The Cisco^® 819 4G LTE Integrated Services Routers (ISR) are the smallest Cisco IOS^® Software routers with support for integrated fourth-generation (4G LTE) wireless WAN (mobile broadband backhaul) capabilities (Figure 1). They come in both hardened and non-hardened form factors. They are rapidly deployable, highly available, reliable, and secure, and are designed specifically for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications. Markets that benefit from these applications include industrial automation, small business, financial, healthcare, and retail. Fully integrated with Cisco IOS Software, the Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs deliver enterprise-class features, including highly secure data, voice, and video communications to stationary and mobile network nodes across wired and wireless links. The Cisco 819 4G LTE 2.0 M2M is the industry leader to bring enterprise grade wireline like functionality such as Quality of Service (QoS) for cellular, Multi-Virtual Route Forwarding (Multi-VRF), advanced VPN, and Unified Communications solutions over LTE.

A critical component of the Cisco M2M architecture, the Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs serve as the single, horizontal platform that enhances the Cisco implementation of “any device, anywhere” across multiple industries, including small business, small remote branch, banking, retail, healthcare, and government. It also provides the ability to extend Cisco product-based networks to small branch offices with a relatively low incremental investment, as well as to enable managed services offerings based on Cisco architecture.

Product Overview

The Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs support the latest Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 8 Category 3 LTE standards. They provide persistent, reliable LTE connectivity with fallback and transparent handoff to earlier technologies. The following models are available:

●   C819G-4G-GA-K9: Multimode Cisco LTE 2.0 for carriers that operate LTE 800 MHz (band 20), 900 MHz (band 8), 1800 MHz (band 3), 2100 MHz (band 1), or 2600 MHz (band 7) networks; backward-compatible with UMTS and HSPA+: 850 MHz (band 5), 900 MHz (band 8), 1900 MHz (band 2), and 2100 MHz (band 1).

●   C819G-4G-NA-K9: Multimode Cisco LTE 2.0 for carriers that operate LTE 700 MHz (band 17), 1900 MHz (band 2 PCS), 850 MHz (band 5), or 1700/2100 MHz (band 4 AWS) networks; backward-compatible with UMTS and HSPA+: 850 MHz (band 5), 900 MHz (band 8), 1900 MHz (band 2 PCS), and 1700/2100 MHz (band 4 AWS).

●   C819G-4G-VZ-K9 and C819G-4G-ST-K9: Multimode Cisco LTE 2.0 for carriers that operate LTE 700 MHz (band 13), 1700/2100 MHz (band 4 AWS), or 1900 MHz (band 25 extended PCS) networks; backward-compatible with EVDO Rev A/CDMA 1x BC0, BC1, BC10.

●   C819G-LTE-MNA-K9 and C819HG-LTE-MNA-K9: Multimode Cisco LTE 2.0 for carriers that operate LTE 700 MHz (band 17), 1900 MHz (band 2 PCS), 850 MHz (band 5), 700 MHz (band 13), 1900 MHz (band 25 extended PCS) networks; or 1700/2100 MHz (band 4 AWS) networks; backward-compatible with UMTS and HSPA+: 850 MHz (band 5), 900 MHz (band 8), 1900 MHz (band 2 PCS), and 1700/2100 MHz (band 4 AWS), with EVDO Rev A/CDMA 1x BC0, BC1, BC10.

The Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs include a broad range of enterprise-class features:

●   Security services, including firewall, intrusion prevention, VPN, and Cisco ISR Web Security with ScanSafe, which requires no additional hardware or client software. This enables branch offices, manufacturing sites, hospitals, and banks, for example, to intelligently redirect web traffic to the cloud to enforce granular security and acceptable use policies over user web traffic. With this solution, you can deploy market-leading web security quickly and easily to protect branch office users from web-based threats, such as viruses, while saving bandwidth, money, and resources.

●   Cisco WAN optimization system, consisting of Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Express routers and Wide Area Application Engines (WAEs) that work together to optimize TCP traffic in your network. When client and server applications attempt to communicate with each other, the network intercepts the traffic and acts on behalf of the client application and the destination server.

