The Cisco^® ASR 9000 Route Switch Processor 880 (RSP 880) is the system processor for the Cisco ASR 9010 Router, ASR 9006 Router, and ASR 9904 Router. RSP880-LT is the system processor for ASR 9010, ASR 9006, ASR 9904, ASR 9910 Router and ASR9906 Router. It supports high-density 100 Gigabit Ethernet line cards and provides backward compatibility with the Cisco ASR 9000 Series second family of line cards (Figure 1 & Figure 2). The Cisco ASR 9000 RSP 880 system architecture is designed to accommodate new programmable deployment models and convergence of Layer 2 and Layer 3 services, as required by today’s wireline, data-center-interconnect (DCI), and Radio Access Network (RAN) aggregation applications.

The ASR 9000 RSP 880 brings the time-tested and robust carrier-class capabilities of Cisco IOS^® XR Software to the Carrier Ethernet edge. The operating system supports true software process modularity. And it allows each process to run in separate protected memory, including each routing protocol, along with multiple instances of control, data, and management planes supported. The software also supports distributed route processing.

The ASR 9000 RSP 880 is designed to deliver the high scalability, performance, and fast convergence required for today’s and tomorrow’s demanding video, cloud, and mobile services. These features provide exceptional scale, service flexibility, and high availability:

● Integrated switch fabric architecture:

◦ Distributed switch fabric architecture

◦ Multistage low-latency nonblocking architecture

◦ Service intelligence and traffic prioritization

● Superior network-timing capabilities with support for:

◦ Centralized Building Integrated Timing Supply (BITS)

◦ Precision Time Protocol (PTP), or IEEE 1588-2008, through dedicated 10-Mbps or 100-Mbps Ethernet port

◦ Bidirectional time of day (ToD) with 10-MHz and 1-pps interfaces

Route-Switch-Processor Types

The ASR 9000 RSP 880 is available in two variants

1. RSP880 — service-edge-optimized and packet-transport-optimized models.

2. RSP880-LT – service-edge-optimized and packet-transport-optimized models.

The service-edge-optimized version offers the higher amount of memory that is essential for large-scale, comprehensive service deployment. Both variants of the route switch processor support service-optimized, as well as transport-optimized, line cards. Different line cards can be mixed on the same chassis, providing maximum design flexibility.

Features and benefits of the ASR 9000 RSP 880 are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Features and Benefits of the ASR 9000 RSP 880

Table 2 lists all the hardware available for the ASR 9000 RSP 880.

Table 2. Cisco ASR 9000 RSP 880 Hardware

Table 3 lists the technical specifications for the ASR 9000 RSP 880 and RSP 880-LT.

Table 3. Technical Specifications for Cisco ASR 9000 RSP 880 and RSP880-LT Hardware

Software

The Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Router delivers superior scale, service flexibility, and high availability into access and aggregation networks. It is powered by Cisco IOS XR Software, an innovative self-healing, distributed operating system designed for always-on operation. Cisco IOS XR Software supports a software-maintenance-update (SMU) capability, which allows bug fixing or even small feature releasing without interrupting existing services. It also supports Field-Programmable Device (FPD) upgrades, which can be used to update field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), ROM monitor (ROMmon), and more while systems are running.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Carrier Ethernet applications include business services such as Layer 2 VPN (L2VPN) and Layer 3 VPN (L3VPN), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), content-delivery networks (CDNs), and mobile backhaul transport networks. Features supported include Ethernet Services; L2VPN; IPv4, IPv6, and L3VPN; Layer 2 and Layer 3 Multicast; IP over dense wavelength-division multiplexing (IPoDWDM); SyncE; Ethernet operations, administration, and management (EOAM) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) operations, administration, and management (OAM); Layer 2 and Layer 3 access control lists (ACLs); hierarchical quality of service (H-QoS); MPLS Traffic Engineering Fast Reroute (MPLS TE-FRR); Multichassis Link Aggregation (MC-LAG); Integrated Routing and Bridging (IRB); Cisco Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) and Nonstop Routing (NSR); Point-to-Multipoint Traffic Engineering (P2MP-TE); Lawful Intercept; Smart Call Home (SCH); and Multigigabit Service Control (MGSCP).

The Cisco ASR 9000 Series Multiservice Edge (MSE) and Ethernet MSE (E-MSE) capabilities allow enterprises to offer powerful business VPN services with strong service-level agreement (SLA) enforcement. Such services typically require simultaneous scale increases across multiple dimensions, for example, the number of Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF) interfaces, IPv4 and IPv6 route scaling, Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) sessions, and instances of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Cisco NSR interfaces. A Cisco ASR 9000 Series system configuration requiring high multiple-dimensional scale requires the service-edge optimized route switch processor model to support the increased system scale.

Timing synchronization is an integral part of traditional circuit-based networks, so the availability of equivalent functions in next-generation Ethernet-based architectures has quickly become a critical requirement. Cisco ASR 9000 Series chassis have standards-compliant Precision Time Protocol Version 2 (PTPv2), GPS, DTI, and BITS connections on the route switch processor, along with SyncE support natively on the line cards, which gives mobile providers ample options for time and frequency synchronization. Additionally, the Cisco ASR 9000 Route Switch Processor supplies centralized clocking functions throughout the system, providing consolidated timing distribution and recovery to and from the line cards.

Product Specifications

Table 4 provides details about the Cisco ASR 9000 RSP 880 and RSP880-LT, which supports the Cisco ASR 9010, ASR 9006, ASR 9904 chassis, ASR 9910 (RSP880-LT Only) and ASR 9906 (RSP880-LT only), therefore providing common sparing. Cisco ASR 9000 Series systems are designed to the same high standards of performance and reliability. They feature the same power and thermal innovations, and they can share route processors, line cards, power entry modules (PEMs), and power supplies for maximum flexibility in your network planning.

Table 4. Product Specifications

Cisco Services for Cisco ASR 9000 Series Route Switch Processors

Through a lifecycle services approach, Cisco delivers comprehensive support to service providers to help them successfully deploy, operate, and optimize their Cisco Prime^™ Evolved Programmable Networks. Cisco Services for Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers provide the services and proven methodologies that help assure service deployment with substantial return on investment, operational excellence, optimal performance, and high availability. These services are delivered using leading practices, tools, processes, and lab environments developed specifically for Cisco ASR 9000 Series deployments and postimplementation support. The Cisco Services team addresses your specific requirements, mitigates risk to existing revenue-generating services, and helps accelerate time to market for new network services.

For more information about Cisco Services, contact your local Cisco account representative or visit: https://www.cisco.com/go/spservices.

Ordering Information

Table 5 provides ordering information for the Cisco ASR 9000 RSP 880 and RSP 880-LT.

Table 5. Ordering Information