Routers & Gateways

The Cisco® 900 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) combine Internet access, comprehensive security, and wireless services in a single high-performance device that is easy to deploy and manage. They are well suited for deployment as Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) in enterprise small branch offices and in service provider managed services environments.

Cable operators have seen exponential growth in broadband traffic in recent years. According to industry reports, Downstream and Upstream traffic grew significantly annually for the past several years. Even after many years of high rates of traffic growth, the pace continues. Much of this growth is due to the consumption of video, which accounts for a significant and growing percentage of bandwidth used in Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) networks.

Cisco® Converged Broadband Router-8 (cBR-8) is the next generation, highly available, fully redundant, terabit-capable converged cable access platform (CCAP) from Cisco. It allows cable operators to deliver more bandwidth, higher service tiers and greater agility in deploying new applications and services, while minimizing operational expenses, power requirements, and rack space requirements in cable head-ends.

With industry-leading density and the capability to converge DOCSIS data, MPEG video, and IP video onto a single system, the Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Router provides cable operators with a simple, cost-effective path to a full CCAP and the all-IP infrastructure. In addition to new DOCSIS® and optical networking capabilities, the Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Router will also be capable of applying Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and virtualization technologies to virtualize, integrate, and automate the access architecture of cable operators.

Stay One Step Ahead of Bandwidth Demand

There are at least 32 channels of DOCSIS 3.0 QAM channels and DOCSIS 3.1 (OFDM) blocks per Service Group. That's what cable multiservice operators (MSOs) report they need to handle growing bandwidth requirements with gigabit and higher services. DOCSIS 3.1 promises higher spectral efficiency (30-50 percent) but also places a heavier demand on the head-end equipment in terms of power, cooling, and bandwidth requirements.

Cisco has seen that cable MSOs are also aggressively pursuing a strategy to converge legacy MPEG services with DOCSIS high-speed Internet services to maximize the benefits of the transition to CCAP architectures. Furthermore, MSOs are considering fiber deep architectures (Remote-PHY in the Fiber Node) as well hub consolidation solutions (Remote-PHY Shelf) to position themselves to compete effectively against fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) over-builders (such as Google Fiber). A hub consolidation strategy opens new vistas for MSOs to consider virtualizing cable modem termination systems (CMTS) and CCAP functions on server farms in the data center and to think about newer ways of orchestrating and managing their networks through SDN technologies.

MSOs need a next generation CCAP solution that can not only solve today's bandwidth demands in a cost effective and efficient way but also includes an architecture that can evolve as the HFC plant evolves. They need a platform that is ready for the challenges posed by DOCSIS 3.1 and the convergence of video and data and can provide disruptive technologies like SDN to simplify network management and orchestration. They need the Cisco cBR-8.

Cable operators have seen exponential growth in broadband traffic in recent years. According to industry reports, Downstream and Upstream traffic grew significantly annually for the past several years. Even after many years of high rates of traffic growth, the pace continues. Much of this growth is due to the consumption of video, which accounts for a significant and growing percentage of bandwidth used in Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) networks.

Cisco® Converged Broadband Router-8 (cBR-8) is the next generation, highly available, fully redundant, terabit-capable converged cable access platform (CCAP) from Cisco. It allows cable operators to deliver more bandwidth, higher service tiers and greater agility in deploying new applications and services, while minimizing operational expenses, power requirements, and rack space requirements in cable head-ends.

With industry-leading density and the capability to converge DOCSIS data, MPEG video, and IP video onto a single system, the Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Router provides cable operators with a simple, cost-effective path to a full CCAP and the all-IP infrastructure. In addition to new DOCSIS® and optical networking capabilities, the Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Router will also be capable of applying Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and virtualization technologies to virtualize, integrate, and automate the access architecture of cable operators.

Stay One Step Ahead of Bandwidth Demand

There are at least 32 channels of DOCSIS 3.0 QAM channels and DOCSIS 3.1 (OFDM) blocks per Service Group. That's what cable multiservice operators (MSOs) report they need to handle growing bandwidth requirements with gigabit and higher services. DOCSIS 3.1 promises higher spectral efficiency (30-50 percent) but also places a heavier demand on the head-end equipment in terms of power, cooling, and bandwidth requirements.

