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Choosing WAN Equipment 53

For branch offices with integrated voice and data, the 2600 series router would be a good
choice. However, in a data only environment, it cannot offer the port density necessary for a
medium-sized branch office.

Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Router Selection

This is a somewhat newly emerging market. The growing needs of the telecommuter are a very
real aspect of today's internetwork deployments. Cisco offers a couple options with regard to
SOHO deployments. Depending on the company and the needs of the telecommuter, a 2500 or
2600 router could be utilized. However, Cisco's 700, 800, and 1000 series routers can be a more
manageable and ideal solution.

700 Router Series

The options available here are the 760 or 770. These are primarily low-cost ISDN routers. It
should be noted that although these routers are easily managed, they do not run the Cisco IOS.
Therefore, the rules and methods of configuring other Cisco routers do not apply to this one.
This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the preferences of the person performing
the configuration. Users who prefer the IOS command-line interface (CLI) may not like it as
well because it does not respond to the same command structure.

This router is well suited to SOHO use; however, it is limited to ISDN. If ISDN is not the
technology of choice, this may not be the solution for you. The 700 router is addressed in detail
later in this book.

800 Router Series

The 800 series connects small offices and corporate telecommuters to the Internet or to a
corporate LAN through ISDN, serial connections (Frame Relay, leased lines, X.25, or
asynchronous dial-up), IDSL, and ADSL. It also enables customers to take advantage of value-
added services, such as differentiated classes of service, integrated voice/data, business class
security, and virtual private networks (VPNs).

The routers in the 800 series run the Cisco IOS and are a good choice if the needs of the SOHO
include low port density with flexible WAN technology options.

1000 Router Series

The 1000 router series is the LAN extender router series. Routers in this series run Cisco IOS
Software and are capable of implementing technologies other than ISDN. The 1004 router is
used with ISDN, and the 1003 router is used with Frame Relay.