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The current generation of routers usually incorporate L2 switches, and many of today's switches have some Layer 3 routing functionality. Routers offered by Cisco, the producer of 90% of the world's routers, have advanced significantly in capability and performance and Cisco now offers a comprehensive portfolio that features routers built to handle the requirements of users ranging from individual telecommuters to nationwide ISPs.

The most recent ISR routers from Cisco offer the speed and integrated functionality to manage IP voice and video plus virtual environments while also providing fault tolerance, remote management, easy extensibility, and enhanced protection. These routers allow you to establish a firm foundation for an IT environment that can evolve smoothly as you add new employees, establish new offices, configure new functions, extend your system to customers and partners, and build an expanding mobile workforce. Progent's Cisco qualified CCIE network engineers can provide fast and economical online support to help you to select, deploy, administer, update, and support Cisco's most advanced routers and can help you to support your older routers or migrate efficiently to Cisco's newer networking solutions. Cisco Routers Designed for Home and Small Offices and Branches
Cisco's routers for smaller organizations and remote offices provide low-cost and reliable entry-level solutions that allow small groups of workers to have safe connectivity to the Internet. All these fixed-configuration desktop devices feature at least four 10/100 Ethernet ports with Wi-Fi options and built-in firewall for enhanced protection. Built for simple installation, administration, and troubleshooting, Cisco's entry-level routers minimize TCO by cutting equipment and operational investments. Progent's online support specialists have in-depth experience providing fast and affordable technical help for small companies to set up and support these routers, and Progent's CCIE-certified network engineers can help your company to determine whether and how Cisco's small office routers can add to the business value of your IT network.

Cisco ISR 900 Series Routers
The Cisco ISR 900 Series desktop routers are small-footprint, fanless, set-configuration devices intended 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 connections. The ISR 900 router product line delivers triple the IPsec performance of Cisco's ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 Series routers offer Group Encrypted TransportVPN (GETVPN), dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN, FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN performance is as high as 250 Mbps. All models allow up to 50 VLANs. Supported dynamic failover protocols for high availability include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, HSRP, and Multigroup HSRP (MHSRP). Provisioning and management can be done with Cisco CP Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS. Cisco ISR 900 Series routers do not work with Cisco SD-WAN.

Cisco's ISR 921 router comes with dual GE WAN ports, LTE Cat 4, and an internal power supply. GE WAN VPN performance is 150 Mbps. The ISR 926 and ISR 927 models include external power supplies and feature a single WAN interface, LTE Cat 4, VDSL2 and ADSL2/2+ high-speed broadband. VPN performance for both routers is 150 Mbps. The high-performance Cisco ISR 931 features dual GE WAN and has an internal power supply. VPN performance is 250 Mbps.

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX line of desktop routers combine software-defined wide area networking and cloud-hosted unified threat management (UTM) in one compact appliance able to handle 50 to 200 users. Each MX series appliance must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For venues having several external network connections (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology allows administrators to specify the WAN interface a given application uses or to build performance-based rules to select the preferred connection. MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share important capabilities including:

• Application and ID-based firewalling
• Content and web search filtering
• PCI-compliant Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Advanced Malware Protection with reputation-based filtering
• Load balancing to aggregate multiple WAN links into a single fast interface with policy-based QoS, 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 Series ISR Enterprise Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 family Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) powered by Cisco IOS XE internetworking operating system are a line of fanless routers intended to provide network connectivity, wireless access, and advanced cybersecurity for SMBs, enterprise branches, retail outlets, customer premises equipment (CPE), and machine-to-machine venues. Parallel CPU cores and compatibly with Cisco IOS XE enable these routers to deliver features consistent with Cisco's entire family of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 and 1100 Series ISR routers are available with 4 or 8 LAN switch ports and provide Gigabit Ethernet (GE) packet forwarding. Available features include PoE and PoE+, auto provisioning, plus a range of built-in or pluggable options for LAN, WAN, WLAN, G.fast DSL, 4G LTE wireless, 802.11ac wireless, and SFP. Cisco 1000 and 1100 family ISR routers work with Cisco's SD-WAN services for seamless multiple-cloud connectivity, advanced cybersecurity, and cohesive management across hybrid network models of any complexity.

