Cisco 2801 Integrated Services Router (ISR 2800 Series) Full Product Description

1. Short Overview

Naming & Variant Breakdown

• CISCO2801/K9: Standard AC-powered base router with IP Base IOS, crypto-capable K9 image
• CISCO2801-AC-IP/K9: AC variant with integrated PoE power distribution for IP phones
• CISCO2801-DC/K9: 48V DC telecom-grade power model for central office rack deployments
• Bundled variants: 2801-ADSL/K9, 2801-SHDSL/K9 (preloaded DSL HWIC for broadband branches)
• -HSEC/K9: High-security bundle pre-equipped with AIM-VPN encryption module

Core Differentiators vs Cisco 2691 (Legacy 2600 Flagship)

1. Up to 5x improved multi-service throughput for mixed voice, firewall, and VPN workloads
2. Dedicated onboard PVDM DSP slots (2 slots) for VoIP/fax, no need to consume external expansion slots for voice processing
3. Two independent internal AIM daughtercard slots (2691 only has one AIM slot) for parallel encryption + compression acceleration
4. New HWIC high-performance WAN slot standard alongside legacy WIC/VIC/VWIC backward compatibility
5. Native USB 1.1 port for authentication tokens and offline config storage
6. CompactFlash external storage slot (replaces old SIMM Flash on 2600 series)
7. No large NM Network Module slot (2801 does not support NM/NME high-density voice trunk modules)

2. Hardware Interface & Physical Specifications

Modular Expansion Architecture

1. 4 External Interface Card Slots (Front Panel)Cisco
   • Slot 0: Dedicated VIC/VWIC voice-only slot
   • Slot 1–3: Universal slots supporting HWIC, WIC, VIC, VWIC
   • Two slots accept double-wide HWIC-D high-bandwidth modules
     Supported module types:
   • HWIC: ADSL2+, VDSL2, G.SHDSL, serial, Ethernet switch HWICs
   • WIC: ISDN BRI, synchronous/asynchronous serial, analog modem WICs
   • VIC/VWIC: FXS/FXO/E&M analog voice, T1/E1 multi-flex trunk voice cards
2. 2 Internal PVDM DSP Slots (Motherboard)
   Host Packet Voice Digital Signal Processor modules to handle VoIP codecs, T.38 fax relay, multi-party conferencing without occupying external card slots.
3. 2 Internal AIM (Advanced Integration Module) Slots
   Dual AIM slots support parallel offloading: AIM-VPN/EPII encryption, AIM-ATM SAR processing, AIM-COMPRESS data compression to reduce CPU load.

Fixed Built-in Rear Panel Ports

1. 2 × Auto-MDI-X 10/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet (FE0/0, FE0/1)
   Auto-negotiates 10/100 Mbps full/half duplex; supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN trunking, inter-VLAN routing, LACP link aggregation for internal LAN segmentation.
2. RJ45 Serial Console port (115.2 kbps max baud) – local out-of-band CLI management
3. RJ45 AUX port – remote emergency access via external PSTN analog modem
4. 1 × USB 1.1 Type-A port – secure crypto tokens, USB flash for config backup/log storage
5. External CompactFlash (CF) slot – removable storage for IOS images, configs, logging
6. IEC AC power inlet (DC variant uses 48V terminal block power input)
7. Chassis ground lug + Kensington anti-theft lock slot for rack physical security

Memory & Performance Benchmarks

• Processor: 240 MHz multi-task RISC core with dedicated crypto FPGA acceleration
• Default DRAM: 128MB; maximum expandable DRAM: 384MB
• Default Flash: 64MB CompactFlash; maximum supported Flash: 256MB CF card
• Multi-service mixed voice/data/security throughput: Up to 30 Mbps aggregate
• Onboard hardware crypto engine + AIM-VPN offload support: AES-256, 3DES, DES IPsec, SSL/TLS VPN acceleration
• Maximum concurrent site-to-site IPsec tunnels: Up to 150 (scalable via DRAM and dual AIM crypto modules)
• Supported IOS releases: Cisco IOS 12.3T, 12.4 mainline / 12.4T universal images; feature sets unlocked via software licenses (IP Base, Advanced Security, Unified Communications)
• Voice capacity: PVDM modules support up to 72 concurrent VoIP calls; Cisco CME embedded call processing for up to 72 IP phones, SRST survivable branch telephony, Unity Express voice mail for up to 100 mailboxes

Physical & Power Parameters

• Form factor: 1U standard 19-inch rack-mount metal chassis with integrated rack ears
• Standard AC power supply: 100–240V 50/60Hz universal input
• DC variant: 48V negative DC telecom input for CO cabinets
• Typical power consumption: ~55W under full module load
• Front panel status LEDs: System power, fault alarm, CF activity, USB, AIM/PVDM status, four interface card slots, dual FE link/activity
• Operating environment
  • 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
• Dimensions (H × W × D): 44.5 × 43.8 × 8.9 cm (17.25 × 16.4 × 3.5 inches)
• Full loaded weight: ~6.2 kg (13.7 lbs)
• PoE capability: Base model no native PoE; 2801-AC-IP variant delivers inline PoE power to connected IP phones via switch HWIC modules.

