Cisco have launched a new entry point ISR router. This is the Cisco ISR 1000 series, intended as the new entry point for SME connection into the corporate network. It supports lower density remote locations accessing through either an MPLS link or a VPN using the Internet. This isn’t designed to support NFV, but it will support SD-WAN provisioned via the Cisco APIC-EM platform, supporting combinations of MPLS and Internet.
Cisco’s datasheet (Cisco 1100 Series Integrated Services Routers Data Sheet), as well as a supporting blog entry (Introducing a New Era in Branch Routing). The Cisco ISR 1000 series provides:
- Fixed configurations with 4 or 8 port Ethernet ports
- 4GB RAM and 4GB Flash
- Multicore CPU, supported using IOS-XE software
- SD-WAN ready (using APIC-EM, so able to accept a managed IWAN configuration)
- ADSL in various regional combinations
- LTE in various combinations, but supporting a single SIM (and therefore carrier).
- 802.11ac Wifi operating in 2×2 MIMO mode, supporting upto 867MBps connection rates
- Power over Ethernet using an optional adaptor board to provide power supporting both 802.3af (PoE) and 802.3at (PoE+). The adaptor comes in two versions, one which supports 2 ports PoE or 1 port PoE+; and the other uprated version which doubles the capacity to 4 ports PoE or 2 ports PoE+. (I assume this would also support 2 ports PoE and 1 port PoE+, but check before buying)
There is no multi-LTE offering, preventing a dual or multi-LTE provider wireless setup. There are also a lot of combinations of the various connectivity options, so providing a single device across a corporate network will be challenging with all the various combinations.
For service providers, the benefits of supporting the ADSL connection directly in the router are obvious, as it minimises a point of failure in the network chain. As bandwidths increase in future, I think we’ll see the removal of direct ADSL connection, and have a generic Ethernet provision from the carrier. The Cisco ISR 1000 may be the last generation of routers with direct support for ADSL.