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

The rackmount or desktop ISR 111x-4P/8P routers come with four or eight integrated switched GE ports (two or four provide Power over Ethernet) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing performance is 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1RU or desktop 1111X-8P ISR router has eight integrated GE connections (four with POE) and a port for SFP. Encryption packet processing throughput is 340 Mbps. The ISR 112x-8P router has eight built-in GE ports with PoE and supports SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing throughput is 340 Mbps. Cisco's 1161X-8P ISR router has eight integrated switched GE ports with Power over Ethernet and provides 3G/4G LTE and 1G SFP. Encryption rate is 450 Mbps. Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco Catalyst 8000 family of routers are modular appliances intended to operate at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge to support hybrid network environments that can incorporate multiple public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. All Catalyst 8000 devices use Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and offer expandability, intelligent cybersecurity, and 5G access. Throughput is enhanced using purpose-built silicon, a multicore design, high port capacity, and in-line encryption. Cisco's subscription software suites provide ongoing access to the latest SD-WAN technology and allow unified management with enhanced cybersecurity, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud integration.

Catalyst 8200 Enterprise Branch Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs), delivering higher IPsec throughput and scale, accelerated encryption, plus higher integrated WAN interface density. These one-rack unit appliances are designed to bring Cisco's SASE, Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) and 5G-connection technology to enterprise branches and the enterprise access edge. The Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T router features four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec throughput, and allows 1,500 SD-WAN tunnels. Cisco's Catalyst 8200L platform does not support container-based apps. Cisco's Catalyst C8200-1N-4T router features eight CPU cores, delivers 1Gb IPsec throughput, supports 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and allows edge computing with in-place container architectures. Both devices include a Network Interface Module slot, a Pluggable Interface Module slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN copper interfaces, and two 1G Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable ports. Four-port and eight-port 1 Gigabit Ethernet switch NIM modules are supported by both 8200 routers.

Catalyst 8300 Enterprise Edge Routers
Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to supersede Cisco's 4400 family of Integrated Services Routers, delivering Cisco's secure SD-WAN solution to mid-sized and large enterprise branch offices looking for high WAN IPSec throughput combined with cohesive SD-WAN services. Advanced features include 5G wireless connectivity, built-in cybersecurity, WAN MACSec, enhanced Layer 2 switching, and DPI with application-aware optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers support edge computing for an existing container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules offered on Cisco's 4000 line of ISR appliances. All versions in the Cisco Catalyst 8300 line support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include dual power supplies for high uptime.

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

Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge Routers
The Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed, 1RU aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Built-in features include route processor, ESP, and aggregation hardware for multiple connection options. IPsec performance is double compared to Cisco's prior generation ASR1001-X router. Available connectivity options include 1GE, 10GE, 40GE, and 100GE WAN ports. 8500 Series routers come with dual AC or DC power supplies for improved resilience. Software subscription suites provide continuing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer unified management of security, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.

The Cisco Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is intended to provide a similar experience as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X has four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers as high as 20 Gbps aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 19Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-12X router features 12 integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and supports as high as 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec throughput is up to 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC model includes four built-in 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1G interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 68 Gbps. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C router has 20 built-in SFP+ ports and 6 x 40/100GE interfaces. Cisco's C8500-20X6C delivers as much as 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate throughput. Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's ISR G2 routers are designed to offer branch offices of large businesses with enhanced collaboration, virtualization, protection, and dependable connectivity. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers introduce a design that protects past investments in service modules for first-generation ISR routers and reduces down-the-line expenses by allowing easy upgrades to new modules when they become available. Compared to older ISR routers, Cisco's Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer 2-7 times more throughput, substantially more, and more affordable maintenance. All Cisco Integrated Services Generation 2 routers offer Gbit switching and include multi-core CPUs and ultra-fast fabric for higher performance. ISR Generation 2 routers also support smart power management for improved energy conservation.