●   Additional WAN options such as Serial and Gigabit Ethernet WAN interfaces and a 4-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet managed switch for LAN connectivity. Quality-of-service (QoS) features are included for optimizing voice and video applications.

●   Cisco Configuration Professional, a web-based configuration tool that simplifies setup and deployment. Centralized management capabilities give network managers visibility into and control over the network configurations at remote sites.

●   4G LTE wireless WAN (WWAN) data services. With enhanced data rates and improved latency (30 milliseconds or less), WWAN services are an ideal way to supplement traditional wire-line services. 4G LTE WWAN data services have average data rates well in excess of ISDN speeds, with theoretical limits of 100 Mbps on the downlink and 50 Mbps on the uplink. Actual data speed depends on the service provider’s network. With 4G LTE data rates, the Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs offer a primary WAN link capable of running comprehensive branch-office services, including voice and video services. The 4G LTE WWAN data services can also be used as a cost-effective alternative in areas where broadband services are either not available or very expensive. Cisco is building on these performance milestones and adding support for wireless to our wide variety of WAN interface alternatives.

●   Multiple-PDN: This feature allows configuration of multiple active (Access Point Name) APN so that Internet traffic can be kept separate from the corporate traffic.

●   4G LTE multiple-bearer QoS for cellular: The Cisco 819 4G LTE supports 4G LTE multiple-bearer QoS. Detailed information on the bearer is part of show CLI, SNMP-MIBs etc. The QoS feature is service provider (SP) dependent, and requires SP to launch this service.

●   Multi-VRF for cellular: 4G LTE C819s now support Multi-VRF for cellular network. Multi-VRF is a Cisco proprietary implementation over and above the 3GPP spec and requires Cisco ASR5K Packet Gateway (P-GW) as the head-end at the service provider’s network. The Multi-VRF feature is service provider (SP) dependent, and requires SP to launch this service.

●   Enterprise grade Unified Communication solutions over LTE: The 4G LTE C819s supports voice and video and can be integrated with Cisco Unified Communications cloud or premises-based infrastructure.

●   Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN Search): UE presents end user with available PLMN search manually. UE can optimize PLMN search procedure using stored information such as RF carriers and cell parameters.

Business Benefits and Application Examples

Businesses are looking for ways to reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve business continuity. The 4G LTE wireless connectivity, which is 10 to 15 times faster and has 5 times lower latency than 3G links, allows a small enterprise branch office or remote office to set up comprehensive media services in a matter of hours, without worrying about availability of broadband services and the need to lay down lines. Wireless carriers offer flexible, usage-based data plans that can be customized to meet the needs and price points of the business customer. As WAN backup alternatives, 3G and 4G LTE wireless offer greater WAN diversity and resiliency because they are independent of the local terrestrial infrastructure. The Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs enable businesses to stay productive during service provider downtime or a network failure.

Ability to Host Networks in Motion

The Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs use standards-based Mobile IP features in Cisco IOS Software to host networks in motion. Transition to different wireless networks is transparent to the users and devices (such as laptops, smart devices, and surveillance cameras), and applications maintain continuous connectivity without the user’s manual intervention as WAN links change. In addition to allowing a single node or device to stay connected, the Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs allow an entire mobile network or subnet to stay connected.

Retail VPN

Retail stores migrating from dialup connections for point-of-sale transactions can use the WWAN capability of the Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs for low-cost broadband access, with the required security to comply with payment-card-industry and other data security requirements. Multiple devices and applications can then be added to the store network to take advantage of the increased bandwidth and to enable highly secure mobility and enhance productivity.

Managed Services

Service providers and value-added resellers can use the Cisco 819 4G LTE ISRs as a platform to offer differentiated business-class security services for small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers. Superior management capabilities such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) support for 3G MIB with 4G LTE MIB extension and Cisco Configuration Professional make remote management and provisioning easier.