Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers Review
Updated March 03, 2025
Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers Review
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
IR 900 Series
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers
Well it's mostly used because it's a Rugged ISE Router. It's mostly used in smaller remote sites, not in an office environment. Generally it's utility company, so they're in car stations and substations and so on. So it's sort of harsher environments don't have normal office temperatures.
Pros
- Well I think we particularly find it was useful because as well as providing traditional networking to the better nets IP connections, it also has modules that support things like digital connections, which you used for various security systems. And then like I mentioned for asynchronous serial, which we use for managing various industrial control scatter type systems. So that was why we picked this particular model.
Cons
- I'm trying to think of any, I mean to be honest, us it's actually quite an ideal product. I think possibly an extra onboard SFP port would be quite useful with some scenarios where we need a WAN and the LAN fiber connection and that would be quite useful. At the moment we have to buy an extra module for that. So I guess that would be the only improvement I suggest really.
- Well it actually is, like I said I mentioned before, it actually is a model that's really suitable for the particular environment we use it in. It certainly allowed us to win some work with quite a large company cause it's offers quite a high level of performance. I mean multiple hundred megs per second performance, but quite a reasonable price point. I think it comes to quite 2000 points per device. It's a lot less than the previous a SR routers that are being used in this environment. It's very flexible too in that it supports DC and AC power supplies, which is great for electricity substation, power station kind environment. So it's definitely lowered the cost per site as well as reducing the number of boxes because it has built in things like digital connections, like asynchronous serial ports, fewer devices, fewer devices to manage less support costs. So it really is definitely suitable device for that type scenario.
We did actually look at several other vendors to rugged com and there was another company, to be honest. I mean their hardware was actually quite similar, but it was mostly actually the software that was the problem. Cisco's is very reliable, very well tested. It's been used for so many decades, but you know exactly what it does and it works perfectly. Testing the other companies, there were always little problems like multiple DM VP NM tunnels from single device multiple BGP pairings within a single VRF problem for some of them. So it really was actually down to Cisco's software That was actually the deciding factor in choosing Cisco in this case. Like I said I mentioned before, it actually is a model that's really suitable for the particular environment we use it in. It certainly allowed us to win some work with quite a large company cause it's offers quite a high level of performance. I mean multiple hundred megs per second performance, but quite a reasonable price point. I think it comes to quite 2000 points per device. It's a lot less than the previous a SR routers that are being used in this environment. It's very flexible too in that it supports DC and AC power supplies, which is great for electricity substation, power station kind environment. So it's definitely lowered the cost per site as well as reducing the number of boxes because it has built in things like digital connections, like asynchronous serial ports, fewer devices, fewer devices to manage less support costs. So it really is definitely suitable device for that type scenario.
Do you think Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers again?
Yes
Using Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers
50 - Covering network architecture, design and field engineering.
We are a managed services provider and do IT services work for utility companies so deploy rugged routers and switches for customers regularly. I work in the architecture and design team, we've a team of about 15 network designers plus field engineering staff.
We are a managed services provider and do IT services work for utility companies so deploy rugged routers and switches for customers regularly. I work in the architecture and design team, we've a team of about 15 network designers plus field engineering staff.
30 - These staff covers a mixture of:
- NOC staff providing monitoring and first line support
- Network engineering staff providing technical support
- field engineering staff providing remote hands and eyes
- Separate to the above would be network design who would provide some amount of occasional support / point of escalation.
- NOC staff providing monitoring and first line support
- Network engineering staff providing technical support
- field engineering staff providing remote hands and eyes
- Separate to the above would be network design who would provide some amount of occasional support / point of escalation.
- Deployed in remote sites with unregulated environmentals
- Used to manage IP and non-ethernet services (e.g. serial, electronic sensors)
- Encryption of traffic over transit networks
- For security sensors such as door sensors for security monitoring
- 5G connectivity is very useful as a low cost backup option
- Serial SCADA connections
- If a 1U rack mounted version with a similar price-point were available, it would be useful in a greater range of sites.
- If small analogue voice cards were available, they could be deployed in other types of sites
- If the serial connection was supported by SD-WAN, we would be able to offer a customer keen on SD-WAN that as an option.
Evaluating Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers and Competitors
Yes - Cisco 4000 series, this fitted the end customer's requirement for extended temperature ranges, humidity and DC power which the 4000 series did not. The only missing option, without going for a much more expensive router, was dual PSUs for resiliency. Additional modules are inexpensive for this model which helped selecting it.
Competitors did not fully support required features like DMVPN, serial connectivity, 5G or BGP functions.
Competitors did not fully support required features like DMVPN, serial connectivity, 5G or BGP functions.
- Integration with Other Systems
- Ease of Use
Having staff who are trained on the use of Cisco routers means we can deploy them knowing they will be supported by existing staff.
Before mention price point and flexibility of LAN support (serial, ethernet and digital sensors).
The possibility of future SD-WAN support is something the customer is keen on.
Before mention price point and flexibility of LAN support (serial, ethernet and digital sensors).
The possibility of future SD-WAN support is something the customer is keen on.
I don't think we would change our evaluation process as this model still appears to be the correct one for this environment. The cheapness of the model meant we were considerably cheaper than our competitors for up-front costs and on-going support. The ability to provide feature parity with existing cisco routers plus the ease of quickly re-deploying existing configuration is very useful.
Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was a major issue with the implementation - The change issues weren't related to it being a cisco device, it was purely down to the nature if the downtime of switching between the old and new routers. The confidence of it being a "copy and paste" exercise to upgrade meant the risk was perceived and being lower than changing router vendors.
- The different presentation of the serial port compared to the older model, as an adapter was required
- Rack space due to the different form factor compared to a rack mounted unit.
Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
We buy support via a partner so are buying partner support, so cisco support is with them in the first instance.
For hardware support we keep a sufficiently large stock of spares in various locations so the SLAs for hardware are of little importance, so a lower hardware replacement SLA is purchased.
For hardware support we keep a sufficiently large stock of spares in various locations so the SLAs for hardware are of little importance, so a lower hardware replacement SLA is purchased.
We've had issues with Cisco products where we required assistance with some obscure issues, the ability to phone Cisco raise a high priority issue and get someone available straight away is hugely valuable. Knowing someone is available when needed helps staff who feel under pressure and speeds the resolution of issues.
Using Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Convenient Feel confident using | Requires technical support Lots to learn |
- DMVPN configuration deployment
- Serial port configuration
- 5G configuration is still a little obscure
Yes - The speed compared to a mobile phone sitting beside it is slow, about 50% of the speed. The customer found this issue as well as us during their testing, despite a larger antenna being used than on the phone. The same SIM and location were used for both tests and it was a consistently much slower speed.
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