Routers & Gateways

The Cisco® ASR 901 Series Aggregation Services Routers are environmentally hardened, high-speed, low-power-consumption routers optimized for any-generation cell-site Radio Access Network (RAN) backhaul and Ethernet access. By using Cisco ASR 901 routers, operators can reduce backhaul operating costs, simplify and converge their RAN and Ethernet access networks, and enhance their profit opportunities with mobile and premium Ethernet services.

RAN cell sites are places of transformation between mobile radio and mobile transport networks. Cost-effective RAN backhaul requires the ability to simultaneously aggregate the transport of traffic from both traditional and new-generation radios across multiple transport options available at the cell site. The Cisco ASR 901 routers are designed to minimize operating costs and optimize this radio-to-transport transformation through scalable time-division multiplexing (TDM) and IP/Ethernet interfaces for any combination of multivendor, multigeneration radios and transport networks.

High-performance networking systems have historically been divided into routing or switching classes, with distinct hardware and software. Over time, this distinction has become less pronounced. This convergence has occurred with the evolution of feature-rich switching chips and routing chips that balance traditional Service Provider (SP)-class capabilities with many benefits of switching Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).

Cisco^® 8000 Series routers complete this journey. They deliver provider-class routing functionality at unmatched density, performance, and power. This enables Cisco 8000 Series to be deployed into an unprecedented range of routing roles - all supported with a single ASIC architecture and operating system - thus streamlining qualification, deployment, and operations.

The Cisco 8000 Series combines the revolutionary Cisco Silicon One^™, IOS XR^®software, and a set of clean sheet chassis to deliver a breakthrough in high-performance routers. The 8000 Series comprises a full range of feature-rich, highly scalable, deep-buffered, on-chip High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)-optimized routers ranging from 10.8 to 25.6 Tbps in a 1 RU footprint. It is also available in an industry leading, rack-mountable modular system capable of 518.4 Tbps of full-duplex, line rate forwarding.

Cisco® ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers aggregate multiple WAN connections and network services including encryption and traffic management, and forward them across WAN connections at line speeds from 2.5 to 200 Gbps. The routers contain both hardware and software redundancy in an industry-leading high-availability design.

The latest additions to the Cisco ASR 1000 Series are the Cisco ASR 1002-HX Router and the Cisco ASR 1001-HX Router. Both new routers support up to 100 Gbps in a 2-rack-unit (2RU) and 60 Gbps in a 1-rack-unit (1RU) form factor, respectively. The ASR 1002-HX has 8 built-in 10-Gigabit Ethernet (GE) ports and 8 1-GE ports, with the Ethernet port adapter (EPA) slot for expansion. The ASR 1001-HX has 4 built-in 10-GE ports, 8 1-GE ports, and 4 configurable 10-GE or 1-GE ports

The Cisco ASR 1000 Series supports Cisco IOS® XE Software, a modular operating system with modular packaging, feature velocity, and powerful resiliency. The Cisco ASR 1000 Series Embedded Services Processors (ESPs), which are based on Cisco Flow Processor™ technology, accelerate many advanced features such as crypto-based access security; Network Address Translation (NAT), thread defense with Cisco Zone-Based Firewall (ZBFW), deep packet inspection (DPI), Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE), and a diverse set of
data-center-interconnect (DCI) features. These services are implemented in Cisco IOS XE Software without the need for additional hardware support.

Cisco ASR 1000 Routers sit at the edge of your enterprise data center or large office connecting to the WAN, as well as in service provider points of presence (POPs). The Cisco ASR 1000 Series will benefit the following types of customers:

• Enterprises experiencing explosive network traffic as mobility, cloud networking, and video and collaboration usage increase: Cisco ASRs consolidate these various traffic streams and apply traffic management and redundancy properties to them to maintain consistent performance among enterprise sites and cloud locations.
• Network service providers needing to deliver high-performance services, such as DCI and branch-office server aggregation, to business customers: Service providers can also use the multiservice routers to deploy hosted and managed services to business and multimedia services to residential customers.
• Existing Cisco 7200 Series Router (end-of-sale) customers looking for simple migration to a new multiservice platform that delivers greater performance with the same design.

The Cisco ASR 9000 Series is an operationally simple, future-optimized platform using next-generation hardware and software. The following are highlights of this next-generation platform.

• The Cisco ASR 9000 System brings increased power and simplicity to the edge, and the ASR 9000v sets the industry benchmark as a virtualized compact carrier-class converged access and aggregation platform. Leveraging Cisco's "network virtualization" or nV Technology, the Cisco ASR 9000 System offers exceptional pay as you grow scale, carrier-class reliability, and simplified service provisioning.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers deliver exceptional scale, service flexibility, and high availability to Carrier Ethernet transport networks. The routers are powered by Cisco IOS XR Software, an innovative self-healing, distributed operating system designed for always-on operation. This is the same operating system that powers industry-leading routers such as the Cisco CRS Carrier Routing System, bringing the same reliability, scalability, performance, and comprehensive features that have made the Cisco CRS the dominant entity in the service provider core. Cisco IOS XR Software also allows for an end-to-end IP/MPLS solution to service provider requirements based on the same software, thereby reducing the operational complexity of managing multiple operating systems. The Cisco ASR 9000 Series further enhances the IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) Carrier Ethernet design for converged, resilient, intelligent, and scalable transport of consumer, business, wholesale, and mobile services.