The Cisco Aggregation Services Router (ASR) series of routers are modular routers produced by
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...
. The highest end of the lineup, the ASR 9000 series, is intended for
service provider (SP) core networks.
History
Networking equipment was traditionally categorized by functionality as being either a
switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
or a router. Switches bridged (transmitted) L2/
Ethernet
Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
traffic, and a router forwarded (transmitted and routed) L3/
IP traffic. As products became more sophisticated, the distinction between a switch and a router became blurred as high-end switches began to route traffic in addition to bridging, and likewise routers began to perform L2 switching. At the same time, the enterprise market was diverging from the service provider market. Though still maintaining the terms switch and router in their product names, Cisco divided their high-end networking products by market. However, many enterprise customers chose equipment Cisco categorized under the banner of being intended for service providers, and vice versa.
Prior to the ASR 9000 series, Cisco's high-end SP product portfolio consisted of the
CRS-1, the
GSR, and the
7600 (and the
6500). The ASR 9000 series devices are the successor to both the GSR and the 7600. When the CRS-1 is deployed in a large network at the core, the ASR 9000 complements it on the edge; both run IOS-XR. In 2011, Cisco announced capacity upgrades and support of network Virtualization (nV) capabilities for the ASR 9000. In 2011, the ASR 9000 was awarded "Best Carrier Ethernet Aggregation Product" at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress.
Models
ASR 900 series
The ASR 900 series is a chassis-based modular router that runs the
Cisco IOS XE Linux-based operating system.
ASR 920 series
The ASR 920 series is a chassis-based modular router running Cisco IOS XE.
ASR 1000 series
The ASR 1000 series is chassis-based modular router running Cisco IOS XE.
ASR 9000 series
Cisco ASR 9000 series routers are
routers designed for the service provider market. It runs the
IOS XR Linux-based operating system.
Its major characteristics are:
* IOS XR uses a less verbose configuration syntax compared to
Cisco IOS and
Cisco IOS XE
* Designed for
Metro Ethernet networks
* Designed for video and other high bandwidth applications
* Supports a variety of interface types, those commonly used by Service Providers
IOS XR release support
References
{{Cisco Systems
Routers (computing)
Cisco products