A key innovation with ISR Generation 2 routers is the IOS Universal image which contains all of the IOS technology sets so that your company can quickly authorize and activate new features as desired without having to download and transfer a different IOS image over to yourCisco router. Progent's team of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants offer world-class skills to help you to plan, configure, and support multi-location deployments of Cisco ISR G2 routers that improve satellite office efficiency and cut the price of upgrades and support.

Cisco's ISR 800 Series Routers
Cisco's 800 Series of ISR routers has been functionally replaced by the higher performance Cisco ISR 900 family but is still widely used. Cisco's comprehensive line of 800 Series ISR routers consists of desktop appliances designed and priced for small businesses, branch locations, retail venues, teleworkers, and clients of ISPs. Many models in the 800 Series family of routers have been released with various options over many years. Cisco's 881 line of ISR routers exemplifies the vast array of options offered within the Cisco 800 Series line of routers. Models in Cisco's 881 router catalog can support converged media networks by providing voice and video, wireless and data in one integrated router and switch. Advanced security can include encryption, VPN, firewall, and URL filtering. For business continuity, available options for Cisco 881 routers include duplicate wide area network connections or support for wired broadband WAN links such as DSL as well as multiple 3G and 4G wireless WAN connections all built into one appliance.

The baseline Cisco 881 router has a 4-port 10/100-Mbps 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. The Cisco 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router includes 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN fallback with Cisco Survivable Remote Site Telephony. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) license, the Cisco 881 ISR router supports SIP trunk connectivity to replace legacy PRI lines or foreign exchange-office (FXO) voice connectivity to a PSTN service provider. SIP trunks can also connect remote agents in Cisco Call Center deployments.

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers are modular and expandable routers designed for organizations with a large number of branches and offsite workers who need direct access to in-house data centers and public clouds via VPNs and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series delivers the bandwidth required for distributed enterprise sites to support mobile workers, cloud services, and multimedia applications by using wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and traffic-management technology. Models in the 4000 product line run Cisco's powerful IOS XE operating system, come in a 1RU or 2RU package, are able to support as much as 2 Gbps of throughput, and can have up to 3 network interface slots, 2 service module slots, 4 built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. Cisco ISR 4000 models 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 SBC, telephony survivability, and Time Division Multiplexing gateways.

The primary difference between Cisco's 4400 ISR and 4300 Series is the inclusion of dual power supply support in the 4400 ISR Series, providing a higher degree of fault tolerance. Cisco's 4321 ISR Router comes in a 1 RU desktop form factor and includes two network interface modules (NIMs), delivers up to 100 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 240 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's 4331 Integrated Services Router has a 1 RU package with two NIMs, delivers as much as 300 Mbps throughput, and allows up to 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The 4351 ISR Router has a 2 RU package and includes three NIMs, offers as much as 400 Mbps throughput, and can handle 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's power-redundant 4431 ISR Router has a 2 RU package and includes three network interface modules, provides up to 1 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The fault-tolerant 4431 Integrated Services Router has a 2 RU package with three NIMs, offers as much as 2 Gbps performance, 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 service provider routers offer enterprises with high-performance, secure head ends to manage branch office and off-site data packets and to provide carriers cost-optimized WAN edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and service provider router portfolio includes the Cisco ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 Series Aggregation Services routers.

Progent's national team of Cisco CCIE network engineers have extensive experience helping enterprise businesses and ISPs to design optimal deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's WAN edge routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants can provide objective, third-party security inventory evaluations, stealth penetration testing and advanced Security information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions to help companies that use Cisco's Aggregation Services Routers to meet industry guidelines and statutory regulations for IT information protection and reporting. Progent also can provide help with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for pentesting. NodeZero relies on AI technology to streamline the threat evaluation cycle of finding cybersecurity gaps in network perimeters and within the internal network infrastructure, recommending repairs, fixing problems, and verifying successful repairs.

