Cisco Certified Expert Network Consulting

The current generation of routers usually include L2 switching capability, and many of today's switches have some Layer 3 routing capability. Routers developed by Cisco, the supplier of 90% of the world's routers, have improved dramatically in function and speed and Cisco now makes a comprehensive portfolio that includes routers engineered to meet the needs of users ranging from households to nationwide ISPs.

The latest Integrated Services Routers released by Cisco offer the speed and integrated features to support IP voice and video plus virtual environments while at the same time providing fault tolerance, remote administration, easy scalability, and enhanced security and compliance. Cisco's ISR routers allow your company to establish a solid foundation for an IT environment that can grow seamlessly as you hire new workers, open extra sites, configure new services, extend your system to clients and partners, and build an expanding mobile user base. Progent's Cisco certified CCIE network engineers offer fast and economical online expertise to assist you to plan, deploy, administer, upgrade, and troubleshoot Cisco's most advanced routers and can help you to maintain your legacy routers or migrate non-disruptively to Cisco's current router solutions. Cisco Routers for Home Offices and Small Offices and Branch Offices
Cisco's routers for smaller companies and branch offices offer affordable and reliable no-frills alternatives that allow small groups of users to have secure connectivity to wide area networks. These single-configuration desktop routers include at minimum four 10/100 switched Ethernet with Wi-Fi options and integrated firewall for enhanced protection. Built for simple setup, administration, and troubleshooting, Cisco's small business and home routers reduce total cost of ownership by lowering acquisition and operational investments. Progent's remote support specialists have extensive backgrounds providing immediate and economical technical assistance for small organizations to set up and maintain these routers, and Progent's CCIE network consultants can assist your company to determine whether and how Cisco's small office routers can add to the strategic value of your information network.

ISR 900 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's ISR 900 Series routers are small-footprint, quiet, fixed-configuration appliances designed for small to medium-sized businesses, branch offices, and home offices. These entry-level routers have four managed GE LAN ports and offer Metro Ethernet, LTE, and DSL WAN connections. The ISR 900 router product line provides triple the IPsec performance of the ISR 800 Series routers. All ISR 900 Series routers feature Group Encrypted Transport VPN, dynamic multipoint virtual private network VPN (DMVPN), Cisco FlexVPN, and firewall. VPN performance is up to 250 Mbps. All router models allow up to 50 virtual LANs. Supported dynamic failover technology for high availability and business continuity include Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), and Multigroup HSRP (MHSRP). Provisioning and management can be performed with Cisco Configuration Professional Express, Cisco DNA Center, and Cisco IOS Software. ISR 900 Series routers do not work with Cisco's SD-WAN solution.

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

Cisco Meraki MX Series SD-WAN Security Appliances
The Cisco Meraki MX portfolio of desktop routers combine software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud-based unified threat management in one compact device able to support 50 to 200 users. Each MX router must be licensed to the Meraki cloud. For sites having multiple external network options (e.g., MPLS, fiber optic, cellular), SD-WAN technology permits admins to specify the WAN connection an application should use or to build performance-based algorithms to determine the preferred interface. Cisco Meraki MX fixed-configuration desktop security appliances share key capabilities including:

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

Cisco 1000 and 1100 Family ISR Branch Routers
Cisco 1000 and 1100 family Integrated Services Routers running Cisco IOS XE internetworking operating system are a selection of fanless routers intended to deliver network service, wireless access, and multilayer cybersecurity for small and midsize businesses, enterprise branches, retail stores, customer premises equipment (CPE), and machine-to-machine environments. Parallel processing CPU cores and the ability to run Cisco IOS XE enable these routers to deliver features consistent with Cisco's complete line of modern Enterprise routers. 1000 Series ISR routers are offered with 4 or 8 LAN ports and provide GE packet forwarding. Available features include PoE and PoE+, auto provisioning, plus a selection of built-in or pluggable options including LAN, WAN, WLAN, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 4G LTE Advanced wireless, 802.11 Wi-Fi, and SFP. Cisco 1000 Series ISR routers can be used with Cisco's SD-WAN subscription services for seamless multiple-cloud access, multilayer cybersecurity, and unified monitoring and management across hybrid network models of any complexity.

