Cisco 1841 ISR
The Cisco 1841 is an entry-level multi-service branch office router for the fractional or full T1/E1 environment. While it can deliver multiple security services, it has no voice capabilities, and concurrent services may degrade performance. (6/25/2007)

Price: $495

Cisco 2800 Series Routers
The Cisco 2800 series routers are branch office and small to medium-sized business products that offer a plethora of features, making them very threatening in the enterprise access router market. (6/20/2007)

Price: $495

Cisco 2801 ISR
The Cisco 2801 ISR is the company’s entry-level voice-enabled branch office router, but it is lacking in expansion slots, making its deployment at more than the smallest of sites problematic. (6/25/2007)

Price: $495

Cisco 3800 Series Routers
The Cisco 3800 series is very threatening to the branch office routing market due to its high service density and performance which allows customers to maximize their investment in the product line. (6/25/2007)

Price: $495

Purchase Reports Online Purchasing and downloading reports online is quick and easy. 1. Accept the license agreement prepared by our lawyers.* 2. Select the reports you wish to purchase by clicking the "Purchase" button just below the report name and description. 3. Follow the checkout steps on our secure e-commerce site. All information you exchange with the secure site cannot be viewed by anyone else on the Web. All information is confidential and is used for internal purposes only. Under no circumstance will Current Analysis sell or otherwise redistribute this information. We accept the following credit cards: 4. Once your credit card is confirmed, you can download the reports. Reports are in a PDF format. We recommend you view the reports with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 5. Special Offer: If you purchase two or more reports in one category, we will send you a free Head-to-Head product comparison in one business day. More information. Contact us for special requirements. *The license grants rights to a single user for internal business or personal use only. Please contact us regarding licenses for enterprise-wide use, external use, and reprint rights. Contact Information Email: Back to Top

• Sections
  
• - Current Perspective Rating (see definitions)
• - Product Strengths & Weaknesses
• - Product Buying Criteria (see definitions)
• - Product Metrics (see definitions)

Page count: 6-7 pages

Special Offer: Purchase two or more Product Advisors and get a free Head-to-Head product comparison of those products at no cost. Get more information.

Top

• Buying Criteria
  • Total Cost of Ownership
    • The total price of owning the access router is influenced by the base cost of the unit, the cost of the various modules, software licenses, management software, and maintenance contracts.
    Security Integration
    • Integrated security features are the baseline for next-generation routing devices. Competing solutions offer varying degrees of integrated functionality.
  • Advanced IP Services
  • Beyond security applications, some competitors are driving advanced features and functionality directly into the router. These features become tactical selling differentiators in the enterprise and service provider markets.
  • Interface Support
    • Access routers provide a variety of interfaces for connecting to the public WAN and the private LAN. The greater the type of interfaces, the more environments the router can be deployed in.
  • Platform Extensibility
    • The capacity to expand and upgrade the router, add features, and deliver support for new technologies affects the perceived investment protection of the router to the enterprise customer.

• Top

  ---

  Product Metrics (see definitions)
• Hardware Options
  • Inclusive Products
  • Hardware Configuration
  • Fixed WAN Interfaces
  • Fixed LAN Interfaces
  • Modular Slots
  • Modular WAN Interfaces
  • Modular LAN Interfaces
  • Redundant Power
  • System Memory
  • Flash Memory
  • Version
• Routing Features
  • Bridging Support
  • Protocols Routed
  • Routing Protocols
  • QoS Features
  • WAN Protocols
  • Dial Backup Option
• Voice Features
  • Packet Voice (VoIP)
  • Codecs Supported
  • Signaling Protocols Supported
  • TDM Voice Support
  • Voice Interfaces
• IP Service Features
  • Firewall
  • VPN Tunnel Termination
  • VPN Client Termination
  • IDS
  • Anti-virus Scanning
  • Content Filtering
• Encryption
  • Data Encryption Standards
  • Tunneling Protocols Supported
  • Hardware Encryption Acceleration
  • Authentication Methods
• Performance
  • Throughput
• Price
  • Base Price
  • Feature Pricing
  • Back to Top

---

Current Perspective Definitions

Very Threatening: Market leader, major product enhancement, or ground-breaking product alters competitive landscape.

Threatening: Significant product enhancement or a new product that results in stronger market position and a competitive advantage.

Competitive: Solid, but middle of the road market position. Expected to neither gain nor lose appreciable market share, and to be strongest in the installed base.

Vulnerable: Lacks performance, features and/or functionality of competition, overprices for functionality.

Very vulnerable: Technology significantly behind competitors, very limited functionality at very high price points.

 

Product Metrics Defintions

Hardware Options: Features of the access router that are directly related to the form-factor of the device

Inclusive Products: A given access router family often consists of several sub-versions with very small differences in hardware. This field lists the products that are considered to be the same or similar as the named product category.

Hardware Configuration: Describes the physical form factor of the access router

Fixed WAN Interfaces: The number and type of fixed WAN interfaces on the access router

Fixed LAN Interfaces: The number and type of fixed LAN interfaces on the access router

Modular Slots: The number of modular expansion slots available for LAN or WAN connectivity

Modular WAN Interfaces: The types of modular WAN interfaces available on the access router

Modular LAN Interfaces: The types of modular LAN interfaces available on the access router

Redundant Power: Indicates whether the chassis has a method for supporting redundant power supplies (e.g., integrated, dc-connector, none)

System Memory: System memory is used by the access router to store routing tables, provide interface buffering, and is used by the operating system of the router. More system memory allows for more complex networks and applications on the router.

