A Look At Cisco's ISR G2 Portfolio Refresh

Cisco on Tuesday began the drumbeat for Borderless Networks, the networking titan's new network infrastructure architecture that it says will help partners be able to deliver networking and collaboration services faster and more efficiently than ever before.



As part of a five-phase update for Borderless, Cisco also unveiled a refresh of its Integrated Services Router (ISR) portfolio, dubbed ISR G2 -- Generation 2. Among other features, Cisco said the products offer a better platform for video -- a crucial component of Cisco's infrastructure plans going forward.





The individual router products in the new portfolio are seen at left. Here's a quick look at specs and pricing for each piece.

The 1900 series router, the Cisco 1941, starts at $1,595. Specs-wise, the router offers 802.11n wireless LAN capabilities and security, switching and wireless in a desktop form factor.

Cisco's midrange router for the ISR G2 refresh, the 2900 Series, adds to the security, switching and wireless LAN capabilities of the 1900 series by offering unified communications, video and other applications and also investment protection. The 2900 series routers start at $1,995.

The 3900 series, which Cisco intends as its ISR G2 portfolio flagship, offers investment protection, cost-of-ownership savings, and the entire range of security, switching, UC, video, wireless, WAN optimization and other application services offered in part by the lower-end G2 routers. The 3900 series routers start at $9,500.

The whole refreshed ISR G2 portfolio also includes Cisco's IOS Release 15.0(1)M, a software update to make security, voice and IP services more user-friendly and allow existing enterprise networks to upgrade to Cisco's Borderless Networks services faster.



Beyond the ISR G2 routers, Cisco is also offering services-ready engine modules starting at $1,000, video-ready DSP modules starting at $800 and Etherswitch modules starting at $1,295. Another portfolio update is an Aggregation Services Router, the ASR 1002-F, to deliver WAN aggregation for private WAN and Internet Edge capability on Borderless Networks.



The base price for Cisco's ASR 1002-F chassis -- a fixed configuration version of the ASR 1000 series -- is $20,000.