Cisco ASR 1000 WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services family of routers is designed to fill the center of Cisco's midrange devices that focus on acting as headends at the WAN edge. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers offer a small form factor, multi-function solution for enterprises who need branch office service aggregation at multigigabit Ethernet performance. Cisco's ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge routers incorporate an innovative architecture that mixes on-board acceleration with programmable versatility to deliver a rich set of simultaneous services without sacrificing consistent performance.

ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor incorporating 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines (PPEs) that in combination can handle up to 160 concurrent threads. This massive parallelism, combined with on-board acceleration for every service, enables the high-end ASR 1006 WAN Edge router to scale up to 000 hardware queues, 32K subscribers, 4,000 IPsec tunnels at 10,000 sessions per second, and 2M Netflow records. This processing power allows ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers to deliver a variety of advanced services simultaneously in high volume while avoiding throughput decay that might threaten adherence to service level agreements. Examples of these advanced services include Cisco Firewall, IPS, Network Address Translation, Flexible Packet Matching, and in-line deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also permits tiered traffic control for applying multiple levels of Quality of Service to a packet in one operation, improving the user experience for high-bandwidth IP voice and video applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers are intended as edge routers for carriers who need to support world-class data, voice and video services to home, commercial, and mobile users by providing always-on operation, high performance, and application-aware intelligence. All platforms in the Cisco ASR 9000 Series of Aggregation Services Routers run Cisco's IOS XR, a distributed OS designed for continuous uptime. Performance of Cisco's ASR 9000 family of Routers can scale up to 96 Tbps per chassis. the ASR 9000 portfolio of Aggregation Services Routers can handle high-density Gigabit Ethernet (GE), 10 GE, and 100 GE and have redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, and fan trays plus redundant switch fabric.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a provider-edge router that comes in a 6 RU package that delivers 120 Gbps of nonblocking, full-duplex fabric performance. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two modular bays to support port adapters for 1 Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The base chassis incorporates four 10 Gbit Ethernet enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) ports and ports for GPS clocking, BITS, and management. The ASR 9904 Router comes in a 6 RU chassis and provides line-rate 10 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connections in space-constrained environments. The 4-slot ASR 9094 can scale up to 4 Tbps of switching capacity in a single chassis. The Cisco ASR 9912 platform comes in a 30 RU form factor with 12 slots slots able to provide 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The Cisco ASR 9912 incorporates 2 route CPUs and 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy. Ways Progent Can Assist Your Company to Support Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE certified engineers can help your company to plan, configure, and support an integrated network infrastructure that can automate processes, reduce costs, and accelerate time to positive return on investment. By teaming Cisco routers with Cisco Catalyst switches expertise and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless expertise, Progent can dramatically enhance the business value of your information network. Progent can provide in-person and off-site troubleshooting and offers data center support throughout the U.S. To learn additional details concerning Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco networking products, choose a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Support
• Fast and Affordable Online Support from a CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Firepower NGFW Firewalls: Integration and Troubleshooting Support
• ASA 5500-X Series Firewall with Firepower Services: Configuration and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco ASA 5500 Firewall Engineering Expertise
• PIX Firewall Consulting Services
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Support
• Aironet Wireless Access Points Design Help
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 WiFi Access Points Deployment Help
• Cisco Catalyst 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6/6E Access Points Solution Design, Configuration and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Consultants
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Points Deployment Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Integration and Technical Support
• Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Phones and IP Video Phones Expertise and Cisco Wireless IP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber Migration and Support Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Nexus Switches Configuration and Maintenance Services
• Cisco Meraki Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Network Security Consulting Assistance
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP Trunks and CUBE Integration Consulting
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for an At-Home Workforce
• Design Solutions for Cisco-based Datacenters
• Data Center Design Consulting for Internet Service Providers
• Unified Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Solutions for Cisco-based Infrastructure

To get in touch with Progent about engineering expertise for Cisco technology, phone 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.