Cisco's 1RU or desktop 1100-4G ISR router comes with four integrated GE ports, built-in 3G/4G LTE with two LTE SMA sockets, and one micro-SIM plug-in slot. Encryption throughput is 200 Mbps. The 1100-6G ISR router also includes two 1G SFP connections and delivers encryption throughput of 520 Mbps. Cisco's desktop ISR 1101-4P router has four integrated GE interfaces, supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi as well as 3G/4G LTE, and features encryption rates 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 performance is 200 Mbps.

Cisco's rackmount or desktop 111x-4P/8P ISR routers have four or eight built-in switched GE ports (two or four provide PoE) and support VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE wireless, and SFP. Encryption throughput is 280 Mbps. Cisco's 1RU or desktop ISR 1111X-8P router comes with eight switched GE interfaces (four with Power over Ethernet) and a port for 1G SFP. Encryption packet processing performance is 340 Mbps. The 112x-8P ISR router features eight built-in GE interfaces with PoE and features SHDSL, VDSL2/ADSL2+, 802.11ac, 3G/4G LTE, and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing speed is 340 Mbps. Cisco's ISR 1161X-8P router includes eight switched GE interfaces with Power over Ethernet and supports 3G/4G LTE and SFP Fiber. Encryption packet processing performance is 450 Mbps. Cisco Catalyst 8000 Series Branch and WAN Edge Platforms for SD-WAN and Routing
Cisco's Catalyst 8000 family of routers are modular devices intended to work at the enterprise branche and the WAN edge to support hybrid networks that can incorporate a mix of public and private clouds and cloud-hosted applications. Catalyst 8000 routers are powered by Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and provide expandability, intelligent cloud security, and 5G connectivity. Performance is optimized using custom silicon, a multicore architecture, high port density, and line-rate encryption. Cisco's subscription software services provide ongoing access to the latest SD-WAN technology and enable centralized management with enhanced cybersecurity, application-based policies, segmentation, and cloud integration.

Catalyst 8200 Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8200 Series routers are successors to Cisco's 4300 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs), delivering higher IPsec performance and scale, accelerated crypto, plus greater built-in WAN port density. These one-rack unit appliances are built to bring Cisco's SASE, SD-WAN and 5G-connection technology to enterprise branch offices and the enterprise WAN edge. Cisco's Catalyst C8200L-1N-4T router includes four CPU cores, supports 500 Mbps IPsec performance, 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 performance, permits 2,500 SD-WAN tunnels, and enables edge computing with in-place container models. Both appliances include one Network Interface Module (NIM) slot, a Pluggable Interface Module slot, two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces, and two 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Small-Form-Factor Pluggable interfaces. Four-port and eight-port 1G Ethernet switch NIM modules are available for both 8200 routers.

