As we all know, Cisco Integrated Services Routers Family consists

of five series: 800, 1900, 2900, 3900 and 4000 series. More
powerful than ISR Generation 1 and 2, Cisco 4000 series is the
King in the ISR family.

Cisco 4000
Series Routers
Overview
The King of ISR

Router-Switch.com
As we all know, Cisco Integrated Services Routers Family consists of five series: 800, 1900, 2900, 3900 and 4000 series. More powerful than ISR Generation 1 and 2, Cisco
4000 series is the King in the ISR family.

Also we can say, it's the Terminator of ISR, before Cisco announces another new ISR.
Next figure shows us how it can be the King. Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers deliver high quality experiences across all branches.

Except this performance, we can find out more features of Cisco 4000 series. Here, let's begin to scan its abilities as a King.

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Overview

Cisco 4000 Series Routers revolutionizes WAN communications in the enterprise branch. Concurrent software services at speeds from 50 Mbps to 2 Gbps. This feature means
that we can buy a license to upgrade the speed when keeping one router for a long time. If we need a router that does 10 Mbit/s, then we can get the 4321 and keep using
it until we reach 100 Mbit/s.
Cisco 4000 routers also provide distinctive module, the Network Interface Module (NIM), which is different from the EHWIC modules. This new module are not compatible
with EHWIC, which is playing good role in other ISRs. Cisco 4000 series support up to 8 CPU core integrated UCS E-Series server modules.
Otherwise, they support Cisco Integrated Services Card (ISC) slot on motherboard. These cards support the new Cisco High-Density Packet Voice Digital Signal Processor
Modules (PVDM4s), providing greater-density rich-media voice. It means we can use ISC slots to get voice communication without DSP slots.
Especially, Cisco 4000 series also run a new software, the Cisco IOS-XE Operating System, which is not available on ISR G2 routers.
Last, we can find that 4000 series save more space by delivering only 1 or 2 RU size.

Models

It's commonly said that, Cisco 4000 series consists of 4300 and 4400 series. The Cisco 4400 and 4300 Series ISRs are very similar in design user interface. The biggest
difference to most users is that the Cisco 4400 Series supports dual power supplies, whereas the Cisco 4300 Series does not; this difference makes the Cisco 4451 and 4431
the preferred choices for organizations that cannot tolerate any downtime.
They offer five models: 4321, 4331, 4351, 4431, and 4451-X.
We can compare these different models with the similar name by one table.

Models ISR4451-X/K9 ISR4431/K9 ISR4351/K9 ISR4331/K9 ISR4321/K9

List Price $ 18000.00 $ 11000.00 $ 8000.00 $ 3300.00 $ 1995.00

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Models ISR4451-X/K9 ISR4431/K9 ISR4351/K9 ISR4331/K9 ISR4321/K9

Aggregate Throughput 1 Gbps to 2 Gbps 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps 200 Mbps to 400 Mbps 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps

Total onboard WAN or

4 4 3 3 2
LAN 10/100/1000 ports

RJ-45-based ports 4 4 3 2 2

SFP-based ports 4 4 3 2 1

Enhanced service-
2 0 2 1 0
module slots

Doublewide service- 1 (assumes no singlewide 1 (assumes no singlewide

0 0 0
module slots SM-X modules installed) SM-X modules installed)

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 Models ISR4451-X/K9 ISR4431/K9 ISR4351/K9 ISR4331/K9 ISR4321/K9

NIM slots 3 3 3 2 2

Onboard ISC slot 1 1 1 1 1

1 RU
Rack Height 2 RU 1 RU 2 RU 1 RU
Desktop

Appearance

For learn more about Cisco 4000 series, we can view next figures, which shows the front and back views of 4451, for example.

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Modules & Cards

We notice that Cisco 4000 Series support NIM, SM-X and ISC, which are not supported by other ISRs. So, what are their features?
These figures show us the answers.

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Summary

High performance, pay-as-you-grow, new IOS-XE, new modules & cards...make Cisco 4000 Series Routers be the King of ISR family.

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Sources

1. Cisco 4000 Family Integrated Services Router Data Sheet

2. Cisco Adds New Routers In the ISR 4000 Family
3. ISR 4000
4. Cisco GPL 2016

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