Router - 09 Sep 2003

Cisco Systems blew away the competition in the voting for Best Router, with readers choosing Cisco products by a wide margin. In support of their votes, many readers cited Cisco Routers' features, robustness, and stability. Others touted the routers' speed, unmatched performance and reliability, and Cisco's customer support.

Cisco's extensive router portfolio ranges from the Cisco 12000 Series Internet Routers, for large-scale, performance-critical applications, to the Cisco SOHO 90 Series Secure Broadband Routers, for the small office/home office (SOHO) market. Products are available that offer connectivity speeds ranging from 64Kbps to 10Gbps, integrated core and high-end edge services functionality, Quality of Service (QoS), a fully upgradeable modular switch fabric, integrated Ethernet and private line aggregation capabilities, and as much as 99.999 percent system availability. Reader Greg Chapman offered praise for his favorite Cisco router. He told us, "I love the flexibility and power of the IOS."