Introduction to Cisco ENCS Platforms for NFV Branch and Remote Sites

Today I am going to talk about the Cisco solution for the Branch enterprise NFV solution. NFV stands for Network Function Virtualization. The product which provide Branch NFV solution on the remote and Branch site is ENCS. ENCS stands for Enterprises Network Compute systems.

What is ENCS and what is the purpose of ENCS ?

ENCS stands for Enterprises Network Compute systems. The purpose of ENCS to virtualized all your services onto a single hardware.It delivers service agility and density needed for the branch that has limited IT resources.

Cisco ENCS 5000 is a commitment to virtualization various services on compute platform and optimized for Enterprise Network Functions Virtualization. Use Enterprise NFV to save time. Simplify operations and management. 

Cisco ENCS 5000 Series qualities built-in LAN ports with up to 12 cores of compute. It comprises comprehensive abilities and hardware quickening for VM to VM traffic. It also backings legacy WAN transports and optional 4G LTE connectivity.

What functions are supported on ENCS platform ?

Cisco ENCS supports various functions like Virtual Router, Virtual Firewall, Virtual WAAS, Virtual WLAN Controller features on a single platform. So Cisco have two different platforms ENCS 5100 and Cisco ENCS 5400 series. Below showing both the models.

Fig 1.1- Cisco ENCS Platforms for NFV deployments

What is the difference between an ENCS and an ISR routers ?

Well talking about ISR routers and ENCS, ISR is basically for the routing and the forwarding functions and also can run NFVIS on the Cisco UCS E-Series server module to have the same VNF hosting capabilities as the 5000 Series ENCS. The ENCS is a flexible virtualization platform that can host VNFs, including a virtual router.

It is the VNFs that completely define an ENCS, while they serve to augment the existing capabilities of an ISR. The two are complementary within the Cisco Enterprise Branch portfolio

What are the various options of memory in the Cisco ENCS models?

Cisco 5100 ENCS platform supports up to 32 GB of DRAM across two memory slots. Default memory is 16 GB in a single memory slot while if we are talking about Cisco 5400 ENCS platforms it can support up to 64 GB of DRAM across two memory slots. Default memory is 8 GB in a single memory slot and can be increased to 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB. 

Now I knew some of you have the question, If it can be virtualized all functions in a single Box with routing capabilities, Can this Box support SD-WAN ?
Yes Cisco SD-WAN ability will be enabled as per the requirement on the Cisco ENCS 5000 series platforms with IOS-XE. Cisco SD-WAN delivers an entirely new way to manage and operate your WAN infrastructure. Cisco SD-WAN is a cloud delivered architecture that offers secure, flexible and rich services.