Catalyst 8300 Series Enterprise Edge Routers
Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers are designed to replace Cisco's 4400 family of Integrated Services Routers, providing Cisco's secure SD-WAN technology to mid-sized and large company branch offices looking for high WAN IPSec performance combined with unified SD-WAN services. Advanced features include 5G wireless connectivity, built-in security, WAN MACSec, integrated enhanced Layer 2 switching, and Deep Packet Inspection with application optimization. Cisco Catalyst 8300 WAN Edge routers enable edge computing for an in-place container architecture for Cisco UCS-E modules available on Cisco's 4000 line of ISR routers. All versions in the Catalyst 8300 portfolio support 4,000 SD-WAN tunnels and include dual 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 throughput and IPsec performance of up to 1.9Gbps. The unit comes with a single Service Module plug-in slot, a Network Interface Module slot, and six integrated 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports. The Catalyst 8300-2N2S-6T appliance is a 2RU model that features 8 CPU cores and offers 2G SD-WAN throughput and IPsec performance as high as 1.9Gbps. The model includes two SM expansion slots, two NIM slots, and six built-in 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. The Catalyst C8300-1N1S-4T2X router is a one-rack unit device that includes eight CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN performance and IPsec performance up to 15Gbps. The device includes 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 ports. The Cisco Catalyst C8300-2N2S-4T2X device is a 2RU device that includes 12 CPU cores and offers 5G SD-WAN data rates and IPsec throughput as high as 18Gbps. The unit has two SM plug-in slots, two Network Interface Module slots, two integrated 10-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces, and four fixed 1-Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces. LAN plug-in 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 Series Aggregation Edge Routers
The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Aggregation Edge routers are fixed form factor, one-rack unit aggregation devices for SD-WAN and colocation deployments. Integrated features include route processor, embedded services processor (ESP), plus aggregation hardware for various interfaces and connectivity options. IPsec performance is double compared to Cisco's earlier generation ASR1001-X router. Available connectivity options include 1GE to 100 GE WAN interfaces. These routers include dual AC or DC power supplies for enhanced availability. Software subscription packages provide ongoing access to Cisco DNA Center Software for SD-WAN and routing and offer unified management of cybersecurity, application-based policies, network segmentation, and cloud connectivity optimization.

The Catalyst C8500L-8S4X router is designed to offer the same experience as Cisco's ASR 1000 router. The C8500L-8S4X has four 1/10GE WAN interfaces and offers as high as 20 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 19Gbps. The Cisco Catalyst C8500-12X router includes 12 built-in 1/10GE WAN interfaces and delivers up to 120 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate data rates. SD-WAN IPsec performance can reach 51 Gbps. The C8500-12X4QC aggregation router includes four integrated 1/10GE WAN ports and eight 1G interfaces and can support up to 200 Gbps aggregate throughput. SD-WAN IPsec performance is up to 68 Gbps. The C8500-20X6C high-density router includes 20 integrated SFP+ ports and six x 40/100GE ports. The Catalyst C8500-20X6C delivers up to 500 Gbps Cisco Express Forwarding aggregate performance. Cisco ISR Generation 2 Routers
Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers are designed to provide branch offices of enterprises with advanced collaboration, virtual networking, protection, and reliable WAN access. Integrated Services Generation 2 routers feature a design that protects prior investments in modules for first-generation ISR routers and lowers future expenses by allowing field installation of additional modules as they become available. Compared to previous ISR routers, Cisco's ISR Generation 2 routers feature 2-7 times higher throughput, far greater expandability, and more affordable support. All ISR G2 routers support Gbit switching and include multi-core processors and multigigabit fabric for higher throughput. ISR G2 routers also support smart power management for improved energy efficiency.

A notable advance with ISR Generation 2 routers is the Cisco IOS Software Universal image which includes all of the IOS technology sets so that your company can rapidly authorize and deploy extra features when desired without having to acquire and transfer a new IOS image over to yourCisco router. Progent's group of Cisco-certified CCIE network consultants can provide world-class expertise to help you to plan, implement, and support multi-location deployments of Cisco Integrated Services G2 routers that improve branch office productivity and cut the price of upgrades and support.

Cisco's ISR 800 Line of Routers
The 800 Series of ISR routers has been superseded by the faster Cisco ISR 900 series but remains widely deployed. Cisco's comprehensive portfolio of 800 Series ISR routers is made up of desktop appliances designed and priced for small organizations, branch locations, retail venues, telecommuters, and clients of ISPs. A wealth of models in Cisco's 800 Series family of routers have been released with various options over many years. The 881 line of ISR routers exemplifies the wide array of options offered within Cisco's 800 line of routers. Models in Cisco's 881 Series router catalog can support unified media networks by providing voice and video, Wi-Fi and cellular wireless and data in a single integrated appliance. Advanced data protection can include encryption, VPN tunneling, firewall, and URL filtering. For survivability, available options for Cisco 881 routers include duplicate WAN links or support for landline high-speed WAN connections like DSL as well as multiple 3G and 4G wireless connections all built into one appliance.

