Cisco A9K-16X10GE-SE Full Official Product Description

1. Product Overview & SKU Definition

Official Full Name

SKU Breakdown

1. A9K: Identifier for Cisco ASR 9000 Series carrier-grade aggregation routers
2. 16X10GE: 16 independent hot-pluggable SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces per single-slot line card
3. SE: Service Edge optimized hardware variant, equipped with expanded hierarchical QoS queues, massive policer pools, large-scale subscriber session processing capacity, and enhanced traffic management resources for broadband BNG, multi-service PE edge, IPTV aggregation, and subscriber-facing carrier Ethernet deployments. It differs from the transport-focused -TR line card which provides baseline QoS for pure backbone transport workloads.

Core Positioning

2. Chassis & Software Compatibility

Supported Hardware Chassis

Incompatible Platforms

Mixed Coexistence

Minimum IOS XR Software Requirement

3. Port, Performance & Physical Hardware Specifications

Port Details

• Port Count: 16 x hot-pluggable SFP+ 10GE interfaces
• Supported SFP+ Transceiver Types: SR multimode fiber, LR standard single-mode fiber, ER long-reach optical transceivers, and 10G copper SFP+ modules; DWDM optical transceivers are not supported on this line cardCisco.
• Ethernet Standards Compliance: IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.1Q single VLAN tagging, IEEE 802.1ad QinQ double stacking, IEEE 802.3x pause frame flow control
• Per-Port Monitoring Metrics: Real-time PHY operational status, LOS/LOL optical signal loss alarms, CRC error counters, unicast/multicast/broadcast packet byte/packet statistics, traffic policer drop counters, and policy discard counters.

Line Card Throughput Performance

• Total bidirectional wire-speed throughput: 160 Gbps full line-rate forwarding with zero oversubscription on the internal line card fabricCisco
• Maximum forwarding capacity: Wire-speed unicast and multicast packet forwarding at full 160Gbps throughput, no packet loss during RSP stateful switchover eventsCisco
• Maximum system-scale port capacity: Up to 128 total 10GE ports when fully populating a large ASR 9922 chassis, delivering aggregate 1.28 Tbps total 10GE forwarding throughput across the chassisCisco.

Physical & Environmental Parameters

• Form Factor: Single full-height line card slot for ASR 9000 series chassis
• Standard Operating Temperature (Data Center): 5°C ~ 40°C (41°F ~ 104°F)
• Short-Term Extended Operating Temperature Range: -5°C ~ 55°C (23°F ~ 131°F), limited to maximum 96 consecutive hours with an annual total usage limit of 15 days
• Relative Humidity: 5% – 90% non-condensing during continuous operation; 5% – 93% non-condensing for warehouse storage and equipment transit
• Storage & Transit Temperature: -40°C ~ 70°C (-40°F ~ 158°F)
• Cooling Requirement: Compliant with ASR 9000 chassis front-to-back forced airflow thermal design; blank filler panels must be installed for all empty chassis slots to maintain balanced airflow and prevent thermal overheating.

4. SE (Service Edge) Optimized Exclusive Hardware Resource Profile

1. Massive Hierarchical QoS Queue Pool
   Expanded multi-level hierarchical queuing resources supporting thousands of independent subscriber traffic profiles, dedicated LLQ low-latency scheduling for real-time voice, video, IPTV and mobile backhaul media streams, multi-level traffic policing and bandwidth shaping per subscriber flow.
2. High-Scale Policer & Packet Classification Hardware
   Large pools of hardware offloaded two-color and three-color multi-rate policers; high-capacity ingress/egress ACL and packet classification engines fully offloaded to the line card network processors, eliminating RSP CPU load even with tens of thousands of unique subscriber access control policies active simultaneously.
3. Carrier-Grade Multi-Service Wire-Speed Offloading
   Hardware accelerated wire-speed processing for MPLS label switching, MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE), Layer 2 VPNs (VPLS, EoMPLS), Layer 3 VPNs, NAT44/NAT64 translation, IPsec VPN encryption/decryption, multicast packet replication, and NetFlow v9/IPFIX traffic recording.
4. High-Density Carrier Ethernet Flow Point (EFP) Scale
   Supports up to 64,000 independent EFPs for carrier Ethernet access aggregation, sufficient for large-scale BNG subscriber termination and multi-service access edge deployments, far exceeding the EFP capacity of -TR transport line cards.
5. Unified Forwarding Table Scale
   Consistent high-capacity forwarding table resources across SE and TR variants: 4 million IPv4 FIB routes, 2 million IPv6 FIB routes, 2 million MAC address table entries, and support for up to 8,000 independent Layer 3 VRF routing instances for multi-tenant service deployments.

