Cisco 5000 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 5000) vs Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)

• Preformance
• Stability
• Innovative

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• Layer 3 multicast. It handles the additional load of multicast without issues. Other platforms we have used have had over-subscription issues.
• We've used several MPLS features such as pseudowire using bridge-domains as well as xconnects. Plenty of features to solve any design problem.
• IOS XR. I just love operating in IOS XR. Solve so many problems that exist in IOS.

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• Increased backwards compatibility would allow for more existing or older hardware to be installed within the new chassis if physically possible.
• Streamlined OS upgrades, and the NCS have taken steps to avoid having the reload the entire device when upgrading software, but can be further improved.
• Continued upgrades to hardware results in longer shelf life for the chassis, allowing less frequent purchases and upgrades.

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• Upgrade process overly complicated compared to NX-OS or IOS: new images and the current configuration need to be compiled into "golden IOS's". If you don't include the configuration, you will have a clean device with no config.
• Major bugs in every release. We have had to cycle through all of our routers 3 times in the last year for updates due to show-stopping bugs that did not come to light until after the changes were made in production.
• Terrible documentation. You have to mine their site to get to any documentation for recent versions of IOS-XR. If you make the leap from 32-bit cXR to 64-bit eXR then the documentation is more-or-less non-existent. Due to the internal architecture of hardware itself, technical specs can change from software version to software version, so don't expect any sort of firm scalability numbers. You'll have to rely on your sales engineer for that.

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• The lower power consumption helps in reducing costs, improves efficiency
• Better port density leads to less chassis upgrades, less costly upgrades
• Smaller footprint allows for more devices in the future within available colo space

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• Higher reliability has significantly reduced the need for manual intervention
• Lower downtime ensures better top-line figures
• Although it may be difficult to quantify, I am certain that the higher performance does have an impact (maybe indirectly) on other business functions. High-performance routers are like the oil that keeps an engine running smoothly.

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