Cisco 1941W ISR G2 Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

Suffix & Variant Breakdown

• C1941W: Base wired router + integrated dual-band 802.11n wireless AP
• -A/K9: FCC-compliant North American Wi-Fi radio variant
• -E/K9: ETSI-compliant EMEA Wi-Fi radio variant
• -SEC/K9: Pre-activated permanent security license bundle
• C1941WDC/K9: 48V DC power input model for telecom/industrial rack deployments

Core Differentiators vs Wired-Only Cisco 1941

1. Factory-built dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n MIMO wireless radio (absent on the base 1941)
2. Two external RP-TNC antenna jacks for expandable wireless coverage
3. Full IOS wireless feature suite: multi-SSID segmentation, WPA2 enterprise security, rogue AP detection, WMM QoS, wireless VLAN mapping
4. Identical wired modular expansion, memory, crypto, throughput, and switching hardware as the standard 1941
5. ISM slot removed to accommodate the internal wireless radio (the wired C1941 retains an ISM slot for application/storage modules)Cisco

2. Hardware Interface & Performance Specifications

Multi-Media WAN Architecture (Dual Fixed GE + Modular EHWIC + USB Wireless Backup)

1. 2 × Auto-MDI-X 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet ports (GE0/0, GE0/1)
   Auto-negotiates 10/100/1000 Mbps full/half duplex; supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, inter-VLAN routing, LACP link aggregation, policy-based routing, and automatic failover between primary/secondary Ethernet WAN uplinks.
2. 2 × EHWIC (Enhanced High-Speed WAN Interface Card) slots
   Accept two single-wide EHWIC/HWIC/WIC/VWIC cards or one double-wide EHWIC-D module, fully backward compatible with ISR 1800 Series modules:
   • Serial synchronous/asynchronous, T1/E1/FT1 integrated DSU/CSU
   • ADSL2+, VDSL2, G.SHDSL broadband DSL WANs (Annex A/M POTS and Annex B/J ISDN)
   • ISDN BRI, analog modem WICs for dial backup
   • 4-port Fast Ethernet switch HWICs for extended LAN segmentation
   • Voice VWICs for analog/digital trunk telephony (requires separate PVDM DSP modules for VoIP/fax relay)
3. 2 × USB 2.0 Type-A host ports
   For external CAT4/CAT6 USB LTE cellular dongles (independent third wireless failover link), USB flash storage for offline config/log archiving, or authentication tokens.

Integrated Dual-Band 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless Subsystem (Unique to 1941W)

• Dual concurrent MIMO radios: 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n + 5 GHz 802.11a/n (2×3 MIMO architecture)Cisco
• Two RP-TNC external antenna connectors; ships with two 2 dBi omnidirectional antennas
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED; supports autonomous AP mode or unified controller-managed CAPWAP mode
• Wireless security: WPA2-PSK, WPA2-Enterprise (802.1X EAP), LEAP, PEAP, TLS, TTLS, WEP
• Multiple SSID segmentation with separate VLAN mapping for staff, guest, and IoT wireless networks
• Rogue AP detection and containment, wireless client isolation, WMM Wi-Fi QoS for voice/video over wireless

Fixed Management & Auxiliary Ports

1. Dual console access:
   • RJ45 serial console port (115.2 kbps max baud rate)
   • Mini Type-B USB 2.0 console port for direct PC out-of-band management
2. RJ45 AUX port: Remote out-of-band management via external analog PSTN modem
3. Power inlet: Standard IEC AC socket (DC variant uses terminal block 48V DC telecom input)
4. Kensington anti-theft lock slot for physical rack chassis security

Memory & Performance Benchmarks

• DRAM: ECC DDR2 memory; default 512MB, maximum expandable to 2GB
• Flash: Dual CompactFlash slots (Slot0 + Slot1); default Slot0: 256MB, max 4GB per slot
• Multi-service throughput: Up to 45 Mbps under mixed voice/data/security/wireless workloads
• Onboard dedicated hardware crypto accelerator: Native AES-256, 3DES, DES IPsec and SSL VPN offloading
• Maximum concurrent site-to-site IPsec tunnels: 200+, scalable with DRAM upgrades
• Supported IOS releases: Cisco IOS 15.x Universal images; feature sets (IP Base, Security, Unified Communications, Data) activated via permanent software license keys
• Voice capacity: Compatible with PVDM2/PVDM3 DSP modules on VWIC slots for VoIP, T.38 fax relay, and multi-party voice conferencing

Physical & Power Parameters

• Form factor: 1U standard 19-inch rack-mount metal chassis with integrated rack ears
• Internal high-efficiency universal AC power supply (100–240V 50/60Hz); DC variant supports 48V telecom DC input
• Max chassis power draw: 130W (AC model)
• Front panel LEDs: System power, fault alarm, dual GE link/activity, EHWIC slot status, USB activity, Wi-Fi radio status, VPN crypto engine health
• Operating environment: Indoor wiring closet / office deployments
  • Operating temperature: 0°C to +40°C below 1800m altitude; 0°C to +25°C above 1800m up to 3000m
  • Relative humidity: 10–85% RH non-condensing
• Acoustic noise: Typical 34 dBA, max 59 dBA under full load
• No native chassis PoE output; PoE-capable EHWIC modules deliver IEEE 802.3af inline power to connected endpoints

3. Cisco IOS Universal Image Feature Suite

Core Routing & Multi-WAN Connectivity

• Full IPv4 routing stack: Static routes, RIP v1/v2, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP
• WAN encapsulations: PPP, HDLC, Frame Relay, PPPoE, PPPoA, ISDN, Dial-on-Demand Routing (DDR) for redundant backup links
• HSRP/VRRP for router failover redundancy; NHRP DMVPN hub-spoke multi-site overlay VPN architectures
• NAT services: Static NAT, dynamic NAT, PAT overloading, NAT64 for IPv4-IPv6 transition
• IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, inter-VLAN routing, LACP Ethernet link aggregation, storm control