5. Carrier-Grade High Availability (HA) Feature Set

1. OIR Online Insertion and Removal
   Full hot-swap capability; the line card can be inserted, removed, or replaced without chassis power cycling, RSP reboot, or live traffic interruption on other installed line cards within the chassis.
2. Independent Hardware Fault Isolation
   Separate dedicated power supply, clock distribution, and forwarding plane for each line card; hardware faults on individual ports or the entire line card cannot propagate to other line cards or chassis Route Switch Processors (RSPs).
3. Full Chassis Redundancy Compatibility
   Seamless interoperability with all ASR 9000 chassis redundant components: 1+1 redundant RSP control processors, N+1 redundant power supplies, and redundant fan tray assemblies, enabling end-to-end five-nines (99.999%) annual carrier-grade service availability.
4. ISSU In-Service Software Upgrade
   Supports non-disruptive IOS XR firmware image upgrades for the line card without terminating active subscriber sessions, BNG user connections, IPTV video streams, or live MPLS backbone traffic flows.

6. Supported IOS XR Network & Service Features

Core Routing & Switching Protocols

MPLS & Multi-Tenant VPN Services

Broadband Subscriber & Mobile Edge Workloads

Security & Traffic Monitoring Tools

7. Front Panel LED Indicator System

1. Global Line Card STATUS LED: Displays line card power supply status, boot initialization progress, and critical hardware fault alarm notifications.
2. Per-Port Dual-Color LED Indicators (16 SFP+ ports):
   • Off: SFP+ transceiver absent, port administratively shut down, or optical signal loss (LOS) detected
   • Solid Amber: Link established with active Layer 1 optical alarms (excessive bit error rate BER, loss of frame LOF)
   • Solid Green: Stable, error-free active 10GE link
   • Blinking Green: Bidirectional data packet traffic transmitting/receiving on the port

8. Key Deployment Advantages

1. Service Edge Optimized Hardware Architecture for Subscriber Aggregation
   The SE variant’s expanded QoS, policer, and EFP hardware resources eliminate CPU bottlenecks in BNG, multi-service PE, and broadband access edge deployments, delivering superior subscriber session scale compared to transport-focused -TR line cards with limited traffic management resources.
2. High-Density 16-Port Wire-Speed Non-Oversubscribed 10GE Ports
   Sixteen independent non-blocking 10GE interfaces deliver high port density for access aggregation, mobile edge, and carrier Ethernet deployments, minimizing total chassis slot consumption to reduce overall hardware CapEx.
3. Unified Layer 2 / Layer 3 Multi-Service Convergence
   A single line card simultaneously supports Layer 2 carrier Ethernet switching and Layer 3 MPLS routing services, allowing network operators to consolidate broadband subscriber aggregation, video delivery, and mobile transport workloads onto a single ASR 9000 chassis to lower daily operational OpEx overhead.
4. Complete Carrier-Grade High Availability Toolkit
   Native OIR hot swap, ISSU non-disruptive firmware upgrades, hardware fault isolation, and full chassis redundant component compatibility deliver uninterrupted service for mission-critical subscriber-facing edge networks with strict high-uptime operational requirements.
5. Broad Transceiver & Chassis Investment Protection
   Fully compatible with the complete Cisco SFP+ 10G optical and copper transceiver portfolio, and all modern ASR 9000 series chassis models, enabling flexible network capacity expansion and full investment protection for existing ASR 9000 router deployments.

9. Regulatory & Safety Compliance Certifications

1. Electrical Safety Standards: UL 60950-1, CSA C22.2 No.60950-1, IEC 60950 CB Scheme, EN 60950-1, GB 4943
2. EMC & EMI Electromagnetic Compatibility: FCC Part 15 Class A, ICES-003 Class A, VCCI Class A, EN55022 Class A, CISPR 22, CISPR 24, full EN 61000 series ESD, electrical surge, radiated and conducted immunity compliance
3. Telecommunications & Carrier Industry Standards: NEBS Level 3 (GR-63-Core physical environmental protection, GR-1089-Core EMC/safety specifications), IEEE 802.3ae 10GE, ITU-T MPLS transport specifications
4. Environmental Directives: EU RoHS hazardous substance restriction compliance, EU WEEE waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling directive compliant

10. Standard Factory Packaging Contents

1. A9K-16X10GE-SE 16-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Service Edge optimized SFP+ line card
2. ESD anti-static protective transport bag
3. Hardware installation quick reference guide (covers OIR hot-swap operation, SFP+ transceiver installation, chassis slot assembly procedures)
4. Global regulatory compliance documentation packet (safety, EMC, NEBS, RoHS certification documents)
5. Dual ejector lever assemblies pre-installed on the line card for easy chassis insertion and removal

Supplementary UNSPSC Classification Code

Standard Hardware Warranty