Network giant Cisco has launched a new WAN router intended to process and secure voice and video traffic at the edge of firms' networks.

The Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 1000 combines firewall, IPSec VPN, deep packet inspection and most importantly, session border control, a role normally taken on by dedicated hardware to mitigate VoIP and IP telephony threats.

Cisco said that the new router is a result of over £50m of investment and five years' R&D. It uses Cisco's new QuantumFlow Processor, and the vendor is also claiming the product can reduce customers’ carbon footprint, and capital and operating expenses. The reductions could be achieved due to consolidation of all the separate appliances firms would normally deploy when rolling out IP communication systems, Cisco explained.

The ASR 1000 uses Cisco's internetwork operating system (IOS) XE software, a virtualised version of IOS, which the vendor said is optimised for edge routers and results in a smaller form factor appliance than normal. But network administrators can still use the familiar IOS command line control, which Cisco has retained.

Cisco is aiming the product at the service provider and large enterprise markets. The ASR 1000 will be generally available in April 2008 in 2U, 4U and 6U form factors, with pricing starting at £17,500 + VAT.