Flash Memory: Flash memory holds operating system code and configuration. Larger flash memory offers investment protection, as new features will require more room for code.

Version: Version of features documented

Routing Features: Features related to the software routing functionality of the access router

Bridging Support: Bridging is the ability to transparently forward traffic without applying intelligence at the protocol layer. Bridging can be useful in supporting non-IP and/or non-routable protocols on the WAN. This field indicates whether or not the router supports bridging.

Protocols Routed: A router operates at the protocol layer, moving and transforming packets from one network to another. This field lists the protocols that the router can route.

Routing Protocols: Routing protocols convey topology information to the router. This field is a list of the routing protocols supported (e.g., RIP, OSPF, etc.)

QoS Features: Quality of Service enables mission-critical traffic to be prioritized if the WAN link becomes congested. This field lists the mechanisms that the access router can use to apply and enforce QoS.

WAN Protocols: An agreed-upon format for transmitting data between two devices on a wide area network. The WAN protocol determines the type of error checking to be used, how the sending device will indicate that it has finished sending a message, and how the receiving device will indicate that it has received a message.

Dial Backup Option: Some access routers include ISDN, V.90, or serial-based dial-backup to maintain network connectivity in the event of a WAN link failure. This field indicates which product(s) in the family include this support.

Voice Features: Features related to supporting voice on the access router

Packet Voice (VoIP): The ability to encode voice traffic into packets in real-time. This field indicates which platforms support packet voice.

Codecs Supported: Packet voice can be encoded using multiple different encoding schemes. This field lists the supported CODECs.

Signaling Protocols Supported: A signaling protocol is used to establish, manipulate, and tear down a packet voice connection with another router or packet voice-enabled device. This field lists the packet voice signaling protocols supported.

TDM Voice Support: Some access routers offer the ability to directly encode voice traffic onto a digital leased line such as a T1. This field indicates whether TDM voice is supported on the platform.

Voice Interfaces

IP Service Features: Features that customers and service providers can use to enhance the security, efficiency, or functionality of the branch office

Firewall: Many access routers support some level of firewalling. This field lists the type of firewalling supported (e.g., packet filter, stateful inspection, or none).

VPN Tunnel Termination: Many access routers offer the ability to terminate one or more VPN tunnels from a corporate office or another site. This field indicates whether this feature is supported.

VPN Client Termination: Some access routers offer the ability to terminate remote access connections locally at the branch office. This field indicates whether the access router can terminate remote (mobile) VPN connections.

IDS: Intrusion Detection Systems provide early warnings of potentially malicious hacker activity. This field indicates whether the access router supports IDS functionality.

Anti-virus Scanning: Access Routers deployed in the branch may need to filter incoming e-mail from the Internet for content safety. This field indicates whether or not the access router can directly or indirectly (through partnered solution) scan incoming mail for viruses.

Content Filtering: The ability to monitor and filter specific URLs or types of traffic is used to control how, when, and where employees can surf. The ability to provide content filtering (directly or via a partnership) on the access router is indicated here.

Encryption: Encryption on access routers primarily applies to VPN tunnel termination capabilities

Data Encryption Standards: Encryption is used to protect data in VPN applications. Encryption is based on standard algorithms. Supported algorithms are listed here.

Tunneling Protocols Supported: A technology that enables one network to send its data via another network's connections. Tunneling works by encapsulating a network protocol within packets carried by the second network. For example, Microsoft's PPTP technology enables organizations to use the Internet to transmit data across a VPN. It does this by embedding its own network protocol within the TCP/IP packets carried by the Internet.

Hardware Encryption Acceleration: Some access routers offer optional or integrated hardware to improve performance of encrypted traffic. This hardware (or option) is listed here.

Authentication Methods: Authentication on access routers deals with the issue of how to determine who to open a tunnel to (and who not to). Because users or other sites are remote and not connected to the LAN, this is typically more problematic than a simple password prompt. Authentication also includes controlling access to the console of the access router.

Performance: Performance is the measurement of how much data the router can process and is a good measure of the overall capacity and headroom the system offers

Throughput: Throughput in Packets Per Second is important because it measures the router's ability to deal with large volumes of protocol traffic (even though that traffic might not be particularly high-throughput)

Price: Prices are given as U.S. List

Base Price: The price of the access router platform and any base software that must be purchased to operate the device

Feature Pricing: If there are options that must be turned on via a license, list that pricing here

Purchase Reports Online Purchasing and downloading reports online is quick and easy. 1. Accept the license agreement prepared by our lawyers.* 2. Select the reports you wish to purchase by clicking the "Purchase" button just below the report name and description. 3. Follow the checkout steps on our secure e-commerce site. All information you exchange with the secure site cannot be viewed by anyone else on the Web. All information is confidential and is used for internal purposes only. Under no circumstance will Current Analysis sell or otherwise redistribute this information. We accept the following credit cards: 4. Once your credit card is confirmed, you can download the reports. Reports are in a PDF format. We recommend you view the reports with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 5. Special Offer: If you purchase two or more reports in one category, we will send you a free Head-to-Head product comparison in one business day. More information. Contact us for special requirements. *The license grants rights to a single user for internal business or personal use only. Please contact us regarding licenses for enterprise-wide use, external use, and reprint rights. Contact Information Email: