Product Overview
Voice over IP (VoIP), video streaming, instant messaging, and gaming are just a few of the real-time, IP-based applications enjoying rapid growth in today's competitive communications market. The Cisco® ASR 1000 Series Session Border Controller (SBC) helps service providers and enterprises connect isolated islands of voice-, video-, and multimedia-based IP networks and facilitates end-to-end IP-based transport of these real-time applications.
The Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC builds on the continuous operation and service aggregation provided by the powerful and flexible Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Router platforms. With integration of media-forwarding functions of the SBC for both IPv4 and IPv6 in the high-performance data-plane Cisco ASR 1000 Series Embedded Services Processor (ESP), and control functions in the separate, flexible, and scalable control-plane Cisco ASR 1000 Series Route Processor, the Cisco ASR 1000 Series completely integrates the SBC with other Layer 2 and Layer 3 services such as security, quality of service (QoS), IP Multicast, etc. without requiring additional application-specific hardware (service blades).
By incorporating SBC capability, the Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC eliminates the need for overlay networks and standalone appliances and provides an open and flexible architecture for all service provider deployments, whether for peering or for customer access. A key element of the Cisco Service Exchange Framework (SEF), which supports IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and non-IMS services, the Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC further accelerates network convergence while providing investment protection.
Applications
Session border controllers control and manage real-time multimedia traffic flows between IP network borders, handling signaling and media. As part of this function, an SBC performs native IP interconnection functions required for real-time communications such as access control, Firewall Traversal, bandwidth policing, accounting, signaling interworking, and QoS management. In a distributed SBC deployment model, the Cisco ASR 1000 Series with its comprehensive suite of features as a border element for media in conjunction with an external call agent working as a border element for signaling facilitates a broad range of SBC applications for enterprises and service providers.
Service Provider-to-Service Provider Interconnect
With the increasing deployment of end-to-end VoIP and IP video, service providers are looking to interconnect directly with IP and minimize time-division multiplexing (TDM)-based handoff to other service provider networks. Direct IP interconnect helps minimize operational and capital expenditures by eliminating back-to-back TDM gateways; it also increases media quality and helps ensure transparency of IP-based services across network borders. The Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC in conjunction with an external call agent provides the following critical functions required for direct IP interconnect without introducing any additional network elements:
• Protocol and media interworking
• Session routing
• Admission control and policing
• Quality monitoring and enforcement
• Media and signaling security and Network Address Translation (NAT) mechanisms
• Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)
Service Provider-to-Access Interconnect
With the rapid growth in IP telephony and other real-time services such as IP video, service providers are deploying SBC appliances at the provider edge to provide demarcation, security, and translation capability to support services such as IP private branch exchange (PBX)-to-service provider peering and the fast-growing residential IP telephony. The Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC builds on Cisco Layer 2 and Layer 3 services and, working in conjunction with a call agent, it provides the following features:
• Protocol and media interworking
• Session routing
• Hosted NAT and Firewall Traversal
• Security and AAA
• Intra- and inter-VPN interconnect and optimization
For both the service provider-to-service provider and service provider-to-access applications, the innovative architecture of the Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC facilitates distributed signaling deployment (Figure 1). In the distributed deployment model, the Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC hosts the media-related functions and communicates with an external call agent through an industry-standard interface based on the H.248 Protocol.
Figure 1. SBC Deployment Model
Features and Benefits
The Cisco ASR 1000 Series SBC is integrated with the innovative Cisco IOS® XE Operating System, which provides numerous other features for maximum deployment flexibility. The SBC function runs on the ESP simultaneously with regular IP data services, and no appliance or additional service blade is required. Route processor and ESP modularity of the Cisco ASR 1000 Series platforms helps enable maximum investment protection and flexibility by allowing customers to scale up to future enhanced route processors and ESPs.
Table 1 lists the features of the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Session Border Controller.
Table 1. Features and Benefits
Ordering Information
Ordering the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Session Border Controller involves three steps:
1. Select a router from the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers with the required route-processor and ESP modules.
2. Select a Cisco IOS XE Software image with Session Border Controller feature support.
3. Select the appropriate feature licenses.
To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Home Page. To download software, visit the Cisco Software Center.
The Cisco ASR 1000 Series Session Border Controller application requires a right-to-use license, an H.248 feature license, and one or more session licenses. All three types are required in order to use this function. You can combine multiple session licenses for the session count desired; for example, for 20,000 sessions, you can combine a 16,000-session license with a 4,000-session license. For the purpose of Session License ordering, an SBC session is a bidirectional media flow, regardless of the protocol used to carry media (RTP, UDP, TCP or any other). For example, a video-phone call uses two SBC sessions; one carrying bidirectional audio and the other carrying bidirectional video.
Table 2 gives ordering information for the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Session Border Controller.
Table 2. Ordering Information for Feature Licenses
Table 3 lists Cisco IOS XE Software images with SBC feature support.
Table 3. Cisco ASR 1000 Series Software Images with SBC Support
|
Software Feature Set |
Part Number |
|
Cisco ASR 1000 Series ADVANCED IP SERVICES |
SASR1-AISK9 |
|
Cisco ASR 1000 Series ADVANCED ENTERPRISE SERVICES |
SASR1-AESK9 |
Service and Support
Cisco offers a wide range of services programs to accelerate customer success. These innovative services programs are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, resulting in high levels of customer satisfaction. Cisco services help you protect your network investment, optimize network operations, and prepare your network for new applications to extend network intelligence and the power of your business. For more information about Cisco Services, refer to Cisco Technical Support Services or Cisco Advanced Services.
For More Information
For more information about the Cisco ASR 1000 Series or the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Embedded Services Processors, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/asr1000 or contact your local Cisco account representative.