Cisco has seen that cable MSOs are also aggressively pursuing a strategy to converge legacy MPEG services with DOCSIS high-speed Internet services to maximize the benefits of the transition to CCAP architectures. Furthermore, MSOs are considering fiber deep architectures (Remote-PHY in the Fiber Node) as well hub consolidation solutions (Remote-PHY Shelf) to position themselves to compete effectively against fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) over-builders (such as Google Fiber). A hub consolidation strategy opens new vistas for MSOs to consider virtualizing cable modem termination systems (CMTS) and CCAP functions on server farms in the data center and to think about newer ways of orchestrating and managing their networks through SDN technologies.

MSOs need a next generation CCAP solution that can not only solve today's bandwidth demands in a cost effective and efficient way but also includes an architecture that can evolve as the HFC plant evolves. They need a platform that is ready for the challenges posed by DOCSIS 3.1 and the convergence of video and data and can provide disruptive technologies like SDN to simplify network management and orchestration. They need the Cisco cBR-8.

The CGR 1000 Series Routers are ruggedized, modular platforms on which utilities and other industrial customers can build a highly secure, reliable, and scalable communication infrastructure. The products are certified to meet harsh environmental standards. They support a variety of communications interfaces, such as Ethernet, serial, cellular, WiMAX, radio-frequency (RF) mesh, and power line communications (PLC).

The Cisco CGR 1000 Series run Cisco IOS® Software, the operating system powering millions of Cisco routers worldwide. Grid operators gain the benefits of Cisco IOS Software's wide variety of Layer 3 services such as FlexVPN. The distributed intelligence capabilities of the CGR 1000 Series allow customers to run 3rd party applications such as application protocol translation, distributed data processing and filtering, and application security on the routers dire ctly leveraging Cisco IOx - an open, extensible environment for hosting applications at the network edge.

The Cisco CGR 1000 Series includes two platforms, shown in Figure 1: The Cisco 1120 Connected Grid Router (CGR 1120), which is designed for indoor deployments; and the Cisco 1240 Connected Grid Router (CGR 1240), which is a weatherproof router in a NEMA Type 4 enclosure for outdoor deployments.

Connected Grid Field Area Network Solution and CGR 1000 Series

Utilities all over the world are transitioning their grids from transmission to consumption. Regulatory mandates are driving initiatives around smart metering, grid reliability, and the integration of solar and wind farms into the distribution grid. The situation imposes a unique set of challenges for utilities to build a bidirectional communications field area network (FAN) that enables these diverse applications and also scales across millions of endpoints.

The Cisco Connected Grid FAN solution has been specifically developed to meet these challenges, using design principles from industry-leading Cisco GridBlocks™ architecture. Under the GridBlocks architecture, a typical communications network for the distribution grid is a two-tier architecture with a neighborhood area network (NAN) and a wide area network (WAN).

The NAN provides network connectivity to endpoints such as smart meters, street lights, and other environmental sensors. These endpoints form a mesh network based on radio-frequency (RF) or power-line communications (PLC) technologies. The mesh network is aggregated at a CGR 1000 mounted on poletops or in secondary distribution substations. The CGR 1000 can also aggregate locally connected devices for distribution automation (DA). The WAN tier provides network connectivity from the CGR 1000 to the utility's control center over a public cellular network, a utility-owned (private) WiMAX or WiFi network, or an Ethernet fiber network.

The Cisco® 1000 Series Connected Grid Routers (CGR 1000 Series) are versatile communications platforms built to meet the communication infrastructure needs of industrial verticals such as utilities, energy, and smart cities. These routers allow utilities to integrate multiple applications, such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), distribution automation (DA), integration of distributed energy resources (DER), and remote workforce automation onto a single platform. The CGR 1000 Series supports outdoor wired and wireless sensor networks, enabling applications such as street lighting, smart parking, and other smart city applications.

Product Overview

The CGR 1000 Series Routers are ruggedized, modular platforms on which utilities and other industrial customers can build a highly secure, reliable, and scalable communication infrastructure. The products are certified to meet harsh environmental standards. They support a variety of communications interfaces, such as Ethernet, serial, cellular, WiMAX, radio-frequency (RF) mesh, and power line communications (PLC).

The Cisco CGR 1000 Series run Cisco IOS® Software, the operating system powering millions of Cisco routers worldwide. Grid operators gain the benefits of Cisco IOS Software's wide variety of Layer 3 services such as FlexVPN. The distributed intelligence capabilities of the CGR 1000 Series allow customers to run 3rd party applications such as application protocol translation, distributed data processing and filtering, and application security on the routers directly leveraging Cisco IOx - an open, extensible environment for hosting applications at the network edge.