How to Choose a Cisco ASR Router for a Service Provider

Cisco Service Provider Routers: ASR and NCS

Among telecom operators and regional ISPs, Cisco leads with two major product families: ASR (Aggregation Services Router) and NCS (Network Convergence System). The ASR 1000 is a premium enterprise branch/edge router, the ASR 9000 is a service provider PE/core router, and the NCS 5500 is the new generation of 400G core platforms. These are not enterprise routers—they are designed for networks with 100K+ BGP routes, multi-VRF MPLS L3VPN, and 100G/400G core throughput.

Why invest in a service provider router rather than a Catalyst 8500: full Internet BGP table (950K+ IPv4 routes + 200K IPv6 routes), MPLS L3VPN/L2VPN, Segment Routing MPLS/v6, PTP timing for 5G backhaul, and carrier-grade NAT. No enterprise router supports these capabilities at the required throughput.

Cisco ASR 1000: Premium Enterprise Edge / Small Service Provider

The ASR 1000 is the most widely deployed edge router among large French enterprises (CAC40) and regional ISPs. It combines a services processor (Cisco QFP) with IOS-XE to deliver high-performance routing and services (firewall, IPSec, basic IPS) on a single platform.

• ASR 1001-X (ASR1001-X): 5 Gbps forwarding. 1U. 6× embedded SFP+ + 1 SPA slot. For premium enterprise branches or ISP edge deployments. OPTINOC price: ~€8,000 excl. VAT.
• ASR 1001-HX: 60 Gbps forwarding. 1U. High-performance version. Price: ~€18,000 excl. VAT.
• ASR 1002-HX: 60 Gbps, 2U, with more SPA slots. Price: ~€22,000 excl. VAT.
• ASR 1006-X: 6-slot modular chassis. For aggregation. Price: €40-80K.
• IOS-XE: Linux + containerized IOS. NETCONF/YANG/gNMI programmability. ZTP.
• Use cases: CE (Customer Edge) at large enterprises, PE (Provider Edge) at regional ISPs, customer MPLS L3VPN, and IPSec concentrator.

Cisco ASR 9000: The Service Provider Core Benchmark

The ASR 9000 (ASR9K) is the leading service provider core router in Europe. Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, and Free all operate ASR 9000 platforms in their backbones. It is a modular IOS-XR chassis with capacity of up to 32 Tbps. It supports full-table BGP, MPLS/SR, EVPN, MVPN, and NG-MVPN.

• ASR 9901: fixed 1U platform, 400 Gbps forwarding. 48× 10G SFP+ + 4× 100G QSFP28. For medium-sized PE deployments. OPTINOC price: ~€45,000 excl. VAT.
• ASR 9902: 2U, 800 Gbps. For large PE deployments. Price: ~€70,000 excl. VAT.
• ASR 9904: 4-slot chassis, up to 4 Tbps. For regional cores. Price: €100-200K.
• ASR 9906/9910: 6/10-slot chassis, 12-32 Tbps. For national backbones. Price: €300K-€1M.
• IOS-XR: multi-process architecture with per-process hot reload, atomic commits, rollback, and RPL (Routing Policy Language), the most powerful solution on the market.
• Use cases: Internet peering (IX, private peering), multi-tenant MPLS L3VPN/L2VPN PE, regional backbone core, and CGN (Carrier-Grade NAT).

Cisco NCS 5500: Next-Generation 400G Core

The NCS (Network Convergence System) family is the scalable successor to the ASR 9000. The NCS 5500 is optimized for 400G core networks and Segment Routing (MPLS-SR and SRv6). It is designed for modern backbones.

• NCS-5501-SE: 32× 10/25G + 4× 100G. 1U. For 100G PE deployments. OPTINOC price: ~€40,000 excl. VAT.
• NCS-5504: 4-slot chassis, up to 1.6 Tbps/slot. Price: €150K+.
• NCS-55A1-36H-S: fixed 1U platform with 36× 100G QSFP28. For dense core deployments. Price: ~€80,000 excl. VAT.
• NCS-57B1-6D24: 24× 100G + 6× 400G QSFP-DD. For hybrid 400G core deployments. Price: ~€120,000 excl. VAT.
• Use cases: 100G/400G service provider backbones, high-capacity Internet peering, CDN edge, and service provider DCI.

ASR 1000 vs ASR 9000 vs NCS 5500 Comparison

• Throughput: ASR 1000 = 5-60 Gbps | ASR 9000 = 400G-32T | NCS 5500 = 1.6T+.
• Supported BGP routes: ASR 1000 = 500K | ASR 9000 = 3M+ | NCS 5500 = 3M+.
• Protocols: ASR 1000 = BGP/OSPF/ISIS/basic MPLS | ASR 9000 = full MPLS/EVPN/MVPN/SR | NCS 5500 = all of the above + optimized SRv6.
• OS: ASR 1000 = IOS-XE | ASR 9000 = IOS-XR | NCS 5500 = IOS-XR.
• Primary use case: ASR 1000 = enterprise edge/small service provider | ASR 9000 = traditional service provider PE/core | NCS 5500 = modern 400G core.
• Entry price: ASR 1001-X = €8K | ASR 9901 = €45K | NCS-5501 = €40K.

Capacity Planning by Deployment Type

Large Enterprise with Service Provider MPLS

• CE edge: ASR 1001-X or Catalyst 8500. Connected to the service provider PE.
• DC gateway: ASR 1002-HX or ASR 1006-X for multi-link aggregation.
• Budget: €20-80K.

Regional ISP (10K-100K Customers)

• PE edge: ASR 9901 or NCS-5501-SE to terminate customer MPLS L3VPN services.
• Core: ASR 9904 or NCS-5504 for a regional backbone.
• Peering: ASR 9000 with a full Internet BGP table.
• Budget: €200K-€1M.

National Operator / Tier 1

• Core: NCS 5500 series 400G for a 100-400G backbone.
• PE: ASR 9000 with 100K+ MPLS customers.
• Major peering: ASR 9910 or NCS-5516 with 100G+ connectivity to IXs (DE-CIX, AMS-IX, LINX).
• Budget: €10M+.

Licensing and Support Contracts

• SmartNet Total Care: 24×7 TAC support + NBD Advanced Replacement RMA. ~12-18% of the hardware price/year.
• SmartNet 8×5×NBD: business-hours support only. ~8-12%/year.
• Solution Support: architecture-level software + hardware support. For large enterprises with a Cisco TAM (Technical Account Manager).
• For service provider routers, SmartNet is mandatory. Running an ASR 9000 or NCS in production WITHOUT a contract represents an unacceptable risk.

OPTINOC Recommendations

• Large enterprise seeking Cisco edge infrastructure: ASR 1001-X or 1001-HX. Budget: €8-18K.
• Regional MPLS ISP: ASR 9901 PE + ASR 9904 core. Budget: €150-300K.
• National operator with a 400G core: NCS 5500 series. Budget: €500K+.
• Alternatives to consider: Juniper MX204 / MX480 / MX960 (ASR 9000 equivalents), Nokia 7750 SR (strong presence in the European service provider market).

OPTINOC supplies Cisco ASR 1000, ASR 9000, and NCS 5500 platforms with a manufacturer warranty and SmartNet. Assisted IOS-XR configuration and deployment are also available. Contact us for detailed service provider capacity planning.