Cisco A99-32X100GE-X-TR Full Official Product Description

1. Product Overview & SKU Definition

Official Full Name

SKU Breakdown

1. A99: Designator for Cisco ASR 9900 high-density carrier-grade routing chassis series
2. 32X100GE: 32 independent hot-swappable QSFP28 ports supporting native 100 Gigabit Ethernet
3. X: 5th-generation enhanced silicon chipset, delivering 3.2 Tbps full-duplex non-blocking forwarding capacity per line card
4. TR: Packet Transport Optimized hardware variant, equipped with baseline QoS buffers, standard multi-rate policers, limited Ethernet Flow Points (EFPs), and core transport offloading. Designed exclusively for core backbone, metro transport, mobile backhaul, and data center interconnection workloads, without the expanded subscriber-facing service hardware built into the -SE service edge variantCisco.

Core Positioning

2. Chassis & IOS XR Software Compatibility

Supported Chassis Models

Incompatible Platforms

Mixed Line Card Coexistence

Minimum IOS XR Software Requirement

3. Port, Performance & Physical Hardware Specifications

Port Technical Details

• Port Count: 32 hot-pluggable QSFP28 100GE optical interfaces
• Supported Transceivers: Cisco QSFP28 optical transceiver family; native support for 100GE, 40GE line rates; QSFP28 breakout modules enable single-port split into 4×25GE or 10×10GE for high-density access aggregation. Supports LAN, WAN and OTN framing modes for unified transport deployments.
• Ethernet Standard Compliance: IEEE 802.3ba 100GE, IEEE 802.3ae 10GE, IEEE 802.3ad LACP link aggregation, IEEE 802.1Q single VLAN tagging, IEEE 802.1ad QinQ double stacking, IEEE 802.3x full-duplex pause frame flow control
• Per-Port Traffic Monitoring Metrics: Real-time PHY operational status, LOS optical loss alarms, CRC error counters, unicast/multicast/broadcast packet/byte statistics, policer drop counters and policy discard counters.

Throughput & Latency Performance

• Total bidirectional wire-speed throughput: 3.2 Tbps full duplex across all thirty-two 100GE ports; fully non-blocking, zero oversubscription design
• Forwarding Latency: Less than 4 microseconds in cut-through forwarding mode
• Forwarding Reliability: Zero packet loss during RSP stateful switchover events, stable wire-speed unicast and multicast packet forwarding at full rated throughput
• Multi-rate port bandwidth: Each QSFP28 port runs full line rate at 100G, 40G, or breakout aggregated lower-speed bandwidth
• Typical Power Consumption: Approximately 320W per line card, with power-saving mode for unused port slices to reduce idle power draw.

Physical & Environmental Parameters

• Form Factor: Single full-height line card slot for ASR 9900 series chassis
• Net Weight: Approximately 7.1 kg (15.6 lbs)
• Nominal Data Center Operating Temperature: 5°C ~ 40°C (41°F ~ 104°F)
• Short-Term Extended Operating Temperature: -5°C ~ 55°C (23°F ~ 131°F), limited to maximum 96 consecutive hours with an annual total usage cap of 15 days
• Continuous Operating Relative Humidity: 10% – 85% non-condensing; storage/transit humidity: 5% – 95% non-condensing
• Storage & Transit Temperature Range: -40°C ~ 70°C (-40°F ~ 158°F)
• Cooling Specification: Compliant with ASR 9900 chassis front-to-back forced airflow thermal design; blank filler panels must be installed on all empty chassis slots to maintain balanced airflow and prevent thermal overheating.

4. TR (Packet Transport) Baseline 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. It supports 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 for hundreds of thousands of separate subscriber flows.
2. Standard Policer & Packet Classification Resources
   8,000 hardware policers per network processor; ingress/egress ACL and packet classification engines fully offloaded to line card NPUs to eliminate RSP CPU load. Resources are sized for backbone point-to-point and VPN transport rather than hundreds of thousands of unique independent subscriber access control policies.
3. Wire-Speed Transport Service Hardware 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, integrated OTN mapping support, and NetFlow v9/IPFIX traffic recording. Advanced subscriber-focused features like large-scale CGNAT, high-density MACsec, and full BNG subscriber termination offloading are not supported on TR hardware.
4. Moderate Carrier Ethernet Flow Point (EFP) Capacity
   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 limit of service edge -SE line cards optimized for large-scale BNG subscriber terminationCisco.
5. Unified Forwarding Table Scale (Shared with SE Variants)
   Consistent high-capacity forwarding table resources across all 32-port 100GE 5th-gen line card 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 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 9900 chassis redundant components: 1+1 redundant RSP5-X 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.
5. Synchronous Timing Support
   Integrated SyncE and IEEE 1588-2008 PTP precision timing hardware for mobile 5G transport and broadcast video deployments, with support for BITS, GPS ToD, 1-PPS and 10MHz timing interfaces.

6. Supported IOS XR Network & Service Features

Core Routing & Switching Protocols

MPLS & Multi-Tenant VPN Transport Services

Metro & Mobile Transport Workloads

Precision Timing Synchronization

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 (32 QSFP28 ports):
   • Off: QSFP28 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 100GE/40GE breakout 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, EFP, CGNAT and MACsec 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 processingCisco.
2. Ultra-High-Density 32-Port Wire-Speed 100GE QSFP28 Interfaces
   Thirty-two independent QSFP28 100GE interfaces deliver industry-leading high 100G uplink density for core backbone, mobile backhaul, carrier Ethernet, and DCI deployments, minimizing total chassis slot consumption to reduce overall hardware CapEx. Broad QSFP28 transceiver compatibility supports flexible fiber reach selection for varied aggregation and core link distances, plus breakout capability to replace dozens of 10GE links with a single 100G port.
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 9900 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 QSFP28 100G/40G optical transceiver portfolio, and all modern ASR 9900 series chassis models, enabling flexible network capacity expansion and full investment protection for existing ASR 9900 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 802.3ba 100GE, ITU-T MPLS transport specifications, ITU-T OTN standards
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. A99-32X100GE-X-TR 32-port 100 Gigabit Ethernet 3.2T 5th Generation Packet Transport Optimized QSFP28 line card
2. ESD anti-static protective transport bag
3. Hardware installation quick reference guide (covers OIR hot-swap operation, QSFP28 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