Why Cisco Routers Don’t Suit NZ SMB’s

For a long time, and certainly before UFB came into view, DTS has with Cisco router as part of our Managed WAN and / or when a client a managed router requested as part of an Internet service.Before UFB got underway, the typical velocities were anywhere from 5 mbps (City Link Opta) to 100Mbps (any number of fiber carriers). We use at this point, either the 800 Series models for While UFB service began with speeds of 30 Mbps / 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps / 50 Mbps, UFB services have now reached the mark 200Mbps symmetrical, and critically, the Chorus NGA 5 business service that is capable of 200Mbps and supports several VLANs so that it published ideal for use as part of a managed WAN.

A look at the table below you can see that Cisco does have services that can support this kind of through with complex routing rules in force, but the price points are horrible, also 1921 retails for around $ 900 NZD, so you can imagine how much higher the price will be able to support throughput or IPSec on advanced models 200Mbps.

From our research, the Cisco (IOS) throughput is significantly impacted due to its software processing of NAT translations which leads to lower throughput than those offered by Juniper or Fortinet.Juniper does present an alternative, but again, we have found that the price points don’t stack up once more than 100Mbps IPsec throughput is required.Fortinet have made some great product specs, with the 60D available at roughly the same price as the Cisco 1921 but capable of 850Mbps Ipsec throughput and possessing 4LAN ports, it presents itself as a solid option for UFB grade services.

Unfortunately it doesn’t have the brand recognition of Cisco, and the devices aren’t packaged quite as nicely as the Cisco range, leaving some within DTS to feel apprehensive about putting it forward *cough* Daniel Bohan *cough*.I am of the opinion that the Fortinet range is fast becoming the leading router brand in the UFB space. Even the 30D model, which has no advanced routing functions and a buy price of around $500, is capable of 350Mbps IPsec throughput, and works extremely well for simple “point to cloud” services.