Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 1000) vs Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)

Likelihood to Recommend

This is effective for businesses who need a network solution that works more or less out of the box, without having to coordinate multiple additional devices in the configuration process. Correspondingly, users with needs for more advanced functionality or configurability, or modification may benefit from a different model or different product line.

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Verified User

Professional in Legal

Law Practice Company, 51-200 employees

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Well suited for10G aggregation at network edge. Small managed networks such as school districts or distributed enterprise campus. Not well suited to RPHY aggregation at network core — queuing in NCS540 results in jitter and poor RPHY performance. Allow port license purchases in smaller units. Better support for SLA performance monitoring capabilities would allow use as a box for 10G aggregation for Carrier Ethernet NNI handoff.

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Ben Wiechman

Director of Network Strategy and Engineering

ArvigTelecommunications, 501-1000 employees

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Pros

Seem to be well made and quality hardware and software
Setup is simple and has a great wizard for initial config
Well priced for a product in its category

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Switching.
Routing.
Access.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Telecommunications Company, 11-50 employees

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Cons

Possibly higher port count on built in switch.
External WiFi antenna connection to allow bigger WiFi coverage.
More robust wall mount setup using screw slots, currently only 2.

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Jurek Plona

IT Infrastructure Planner/Architect

FortisBC Energy Inc.Utilities, 1001-5000 employees

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MPLS feature set on NCS520
Full support for RFC2544, Y.1564 across the product line
Greater clarity of the impact of smaller buffers on NCS540 when compared to other Qumran chipsets — some use cases like RPHY aggregation at network core are not a good fit.

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Ben Wiechman

Director of Network Strategy and Engineering

ArvigTelecommunications, 501-1000 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

—

Likelihood to Renew

Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 1000) 9.1

Based on 2 answers

They have proven themselves to be flexible, reliable and are a leader and standard in the industry.

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David East

Director - Network Services

Build-A-Bear WorkshopRetail, 5001-10,000 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Usability

Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 1000) 8.2

Based on 3 answers

I would rate these routers useability as 9/10 - I've designed and deployed Cisco solutions for the last 20 or so years, so, therefore, know what I am buying and try to get an understanding of the capabilities before deploying. The Cisco 1000 series Integrated Service Router is a rock-solid investment with great throughput "out of the box".

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Simon Watkins

Senior Network Consultant

Sure / Sure InternationalTelecommunications, 201-500 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 1000) 8.7

Based on 8 answers

With any Cisco product, you are very well supported by the Technical Assistance Centre (TAC). This is one of the major plus points when selecting Cisco networking products - working in IT for the last 20years you soon appreciate that it is impossible to know everything and that there are people within Cisco you can lean-on when you need assistance.

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Simon Watkins

Senior Network Consultant

Sure / Sure InternationalTelecommunications, 201-500 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Implementation Rating

Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 1000) 9.1

Based on 2 answers

Train and practice!

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Eric Parks

Network Engineer

JacobsGovernment Relations, 10,001+ employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Alternatives Considered

We have used DLink and Fortinet Routers. I find Cisco superior in management, reliability and overall network performance over the two. I will say Fortinet has not experienced any failures and does provide very similar functionality, I simply find Cisco to be my preferred Router hardware. I further base this on support. When things go wrong and they often can in networking, they Support team is excellent in helping identify and resolve the issue quickly

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Dave King

Director of IT

Preis PLCLaw Practice, 51-200 employees

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Higher 10G port density on NCS540Availability of 25G/40G/100G provides greater flexibilityGood choice when full line rate is not neededGood choice when full capabilities of ASR9000 are not required

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Ben Wiechman

Director of Network Strategy and Engineering

ArvigTelecommunications, 501-1000 employees

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Return on Investment

Once they are installed they just work. Even when a device enters EOL/EOS they keep chugging along.
Good lifetime - they don't retire models so often that you can't keep up.
Good extended support, this allows us to keep them in place as long as possible (or practical) and increases our ROI.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Relatively low cost access layer device.
Very cost effective means of getting 10G interfaces.
Some features available on other devices out of the box are more complex or absent on the NCS without licensing or assistance.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Telecommunications Company, 11-50 employees

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