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Remote User Access Equipment 409

Synchronous serial--Supports leased lines, Frame Relay, HDLC, and X.25.

BRI--Supports ISDN connections.

Channelized T1 and E1--Support leased lines, dialup, ISDN PRI, and Frame Relay.

T3 or E3--T3 and E3 ports provide direct connectivity to T3 lines for full duplex
communications at the DS3 rate of 44.736 MHz.

No discussion about remote access would be complete without addressing the various
equipment choices available to a CCDP. Let's start with the smaller access routers and work our
way up to the larger-capacity routers.

BRI Routers

The Cisco 1003, Cisco 2503, Cisco 2504, Cisco 2516, and Cisco 2517 products deliver single-
port ISDN BRI service. The Cisco 4000 series with one BRI network processor module (NPM)
delivers either four or eight BRI ports.

NOTE

End of life for the 4000 series has been announced. This will occur roughly around the end of
2003, at which point Cisco will no longer provide support for this device.

The end of life for the 4500 series was also recently announced. This will occur around 2005.
The CCDP needs to maintain an up-to-date record of devices and how long they can be of value
to a company.

PRI Routers

For PRI services, the Cisco 4000 series offers one PRI per NPM, and the Cisco 7000 series
offers up to eight PRIs per Versatile Interface Processor (VIP). Those same eight PRI ports
(RJ-45) can actually be converted to serial ports with the 12.x IOS.

Telecommuter Routers

Cisco provides a choice of telecommuter site equipment, including the 700, 800, 900, 1000, and
1600 series. The telecommuter site needs a router that supports an ISDN BRI connection to an
ISDN network. It must also support an Ethernet connection. Many Cisco routers meet both
these requirements. BRI modules and BRI WAN interface cards have either a BRI S/T or BRI
U interface. An S/T interface requires an external NT1 in the United States and Japan. A U
interface has a built-in NT1. A straight-through patch cable (RJ-45-to-RJ-45 cable), supplied
by the ISDN service provider, is used to connect the ISDN BRI interface to the ISDN network.

87200333.book Page 409 Wednesday, August 22, 2001 2:53 PM