Cisco ASR 1000 ASR1000 ESP20 Cisco ASR 1000 / 5000 series router

Brand: Cisco | Category: Network Equipment

SKU: CSC-ASR1000ESP20 | Part #: ASR1000 ESP20 | MPN: ASR1000 ESP20

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When a border router or aggregation platform fails, the cost is measured in milliseconds. The Cisco ASR1000 ESP20 addresses this reality through a dual-processor, stateful switchover architecture that keeps traffic flowing during failover events. Organisations running active-passive redundancy achieve sub-second failover with Stateful Switchover (SSO) enabled, meaning no session loss for established connections. In active-active deployments using VRRP or similar protocols, the ASR1000 ESP20 can serve as the primary line card in a pair of chassis, with Non-Stop Forwarding (NSF) ensuring that the control plane remains responsive to topology changes while the data plane continues uninterrupted. This is critical for enterprises and service providers where a five-second outage translates to thousands of dollars in lost transactions.

The ASR1000-ESP20 is the embedded services processor that defines throughput and feature density for the entire ASR 1000 series. Built on the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor (QFP) ASIC, this line card delivers 20 Gbps of system throughput—sufficient for regional aggregation points, data centre interconnects, and enterprise WAN edges handling consolidated traffic from multiple sites. The ESP20 installs into any compatible chassis from the ASR 1001 through the ASR 1013, making it a genuine mid-range option for deployments where a full ASR 5000 would be oversized but a standalone ASR 900 lacks necessary port density or feature breadth. Cisco's IOS XE operating system runs natively on this module, eliminating the need for separate control processors or external management appliances.

Network engineers evaluating this platform typically fall into two camps: those scaling existing Cisco routing deployments and those replacing ageing aggregation routers from competitors. The former group values the consistency of Cisco CLI syntax, the existing SNMP and NETCONF integration hooks, and the predictable upgrade path within the ASR ecosystem. The latter group weighs the feature set—MPLS support across LDP and RSVP-TE, L2VPN and L3VPN capability, dual IPv4 and IPv6 forwarding engines with hardware multicast—against the cost of operational retraining. For many network teams, the deciding factor is security posture. The ASR1000-ESP20 includes hardware-accelerated IPsec VPN processing, zone-based firewall (ZBFW) engine, and NAT64 support for IPv6 migration scenarios. These are not software-based afterthoughts; they run on dedicated ASIC logic, meaning encryption and stateful inspection do not consume routing throughput.

Flow visibility has become non-negotiable in modern networks. This Cisco module exports NetFlow v9 and IPFIX telemetry, allowing integration with Cisco's own DNA Center platform or third-party analytics tools from vendors like Splunk and Kentik. The hierarchical QoS engine provides real-time traffic shaping and priority queuing without the latency penalties of software-based systems. For data centre operators and AI infrastructure teams deploying GPU-heavy workloads or running real-time analytics, predictable jitter and configurable per-interface egress buffering are non-negotiable. The ASR1000 ESP20 delivers both. In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) support means that security patches and OS updates can be applied without dropping established sessions, a luxury unavailable on many competing platforms.

Omnixon Global stocks the Cisco ASR 1000 series for immediate dispatch across the GCC, with regional technicians familiar with ASR deployment, tuning, and troubleshooting. Whether your requirement is a single ASR1000-ESP20 line card, a complete four-chassis active-active cluster, or a phased migration from legacy platforms, we manage procurement, logistics, and on-site integration support. Request a quotation today to explore inventory availability, pricing for volume orders, and our extended support packages tailored to data centre and enterprise network teams.

Throughput, Compatibility & Failover Specifications

• System throughput of 20 Gbps with Cisco QuantumFlow Processor (QFP) ASIC forwarding engine
• Compatible with ASR 1001, ASR 1002, ASR 1004, ASR 1006, and ASR 1013 chassis platforms
• Stateful Switchover (SSO) with sub-second failover; Non-Stop Forwarding (NSF) and ISSU support for zero-downtime operations
• MPLS label switching with LDP, RSVP-TE, L2VPN, and L3VPN; dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6 unicast and multicast hardware forwarding
• IPsec VPN with hardware crypto acceleration; zone-based firewall (ZBFW) and hardware-accelerated NAT and NAT64 for enterprise and service provider scale
• NetFlow v9 and IPFIX telemetry export; hierarchical QoS (HQoS) with per-interface egress shaping and priority queuing
• Cisco IOS XE operating system with CLI, SNMP, NETCONF, and embedded EEM automation; field-replaceable module with CE, FCC, and UL regulatory compliance