Unified Communications & VoIP Features

• Voice call control protocols: H.323, SIP, MGCP, SCCP for Cisco Unified IP Phone integration
• Analog/digital telephony via VWIC + PVDM DSP modules: FXS/FXO/E&M trunk and station line support
• T.38 real-time fax relay, fax passthrough, voice compression (G.711, G.729a, G.726), built-in echo cancellation
• Multi-site dial plans, voice hunt groups, toll bypass to reduce long-distance PSTN telephony costs

Enterprise QoS & WAN Optimization

• Full layered QoS toolkit: Low Latency Queuing (LLQ), CBWFQ, WFQ, WRED, DSCP/802.1p traffic marking
• Link Fragmentation and Interleaving (LFI), cRTP VoIP header compression to minimize voice jitter over slow backup WAN links
• WAN traffic shaping for Frame Relay, DSL, and Metro Ethernet; bandwidth policing for guest/non-business traffic
• NBAR2 next-generation deep packet inspection for application-aware QoS prioritization of business-critical traffic

Integrated Self-Defending Network Security

1. Zone-Based Stateful Firewall (ZBFW): Application-layer deep inspection for HTTP, FTP, SIP, H.323, and other enterprise protocols
2. Embedded IOS IPS signature-based inline intrusion prevention and real-time threat mitigation
3. Hardware-accelerated VPN suite:
   • AES-256/3DES/DES IPsec site-to-site branch tunnels
   • Cisco Easy VPN Remote for centralized security policy push to remote branch locations
   • DMVPN for scalable hub-spoke multi-site overlay networks
   • SSL VPN for browser-based remote worker access without client software
4. AAA security framework: RADIUS/TACACS+, PAP/CHAP, 802.1X wired/wireless port authentication, Network Admission Control (NAC) endpoint compliance
5. URL filtering, dynamic ACLs, anti-DDoS traffic policing, security zone segmentation to isolate sensitive subnets (e.g., POS payment VLANs)

Wireless LAN-Specific IOS Features (Exclusive to 1941W)

• Concurrent dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n MIMO AP operation
• Multiple SSID segmentation with independent VLAN mapping for staff, guest, and IoT wireless clients
• WPA2-Enterprise/Personal encryption, 802.1X EAP authentication
• Rogue wireless AP detection and automated containment
• WMM wireless QoS to prioritize voice/video media over Wi-Fi
• Wireless client isolation to block peer-to-peer traffic between wireless endpoints
• CAPWAP support for centralized wireless management via Cisco WLC controllers

Management, Automation & Operations

• Dual console management: RJ45 serial + mini USB Type-B console port
• Secure remote access: SSHv2, HTTPS, SNMP v3 (backward compatible with SNMP v1/v2c)
• Web-based Cisco Configuration Professional (CCP) graphical GUI for simplified zero-touch provisioning and security policy management
• Syslog event logging, NTP time synchronization for consistent audit log timestamps, RMON traffic statistics collection
• AutoInstall remote configuration download over WAN links
• Dual Flash bank storage for primary and backup IOS image disaster recovery
• USB mass storage support for offline configuration archives and persistent logging
• EnergyWise intelligent power monitoring and idle module power reduction to lower energy consumption

4. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Large retail flagship branch office: Dual GE Ethernet primary/secondary business broadband, universal DSL EHWIC copper backup, integrated dual-band Wi-Fi for segregated employee BYOD and guest wireless access, PoE EHWIC switch module powering dozens of POS cameras and VoIP phones, VLAN segmentation to isolate payment infrastructure from general office traffic, hardware-accelerated IPsec DMVPN tunnels to corporate headquarters for PCI DSS compliance.
2. Regional medium enterprise multi-service edge router: Dual fiber combo Ethernet primary/secondary WAN uplinks, mixed POTS/ISDN DSL copper tertiary backup, USB LTE dongle fourth-layer wireless failover, built-in wireless AP for multi-floor staff and visitor Wi-Fi, LLQ QoS prioritization for business VoIP and video conferencing, ZBFW firewall + IPS threat protection.
3. Multi-building campus central aggregation router: 8-port PoE EHWIC for distributed building surveillance cameras and intercoms, dual redundant fiber WAN backhaul to campus core network, universal DSL copper backup, CAPWAP-managed integrated wireless AP for centralized campus Wi-Fi control, multi-VLAN segmentation for academic, administrative, and guest subnets.
4. Mixed POTS/ISDN DSL carrier managed enterprise CPE: Global dual-standard DSL EHWIC copper access, integrated wireless AP for on-site staff mobility, multi-path WAN redundancy, unified security suite for customer threat protection, DMVPN overlay to carrier central service hub.

5. Standard Package Contents of C1941W / C1941WDC

Separately Sold Optional Accessories

• EHWIC/HWIC/WIC/VWIC WAN and switch interface cards
• PVDM2/PVDM3 DSP voice compression modules for VoIP/fax relay
• PoE-enabled EHWIC modules for inline 802.3af/ePoE power delivery
• CompactFlash memory upgrades (512MB / 1GB / 4GB for dual CF slots)
• CAT5e/CAT6 Gigabit Ethernet patch cords, RJ11 DSL/ISDN telephone line cables
• CAT4/CAT6 USB LTE cellular dongles for auxiliary wireless backup WAN
• USB flash storage drives for offline configuration and log archiving
• High-gain external Wi-Fi antennas for extended wireless coverage
• External PoE injectors for non-PoE endpoint devices

Software Licensing Information

Short Commercial Catalog Summary