The baseline Cisco 881 features a 4-port 10/100-Mbps managed switch that delivers 15 Mbps performance, the ability to handle up to 20 users, 2-port integrated Power over Ethernet, and IPv6 support. Cisco's 881W ISR router includes 802.11g/n Wi-Fi. Cisco's 881 SRST router features 4 FXS ports and 1 FXO port for PSTN failover with Cisco SRST. With a Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) feature 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 carrier. CUBE-based SIP trunks can also support offsite call agents in Cisco Call Center environments.

4000 Series Integrated Services Routers
Cisco's 4000 Line of Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) are compact modular and expandable routers designed for businesses with a large number of branches and offsite workers requiring direct access to in-house data centers as well as public clouds via VPNs and the Internet. Cisco's 4000 series provides the throughput required for hybrid WAN environments to support mobile workers, Cloud-based services, and multimedia applications by utilizing wide area network optimization, deep packet inspection, and advanced traffic-management technology. Devices in the 4000 Series 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 module slots, 2 service module slots, 4 integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet switches, and 8 CPU core integrated server modules. ISR 4000 models support integrated Gigabit Ethernet, T1/E1, T3/E3, PR1, xDSL and other interfaces. To manage unified communications, Cisco's 400o ISR provides comprehensive edge support technology for policy-enhanced SBC, branch telephony fault tolerance, and TDM gateways.

The major difference between Cisco's 4400 ISR and 4300 Series is the inclusion of dual power supply capability in the 4400 ISR Series, offering a greater level of fault tolerance. Cisco's 4321 ISR Router has a 1 RU desktop package and includes two network interface modules, delivers up to 100 Mbps performance, and supports 240 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's 4331 router has a 1 RU package and includes two network interface modules, offers up to 300 Mbps performance, and allows up to 360 Digital Voice and Video Channels. The 4351 ISR Router comes in a 2 RU package and includes three network interface modules, delivers up to 400 Mbps performance, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. Cisco's power-redundant 4431 ISR Router has a 2 RU package with three NIMs, provides up to 1 Gbps throughput, and allows up to 720 Digital Voice/Video Channels. The fault-tolerant 4431 model has a 2 RU package and includes three network interface modules, offers as much as 2 Gbps throughput, and can handle 1200 Digital Voice and Video Channels. Cisco's WAN Edge Routers and Service Provider Routers
Cisco's WAN edge and service provider routers can provide larger businesses with fast, protected distribution points to aggregate satellite office and off-site traffic and to offer service providers cost-optimized wide area network edge solutions. Cisco's WAN aggregation and carrier router product line features the Cisco ASR 1000 product line and the 9000 ASR routers.

Progent's nationwide group of Cisco CCIE network experts have in-depth backgrounds working with global businesses and Internet service providers to plan efficient deployments and seamless expansion of Cisco's midrange and carrier-class routers. Progent's GIAC-certified information assurance consultants can provide objective, independent network security vulnerability assessments, penetration testing and comprehensive SIEM solutions to help companies that use Cisco's WAN aggregation routers to comply with industry standards and government mandates for IT data security and incident reporting. Progent also offers expertise with Horizon3.ai's NodeZero platform for threat assessment. NodeZero relies on AI technology to simplify the vulnerability evaluation cycle of finding security gaps in perimeters and inside the internal network infrastructure, prioritizing remediation, fixing weaknesses, and confirming fixes.

Cisco ASR 1000 Series WAN Edge Routers
Cisco's ASR 1000 Aggregation Services family of routers is designed to fill the middle of Cisco's midrange routers that concentrate on aggregating services at the wide area network edge. ASR 1000 routers provide a small form factor, multi-function solution for large businesses who need branch office aggregation at supergigabit Ethernet performance. ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers incorporate a revolutionary architecture that combines hardware acceleration with programmable flexibility in order to deliver a rich set of concurrent services while preserving dependable performance.

