryption speed 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 intended to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge in support of hybrid networks that can include multiple public and private clouds and SaaS applications. Catalyst 8000 devices are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide scalability, advanced cybersecurity, and 5G access. Performance is optimized via purpose-built silicon, a multicore architecture, high port capacity, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software services provide ongoing access to the latest SD-WAN technology and allow unified management with advanced security, application-optimized policies, network segmentation, and cloud integration.

Catalyst 8200 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series routers are upgrades to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers, offering higher IPsec performance and expandability, hardware-accelerated crypto, plus greater integrated WAN interface density. These 1RU routers are designed to bring Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN and 5G-connection technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise WAN edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T router includes four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec performance, and permits 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. The Catalyst 8200L router does not support container-based apps. The Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router includes eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and allows edge computing with existing container models. Both appliances include one NIM slot, one PIM slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN copper interfaces, and two 1G Ethernet WAN SFP interfaces. Four-port and eight-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are supported by both 8200 routers.

Cisco Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 line of ISR Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN architecture to medium-sized and large company branch offices seeking high WAN IPSec performance with unified SD-WAN services. Advanced features include 5G wireless support, integrated security, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and DPI with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers support edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 family of ISR appliances. All models in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 Series family support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and feature backup power supplies for improved uptime.

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

Catalyst 8500 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, one-rack unit aggregation appliances for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Integrated features include route processor, ESP, and aggregation hardware for various interfaces and connectivity choices. IPsec throughput is twice that of Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Available interface options include 1GE to 100 GE WAN ports. 8500 routers include redundant AC or DC power units for improved availability. Software subscription packages provide continuing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer unified management of security, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.

The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X Aggregation Edge router is designed to offer the same basic functionality as Cisco's ASR 1000 appliance. The C8500L-8S4X comes with four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and supports up to 20 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X appliance has 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers as high as 120 Gbps aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC aggregation router includes four built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and eight 1-Gigabit interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate performance. SD-WAN IPsec throughput can reach 68 Gbps. Cisco's C8500-20X6C high-density router includes 20 built-in SFP+ interfaces and 6 x 40/100GE interfaces. The C8500-20X6C delivers as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers are designed to provide satellite offices of enterprises with advanced collaboration, virtualization, protection, and dependable connectivity. ISR G2 routers introduce an architecture that preserves prior investments in modules for older ISR routers and lowers future costs by allowing easy installation of additional modules when they become available. In comparison to older Integrated Services Routers, Cisco's Integrated Services G2 routers offer 2-7 times higher throughput, far more, and easier support. All Integrated Services G2 routers support Gbit switching and incorporate multi-core CPUs and ultra-fast fabric for faster throughput. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers also support intelligent power control for better energy conservation.

A key innovation with Integrated Services Generation 2 routers is the Cisco IOS Software Universal image which contains all of the IOS technology sets so that you can rapidly license and activate extra services as required without needing to download and transfer a new IOS Software image to yourrouter. Progent's team of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can provide proven expertise to assist your business to design, implement, and support multi-location installations of Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers that improve branch office efficiency and reduce the costs of upgrades and maintenance.

Cisco's ISR 800 Family of Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 family but remains widely deployed. Cisco's comprehensive line of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop devices intended for small businesses, branch locations, retail shops, telecommuters, and customers of broadband service providers. Many devices in Cisco's 800 product line have been developed with many options over the course of many years. Cisco's 881 line of ISR routers suggests the vast selection of options offered within the Cisco 800 product family. Various models in Cisco's 881 router portfolio can enable unified media networks by delivering IP voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated appliance. Built-in data protection can include encryption, VPN, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available features for 881 ISR routers include redundant wide area network links or support for wired broadband WAN connections such as DSL as well as multiple different 3G and 4G wireless connections all on a single desktop appliance.

The baseline Cisco 881 router features a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch with up to 15 Mbps performance, support for 20 users, 2-port integrated PoE, 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 SRST. With a Cisco CUBE license, Cisco's 881 ISR router supports SIP trunking to replace outdated Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks also support offsite agents in Cisco Call Center environments.

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
The Cisco 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers are modular and scalable routers intended for organizations with multiple branch offices and remote users who need direct communication with in-house data centers as well as public clouds via VPN tunnels and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series delivers the throughput required for distributed enterprise sites to accommodate mobile users, Cloud-based services, and multimedia applications by using WAN optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management technology. Models in Cisco's 4000 family run Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1-rack-unit (RU) or 2RU package, are able to handle Up to 2 Gbps of traffic, and can have up to 3 interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core server modules. ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PRI and xDSL. For unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides comprehensive edge support technology for session border control, telephony survivability, and TDM gateways.

