Cisco 900 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR) vs Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V Series (CSR 1000V)

Likelihood to Recommend

No problems with any of the Cisco 900 Series [Integrated Services Routers] (ISR) platform features within the enterprise environment. Because these devices are running a version of IOS-XE as opposed to traditional IOS, some of the more 'basic' configurations can become more complex. In the end, the 900 Series is still able to provide the required functionality, but there is a learning curve.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Telecommunications Company, 11-50 employees

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If you just need to do simple communication to Azure such as smb and rdp sessions then the Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V Series is overkill. If you need to setup multiple mesh vpn connections to existing ISRs and have complicated routing with multiple protocols then Cisco Cloud Services Router makes that setup much easier and less work to maintain and troubleshoot.

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Ryan Lee

Enterprise Infrastructure Supervisor

KLJCivil Engineering, 501-1000 employees

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Pros

[It] works great full-featured, but [I recommend a] small router for remote sites.
[It] can handle more traffic than it even advertises!
[It has a] well-priced option for smaller or less critical sites.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 501-1000 employees

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Easy and available to download with a CCO account.
Full-featured router platform.
Can run as many instances as you have memory to handle.
No issues so far running in VMWare player 14.0.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 10,001+ employees

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Cons

[It has a] pay as you grow model of licensing, but, [in my opinion, is] a pain to implement.
[The] service impacting license application [could be improved].
Configuration complexity [could be improved].

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Telecommunications Company, 11-50 employees

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More integration with the switching
A dynamic approach for software updates
More automation features and APIs

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Professional Training & Coaching Company, 1001-5000 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

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

—

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Catalyst Switches are technically faster and easier to deploy but don't provide the same flexibility when it comes to 10Gbps services or advanced routing. There are corner cases where having IOS-XE on the 900 series ISRs provides the functionality required for complex applications whereas the Catalyst cannot. Having the option to scale the number of active ports on the 900 series ISR helps in keeping costs at an appropriate level.

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Telecommunications Company, 11-50 employees

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Neither product supported all the protocols we needed to allow all of our locations to route. It does add some complications to the gateway and vnet setup though. Once we retired our ISRs we were able to go to Meraki vMX and the auto-vpn setup works rather well and is much simpler than IOS configs

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Ryan Lee

Enterprise Infrastructure Supervisor

KLJCivil Engineering, 501-1000 employees

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Return on Investment

Lots of money saved in downgrading from less useful and older full-sized routers at small sites
Time saved having to learn new commands (web GUI works great)
Saves time training staff to manage them

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 501-1000 employees

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I don't need to use outdated hardware for testing.
Don't need a dedicated power feed to spin up a usably-sized network.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Hospital & Health Care Company, 10,001+ employees

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Cisco 900 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR) vs Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000V Series (CSR 1000V)