Cisco's ASR 1000 WAN Edge routers include Cisco's proprietary QuantumFlow Processor made up of 40 purpose-built Packet Processing Engines that in combination can handle up to 160 simultaneous processor threads. This multi-processing structure, combined with on-board acceleration for all services, allows the top-of-the-line ASR 1006 Aggregation Services router to expand up to 000 hardware queues, 32K clients, 4K IP security tunnels at 10K sessions per second, and 2 million Netflow records. This CPU power permits Cisco's ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services routers to support a variety of advanced services concurrently in high volume without suffering performance degradation that could violate adherence to SLAs. Examples of these advanced services include Cisco Firewall, IPS, NAT, Flexible Packet Matching, and deep packet inspection. The Cisco ASR 1000 also allows sophisticated traffic management for applying multiple levels of Quality of Service to a data packet in a single pass, improving responsiveness for resource-intensive voice, video, and conferencing applications.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
Cisco's ASR 9000 Series Routers are designed as edge routers for service providers who need to deliver the highest quality HD multimedia services to residential, commercial, and mobile customers by offering always-on operation, high performance, and application awareness. All platforms in the ASR 9000 family of Aggregation Services Routers run Cisco's IOS XR, a distributed OS designed for non-stop availability. Performance of the ASR 9000 line of Routers can scale to as high as 96 Tbps per chassis. the ASR 9000 line of Routers can handle Gigabit Ethernet, 10 GE, and 100 GE and have fully redundant fabric and power supply, power entry modules, plus backup control planes.

The Cisco ASR 9001 platform is a provider-edge router that comes in a 6 RU form factor that delivers 120 Gbps of nonblocking fabric performance. The Cisco ASR 9001 has two bays which can support port adapters for 1, 10, and 40 Gigabit Ethernet. The chassis includes 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 form factor and provides dense 10 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in space-limited sites. The 4-slot router can scale up to 4 Tbps of capacity in one box. The ASR 9912 platform has a 30 RU form factor and includes 12 slots slots able to handle 550 Gbps of switching capacity. The Cisco ASR 9912 Router incorporates 2 route processors as well as 6+1 Fabric Cards for N+1 redundancy. How Progent Can Help Your Company with Cisco Routers
Progent's CCIE and CCNP certified consultants can help your business to plan, configure, and manage a converged network infrastructure that can automate processes, reduce costs, and accelerate time to positive ROI. By teaming Cisco routers with Catalyst switches support and Cisco Catalyst and Meraki Wi-Fi wireless integration, Progent can significantly increase the strategic value of your information network. Progent can provide onsite and remote troubleshooting and offers data center support throughout the U.S. For more details concerning Progent's consulting assistance for Cisco products, choose a subject:

• Introduction to Progent's Cisco Network Support
• Timely Remote Help from a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Consultant
• Cisco Firepower Series Firewalls: Integration and Troubleshooting Expertise
• ASA 5500-X Firewalls with Cisco Firepower Services: Consulting and Management Expertise
• Cisco ASA 5500 Series Firewall Consulting Services
• Cisco PIX 500 Series Firewall Upgrade. Migration Assistance
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Services
• Cisco Aironet Wireless APs Design Expertise
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 Wireless APs Engineering Support
• Catalyst Wi-Fi 6/6E Wireless Access Points Planning, Configuration and Debugging Support
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Integration Consulting
• Cisco Meraki Wireless Access Points Deployment Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Consulting and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Expertise and Cisco Wireless VoIP Phone Configuration
• Cisco Jabber Migration and Support Services
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Deployment Expertise
• Cisco Nexus Switches Consulting and Support Expertise
• Meraki MS Switches Deployment Services
• Cisco VPN and Network Security Setup and Troubleshooting Assistance
• SIP and CUBE Infrastructure Solutions: SIP Trunking and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
• Cisco Duo MFA Two-factor Authentication Services for an At-Home Workforce
• Design Expertise for Cisco-based Datacenters
• Network Optimization Expertise for ISPs
• Centralized Cloud-based and Hybrid Management Solutions for Cisco-powered Environments

If you wish to ask Progent about engineering help for Cisco technology, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.