Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers

Score9.9 out of 10

72 Reviews and Ratings

What is Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers?

Cisco 1100 Series Industrial Integrated Services routers are compact, modular, and ruggedized, with a design that is optimal for mission-critical cases. It offers stronger industrial router security and simplified management with SD-WAN architecture, edge compute, and IOS XE.

Categories & Use Cases

Torgny Holmlund View profile

Network Engineer in Engineering at Skekraft (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

IR1101 is used as DMVPN-spoke routers, it's small router for its size but still powerful, it has an external DC power supply which suits us well, plus 4 Ethernet ports and a WAN port, as well as the option for fiber SFP.

Pros

good performance
the voltage supply has a large voltage range - flexible
Choice for connecting both Ethernet copper and fiber/SFP

Cons

the console port should NOT be a USB Mini !!! , that's the only thing

Return on Investment

quick installation and it's always room for this little router

Usability

Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We were sold this item over an FTD, being told that Secure Equipment Access would be the better way to go over VPN. But has been an uphill battle that took nearly a year and a half before we could even get this thing implemented, and then another year before Cisco would update things enough to give us MFA options.

Pros

reliability in harsh environments
flexibly power options

Cons

useability outside SEA
Cisco CDO integration
eliminate the need for zone based routing to function with SEA.

Return on Investment

Horrible impact to business because the need to be deployed with SEA
functioning strictly as a router it has been reliable in a very hard environment.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Secure Equipment Access and Cisco Catalyst IE3300 Rugged Series Switches

Other Software Used

Cisco Secure Equipment Access, Cisco Catalyst Center, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers ruggedized at outside remote locations with cellular Private Networks for a secure direct connection back to our headquarters. We needed a cellular solution that is only accessible by our personel and not the vendor, with VPN or Private Network connection and for security we encrypt the traffic.

Pros

Easy to configure
Easy to troubleshoot
Easy to mass deploy with copying configurations
Is hardened and handles extreme weather

Cons

I'd like to see an internal only dashboard for visibility of status

Return on Investment

reliable connectivity

Usability

Other Software Used

PRTG Network Monitor

Verified User

Employee in Information Technology (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Return on Investment

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.

Usability

Other Software Used

Cisco Prime LAN Management (discontinued), Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We support a lot of our infrastructure internally, so retail stores, admin offices, garage offices, so pretty much support everything internally.

Pros

It's very stabled. It's very easy on the command line. I love the command line, but I guess if I have to go with the best part is it's very stable product.

Cons

Maybe the cellular module portion of it could use maybe some improvement. That's the only thing that I can think of that might have some issue with every once in a while.

Return on Investment

Very positive. It keeps our network up. Downtime, very, very small.

Usability

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Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers

What is Cisco Catalyst IR1100 Rugged Series Routers?

Categories & Use Cases