The main difference between Cisco's 4400 ISR and 4300 Series Routers is the inclusion of dual power supply support in the 4400 Series, providing a greater degree of availability. Cisco's 4321 Integrated Services Router has a 1 RU desktop form factor and includes two network interface modules, provides as much as 100 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The 4331 router has a 1 RU form factor with two NIMs, offers as much as 300 Mbps performance, and can handle 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The 4351 Integrated Services Router has a 2 RU package with three network interface modules, offers as much as 400 Mbps performance, and supports 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The power-redundant 4431 ISR Router has a 2 RU form factor and includes three NIMs, delivers as much as 1 Gbps performance, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's redundant-power 4431 model has a 2 RU package and includes three network interface modules, offers up to 2 Gbps performance, and supports 1200 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's midrange and carrier routers can provide enterprises with fast, secure head ends to manage satellite office and remote user data packets 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 product line and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services family.

Progent's nationwide group of CCIE certified network engineers have extensive experience helping global businesses and service providers to design efficient deployments and smooth expansion of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance experts can provide unbiased, independent security inventory assessments, penetration testing services and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help enterprises that use Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to comply with business guidelines and government regulations for network data security and incident reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for penetration testing. NodeZero relies on AI technology to streamline the threat assessment cycle of discovering security gaps in network perimeters and within the internal network infrastructure, prioritizing repairs, fixing weaknesses, and verifying successful repairs.

Cisco ASR 1000 Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge line of routers is designed to fill the center of Cisco's midrange routers that focus on acting as headends at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers provide a small footprint, single-product solution for large businesses requiring branch office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet speeds. Cisco's ASR 1000 routers introduce an innovative architecture that combines hardware acceleration with software versatility to offer a rich set of simultaneous services while preserving dependable responsiveness.

ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers include Cisco's new QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 custom Packet Processing Engines that in combination can handle up to 160 concurrent threads. This multi-processing structure, combined with hardware acceleration for every service, allows the high-end ASR 1006 Aggregation Services router to scale up to 128K queues, 32,000 clients, 4,000 IPsec VPN tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2 million Netflow log records. This CPU power allows Cisco's ASR 1000 Series routers to support a broad range of sophisticated services simultaneously in massive volume while avoiding performance decay that could violate compliance with service level agreements. These advanced services include IOS Firewall, intrusion-detection services, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also permits sophisticated traffic control for applying multiple levels of QoS to a packet in a single operation, enhancing responsiveness for resource-intensive voice, video, and conferencing applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers are designed as WAN-edge routers for carriers who are required to support world-class HD multimedia services to home, business, and mobile users by providing continual availability, high speed, and application awareness. All platforms in the Cisco ASR 9000 portfolio of Aggregation Services Routers are powered by the IOS XR operating system, a self-healing, distributed operating system designed for continuous uptime. Performance of the ASR 9000 portfolio of Aggregation Services Routers can be expanded to as high as 96 Tbps per chassis. the ASR 9000 family of Routers support Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, and fan trays plus redundant control planes.

The Cisco ASR 9001 model is a carrier-edge router in a 6 RU form factor with 120 Gbps of nonblocking fabric performance. The ASR 9001 has two modular bays to support port adapters for 1 GE, 10 GE, and 40 GE. The chassis has four 10 Gbit Ethernet SFP+ ports as well as ports for GPS Stratum 1 clocking, BITS, and management. The ASR 9904 Router has a 6 RU chassis and offers dense 10 GE and 100 GE connectivity in space-limited sites. The 4-slot router can support up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in one box. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU form factor and includes 10 line-card slots able to handle 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The Cisco ASR 9912 includes 2 route CPUs and 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy. Ways Progent Can Assist Your Business to Support Cisco Router Products
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified engineers can help you to plan, setup, and maintain an integrated business network that can automate processes, lower expenses, and speed the path to positive ROI. By combining Cisco integrated services routers with Catalyst switches support and Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can significantly increase the strategic value of your information network. Progent can provide onsite and off-site troubleshooting and offers data center support throughout the U.S. To learn additional details about Progent's consulting assistance for Cisco technology, select a subject:

• Overview of Progent's Cisco Expertise
• Fast Remote Support from a CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewalls: Integration and Management Support
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Firewall with Firepower Services: Setup and Troubleshooting Expertise
• ASA 5500 Series Firewall Integration Expertise
• PIX 500 Firewall Maintenance Assistance
• Cisco Wireless Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Aironet APs Engineering Support
• Cisco Small Business Wireless APs Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless Access Points Planning, Deployment and Troubleshooting Support
• Cisco WiFi Controllers Support Services
• Meraki Access Points Design Help
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and CallManager Consulting and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Consulting Services and Wireless IP Phone Configuration
• Cisco Jabber Configuration and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Catalyst Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Cisco Meraki MS Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco Security and VPN Consulting Support
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP Trunks and CUBE Integration Expertise
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Telecommuters
• Design Solutions for Cisco-based Datacenters and Colocation Centers
• Data Center Design Services for Internet Service Providers
• Unified Cloud-based and Hybrid Network Management Solutions for Cisco-powered Environments

If you wish to contact Progent about professional support for Cisco technology, phone 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.