Cisco A9K-16X10GE-TR 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 integrated on a single full-height line card slot
3. TR: Packet Transport optimized hardware variant, designed for pure Layer 2 / Layer 3 backbone, metro and mobile transport workloads with baseline QoS, policer and EFP resources. Compared to subscriber-focused -SE line cards, TR variants remove over-provisioned subscriber traffic management hardware to lower total cost for transport-only deploymentsCisco.

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 arranged in two stacked groups of eight ports each on the front panelCisco.
• 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.
• Port Bandwidth Oversubscription: Ports are paired to share a single Network Processor Unit (NPU): Port0/Port8, Port1/Port9 up to Port7/Port15. Each NPU pair supports a maximum aggregate bandwidth of 14.62 Gbps, creating a maximum 2:1 oversubscription ratio per port pairCisco.
• 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 maximum forwarding capacity: 160 Gbps aggregate bidirectional throughput across all 16 portsCisco
• Supported 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
• Forwarding reliability: Wire-speed unicast and multicast packet forwarding at full rated throughput, with zero packet loss during RSP stateful switchover eventsCisco.

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. TR (Packet Transport) Optimized Hardware Resource Profile

1. Baseline Hierarchical QoS Queue Pool
   Limited per-port queue allocation (8 queues per port) optimized for uniform aggregate transport traffic flows, supporting LLQ low-latency scheduling for mobile backhaul, voice trunk and real-time transport streams without the massive multi-level queue pool of SE line cards.
2. Standard Policer & Packet Classification Resources
   8,000 hardware policers per network processor (NPU); ingress/egress ACL and packet classification engines fully offloaded to the line card NPUs, eliminating RSP CPU load. Resource sizing targets aggregate backbone/metro transport traffic rather than tens of thousands of unique independent subscriber access control policies.
3. Carrier-Grade Transport 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, multicast packet replication, and NetFlow v9/IPFIX traffic recording.
4. Moderate Carrier Ethernet Flow Point (EFP) Scale
   Supports up to 16,000 independent EFPs for carrier Ethernet E-Line, E-Tree and E-Access transport services, sufficient for metro aggregation and backbone links, far lower than the 64,000 EFP capacity of -SE line cards optimized for BNG subscriber terminationCisco.
5. Unified Forwarding Table Scale
   Consistent high-capacity forwarding table resources shared 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 transport deploymentsCisco.

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 MPLS backbone sessions, mobile backhaul streams, or carrier Ethernet transport traffic flows.

6. Supported IOS XR Network & Service Features

Core Routing & Switching Protocols

MPLS & Multi-Tenant VPN Transport Services

Metro & Mobile Transport 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. Cost-Optimized Transport-Focused Hardware Design
   The TR variant eliminates the over-provisioned subscriber QoS, policer and EFP hardware resources of -SE line cards, delivering lower total cost of ownership for pure backbone, metro and mobile transport deployments that do not require large-scale BNG subscriber session processing.
2. High-Density 16-Port 10GE Aggregation with Flexible SFP+ Optics
   Sixteen independent SFP+ 10GE interfaces deliver high port density for metro aggregation, mobile backhaul and DCI deployments, minimizing total chassis slot consumption to reduce overall hardware CapEx. Broad SFP+ transceiver compatibility supports flexible fiber reach selection for varied transport link distances.
3. Unified Layer 2 / Layer 3 Transport Convergence
   A single line card simultaneously supports Layer 2 carrier Ethernet switching and Layer 3 MPLS backbone routing services, allowing network operators to consolidate metro transport, mobile backhaul and cross-data center interconnection 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 backbone and metro transport 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-TR 16-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Packet Transport 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