Effective internet expansion for a business
Written: Jan 02 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Dependable, flexible
Cons: Expensive, difficult to install
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| shawnw's Full Review: Cisco 1600 Series Routers |
Walk into most any company that uses the internet heavily and you will find a Cisco router of some sort directing the network traffic. Cisco routers are legendary for stability and high performance in the router industry, the 1600 series routers do not deviate from this formula. Although not the high end in the Cisco router line of products, the 1600 series have some interesting benefits.
Before we go into detail about the points of the router one may wish to know exactly what a router does. The primary internet protocol (TCP/IP) or the language that computers use to talk to other computers over the internet with, takes data and breaks it up into tiny parts called packets. A routers basic function is to take these little packets of information and help navigate them over the internet to their needed destination, using a set of predefined instructions and maps. Initially this sounds like something that would be reserved for an internet service provider or web server but a router can have useful large to mid-range business applications.
The Specs
Cisco 1600 series routers can connect to your network via a standard 10 base-T or coaxial network connection using adapters. They can handle line speeds ranging from 56kbps all the way up to a T1 (1.54 Mbps). The 1600 series supports Frame Relay, leased lines, Switched 56, Switched Multimegabit Data Service, and the X.25 protocol. One of the interesting features on these routers is the 'run from ram' technology, which takes the routing instructions from a programmed flash card and transfers them to the onboard RAM when they need to be executed. The benefit being if an upgrade or repair of the IOS (routing instructions) is needed, you don't have to take the router offline to do it. Cisco includes everything that you need to connect your router from the WAN/internet line to your network: flash card, power supply, RJ-45 cable to connect to LAN plus generous documentation and software. If you need to protect valuable data and hardware, Cisco offers an additional firewall package that can be used on the router to protect against external attacks.
All casings of the 1600's have a smooth, fluid design with a deep blue color accented by black. The bottom of the casing has various slots on it for easy wall mounting or rubber cushions to lie on a flat surface. The back of the routers feature connection ports, the type of ports you get depend on the number in the series you choose. All come with ports to connect to a WAN and LAN (10 Base-T), but additional ports from ISDN to serial to Frame relay are also included on various models for connectivity to the internet.
WAN?
The 1600 series routers are well suited for implementing or expanding a Wide Area Network (WAN). A Wide Area Network is similar to Local Area Network (LAN), the main difference being that a WAN is stretched over a greater distance, perhaps between cities or states as opposed to a LAN which is usually confined to an office or building. Building a WAN requires more than just a simple hub or switched connection, which is where a router comes in. The 1600 series routers can be used for tying all of the subnetworks of a particular WAN together seamlessly, essentially making it act more like one big integrated network instead of a bunch of small ones. In addition to having your own private WAN you can connect these routers to the rest of the internet, making you a further extension of it.
Reliable
I have used a Cisco 1601 R router with a 56k Frame Relay connection that was linked to 3 other offices in different cities. The office only had 1 small phone company incident that took the office offline for an hour during the course of about a year. I cannot honestly say that I have had that kind of stability with any other kind of internet connection. One thing that can further aid in reliability is to have a good internet service provider to run your internet connection through. Having a bad ISP can result in lack of stability and slow connection rate due to bandwidth bottlenecks, old/bad hardware or both, despite having a good router.
The catch
This seems like a incredible opportunity for a business, nevertheless it has a few problems. To get into this level of internet architecture requires a LOT of money. With the cheapest router in the series starting at about $1500 and toping out at well over $2000 per router (WANs require more than one) this is about the most expensive type of connection available. Add to that a large monthly internet bill for a leased line, frame relay, ISDN or other type of connection, as well as setup of the WAN and you can expect to add another 0 to the end of the internet budget figure.
The other concern with these routers is the difficulty of setup. These routers require professional installation. Each routers IOS must be programmed to work with the existing WAN or connection to the internet. Despite software and documentation that is included to program the router, installation is best left a professional.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
shawnw
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Member: Shawn Wonder
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 1 member
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