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Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)

Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)

Overview

What is Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)?

The Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) is a highly secure and highly available access-routing platform for service providers.

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Product Details

What is Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500)?

The NCS 500 Series boasts a secure and highly available access-routing platform for service providers. Both fixed and modular form factors support advanced automation and programmability to provide 5G, Remote PHY, Carrier Ethernet, and FTTx.

Compare Models:
NCS 520: Secure Layer 2/Layer 3 DMARC device providing support for ELINE and ELAN deployments.
NCS 540: Advanced timing and ultra-low latency geared for 5G, Carrier Ethernet, and WAN MPLS.
NCS 560: Full-featured, modular, and programmable aggregation platform for cost-efficient access networks.

Target Deployments:
Access networks

Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) Features

  • Supported: 5G Ready: The NCS 540 and NCS 560 are built for 5G with advanced timing, ultra-low latency, and ultra-high capacity.
  • Supported: Converge network services onto a single platform.
  • Supported: Scale capacity with ports that support 1/10/25/40/100 GbE.
  • Supported: MEF 3.0 Certified

Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) Video

Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) Competitors

Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsCisco IOS XR7
Mobile ApplicationNo

Cisco 500 Series Network Convergence System (NCS 500) Downloadables

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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(20)

Reviews

(1-3 of 3)
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Ignacy Mikos | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Cisco NCS 540 device in my Company Core-MPLS network as pe-swich. We decided to try NCS devices due to it 2 power supply offering plus very good Port and throughput coverage in really small box. After 1-2 test deployments we decided to go for it in larger scale. also due to easy configuration which can be templated.
  • Double power supply
  • Good port coverage with 40-100G plus 10G
  • Easy deployment
  • Smart licensing
Cisco 500 NCS device is well suited in small deploments when you need 100/40G ports plus 10. When you have limited space and don't want to place large chassis/cars device.
  • Port covarage
  • Double power supply
  • small box
  • Easy to deploy
  • A lot of port
  • Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)
Cisco NCS is smaller and for us newer. Better cost with similar capabilities.
Cisco 1000 Series Integrated Services Routers (ISR 1000), Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The Cisco 500 series platform has been a big part of our organizations since its release. It has been used as on-prem equipment at customer site, acting as an access layer for various services. It is a very cost effective way to provide Cisco devices at that particular layer of the network.
  • Switching.
  • Routing.
  • Access.
  • Some software bugs with initial releases, seems to be resolved now.
  • With introduction, EOL on some similar products in the Cisco family.
  • OS features could be expanded.
The Cisco NCS platform is very well suited to be an access layer device within our network. There are definitely other applications with its flexible licensing to add additional ports (including 10G) and features. Having scalable licensing allows for this platform to be used even when cost needs to be low for a network solution.
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  • .
  • .
  • Relatively low cost access layer device.
  • Very cost effective means of getting 10G interfaces.
  • Some features available on other devices out of the box are more complex or absent on the NCS without licensing or assistance.
Salesforce Lightning Platform (formerly Salesforce App Cloud), monday.com
Ben Wiechman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Two primary use cases: 1)10G port aggregation at the SP edge (RPHY aggregation, 10G E-UNI/NNI ports, access aggregation) where higher 10G port density is required than is possible on the ASR9001 routers we typically have installed in a CO location. 2) POP router for small POP expansions with unknown growth potential. Reasonable trade-off between port density and cost, especially in greenfield deployments with unknown market potential.
  • Pay as you grow
  • Operating system is consistent with other establish equipment (IOS-XR) — using primarily NCS540
  • Support for 25G port speeds
  • MPLS feature set on NCS520
  • Full support for RFC2544, Y.1564 across the product line
  • Greater clarity of the impact of smaller buffers on NCS540 when compared to other Qumran chipsets — some use cases like RPHY aggregation at network core are not a good fit.
Well suited for10G aggregation at network edge. Small managed networks such as school districts or distributed enterprise campus. Not well suited to RPHY aggregation at network core — queuing in NCS540 results in jitter and poor RPHY performance. Allow port license purchases in smaller units. Better support for SLA performance monitoring capabilities would allow use as a box for 10G aggregation for Carrier Ethernet NNI handoff.
  • Better price point for network edge
  • Cisco 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 9000)
Higher 10G port density on NCS540
Availability of 25G/40G/100G provides greater flexibility
Good choice when full line rate is not needed
Good choice when full capabilities of ASR9000 are not required

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