3. Cisco IOS Universal Image Multiservice Feature Suite

Core Routing & Multi-WAN Connectivity

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

Unified Communications Voice & Fax Integration

1. VoIP signaling protocols: H.323, SIP, MGCP, SCCP for Cisco IP Phone integration
2. Analog/digital telephony via VIC/VWIC + PVDM DSPs: FXS station ports, FXO PSTN trunks, E&M PBX tie lines, fractional T1/E1 voice trunks
3. T.38 real-time fax relay over IP, fax passthrough, store-and-forward fax routing
4. Voice codecs with DSP acceleration: G.711, G.729a, G.726, G.722 wideband audio
5. Enterprise telephony functions: Multi-site dial plans, voice hunt groups, toll bypass to reduce PSTN long-distance costs
6. CME embedded call manager, SRST survivable remote telephony, Unity Express voice messaging storage via AIM storage modules.

Enterprise QoS & WAN Optimization

• Base QoS: Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), per-interface traffic shaping
• Advanced QoS (Security/UC license): Low Latency Queuing (LLQ), Frame Relay Traffic Shaping (FRTS), WRED congestion avoidance, DSCP/802.1p marking
• Link Fragmentation and Interleaving (LFI), cRTP VoIP header compression to eliminate voice jitter on low-speed DSL/ISDN links
• NBAR2 application-aware classification for business traffic prioritization.

Integrated Self-Defending Network Security Suite

1. Zone-Based Firewall (ZBFW): Stateful deep packet inspection for HTTP, FTP, SIP, H.323 and all mainstream enterprise applications
2. IOS IPS inline signature-based intrusion prevention with real-time threat detection and auto-blocking
3. Dual AIM hardware-accelerated VPN stack:
   • AES-256/3DES/DES IPsec site-to-site branch tunnels
   • Cisco Easy VPN Remote centralized policy provisioning for remote branches
   • DMVPN scalable multi-site overlay networks
   • SSL VPN for browser-based remote worker access without client software
4. AAA security framework: PAP/CHAP, RADIUS/TACACS+ centralized authentication, authorization and audit logging
5. Standard/extended ACLs, dynamic ACLs, anti-DDoS policing, security zone segmentation to isolate sensitive POS/finance subnets.

Management, Automation & Operations

• Dual out-of-band management: Serial Console + AUX modem port for emergency offline access
• Secure remote management: SSHv2, HTTPS, SNMP v3 (backward compatible with SNMP v1/v2c)
• Graphical configuration tool: Cisco Configuration Professional (CCP) for simplified zero-touch branch deployment
• AutoInstall automated remote IOS/config download over WAN links for mass branch rollouts
• Removable CompactFlash storage for easy IOS upgrade, config backup and log archiving
• Syslog persistent event logging, NTP time synchronization for consistent audit timestamps
• USB port for offline config storage and two-factor authentication tokens.

4. Typical Deployment Scenarios

1. Small multi-line retail branch office: ADSL HWIC primary broadband WAN, ISDN WIC dial backup, PVDM DSP modules for store analog phones and fax machines, dual Fast Ethernet ports to isolate POS payment terminals from employee PC subnets, IPsec DMVPN tunnel to corporate HQ, ZBFW firewall for PCI DSS compliance.
2. SMB small office converged voice/data gateway: VDSL2 HWIC copper access, CME embedded call processing for 20–40 IP phones, LLQ QoS prioritization for business VoIP and video conferencing, AUX modem port for remote IT out-of-band maintenance.
3. Remote industrial M2M site router: Serial HWIC for SCADA leased-line connectivity, DC power variant for telecom cabinet deployment, encrypted IPsec tunnels for secure industrial data transmission, USB token authentication for site access control.
4. Networking entry-level training lab router: Flexible HWIC/WIC/VIC modularity to teach DSL, ISDN, serial WAN connectivity, basic VoIP gateway, IPsec VPN and zone-based firewall labs; large DRAM/CF capacity supports full-featured IOS 12.4T images.

5. Standard Package Contents of CISCO2801 / 2801-DC / 2801-AC-IP

Separately Sold Optional Accessories

• HWIC/WIC/VIC/VWIC WAN and voice interface cards
• PVDM2/PVDM3 DSP voice compression modules for VoIP/fax relay
• AIM daughtercards: AIM-VPN encryption, AIM-ATM, AIM-COMPRESS data compression
• CompactFlash memory upgrades (64MB / 128MB / 256MB)
• DRAM memory expansion SIMMs (128MB / 256MB / 384MB)
• CAT5e Fast Ethernet patch cords, RJ11 DSL/ISDN telephone cables
• External PoE injectors for non-PoE IP cameras and wireless APs
• External redundant power supply units for high-availability deployments

Software Licensing Information

Short Commercial Catalog Summary