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Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms

Score9.6 out of 10

51 Reviews and Ratings

What is Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms?

Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms deliver secure, high-performance SD-WAN built for hybrid work, multicloud access, and 5G-ready networks. Powered by Cisco IOS XE, these devices combine flexible routing, SASE integration, and cloud-native agility to support AI-driven networking and edge computing needs.

Catalyst 8000 A superhero

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I continuously demo how the Catalyst 8000 virtual router can deploy easily on our PS451 Server line with multiple Type 1 Hypervisors.

Pros

  • Dmvpn
  • VRF
  • IPSec
  • Dynamic Routing.

Cons

  • CPU overhead.

Return on Investment

  • Decreased our equipment BOM
  • Alleviated stress on power budgets
  • Improved performance

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Cisco ESR6300 Embedded Series Router, Cisco Secure Firewall and Palo Alto Networks Advanced Threat Prevention

review of Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms 8200 series

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

we use them as customer premise router that we manage / terminating MPLS circuits. We use these to connect to transaction processing systems for our customers

Pros

  • NAT
  • ACL
  • Speed of interfaces

Cons

  • we are using them to replace isr 4331's. as such, the ethernet (speed/duplex) interoperabiliyt with customer equipment seems to have issues at times.

Return on Investment

  • ROI - 1U form factor is good
  • we aren't doing alot of bells and whisltles on our edge/Extranet

Usability

A great product and great choice

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have many challenges to connect our branch offices and manufacture plants over the country.

Pros

  • Connect branch offices to Central Office
  • Reliable connection
  • Stable network

Cons

  • Empower production line
  • Environment stability
  • Security operations

Return on Investment

  • Finishing network outage production increase 20% your performance
  • Network stability enhance our productivity line
  • Security make operation more stable

Usability

Rock solid routing platform justifying its industry recognition

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms routers are used in our organization at the Internet Edge and for branch connectivity. At the Internet edge we leverage redundant pair of routers which utilize BGP to establish peering with two internet service providers. Midsize routers with redundant power supplies are used for this role.
For small branch connectivity, smaller router models are used, combining routing and basic security functions within a single device.

Pros

  • Robustness
  • Stability
  • Support (TAC)
  • Feature richness

Cons

  • Simplified licensing
  • better documentation around pluggable modules
  • more detailed public performance numbers

Return on Investment

  • Improved reachability of Internet facing services by using redundant BGP internet edge design
  • Better branch robustness by utilizing mobile backhaul as a hot standby

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 4000)

Other Software Used

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco Catalyst Center

Cisco Catalyst 8000 Edge Platforms - a good overall choice

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize the routers for SDWAN for branch and data center and autonomous mode for internet edge.
Problems we’ve faced have been with code and hardware bugs of drops with the qfp in the 8500s.
Additional bugs we’ve run into were memory errors on the 8200 platform.
Licensing issues due to HSEC requirements.
Overall product has been mostly stable.

Pros

  • SDWAN
  • Throughput
  • Rack size

Cons

  • Scalability
  • Quality control of product (physical components)
  • Keep up with clear difference of SDWAN vs Autonomous mode capabilities

Return on Investment

  • 8200 are sometimes a hard price point for our customer to swallow as our "low end" offering.
  • 8500s are also at times a difficult price point.
  • 8300s seem to be a decent offering in a middle tier offering.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst Center

Other Software Used

NetBrain Technologies, Statseeker, ServiceNow Enterprise Asset Management