Cisco ASR-9912-AC ASR 9000 Series 12-Slot Aggregation Services Router Chassis

Cisco ASR-9912-AC ASR 9000 Series 12-Slot Aggregation Services Router Chassis is an enterprise Cisco router.

It has 12 slots for interface cards. Slot count is what decides how long a router stays useful: ports can be added, but only into slots that exist, and a chassis bought exactly to today’s requirement is usually what forces an early replacement.

What this platform is for. The ASR 9000 is a carrier-class aggregation router for provider edge and core duty, built around a large switching fabric and modular line cards. Knowing the family’s intended role is usually more useful than the part number when you are working out whether something fits: a chassis built for one job will do another, but rarely well, and the cost of that mismatch tends to show up as throughput or feature limits rather than as an outright failure.

This listing carries no specification text, which is why this page describes the family rather than the exact configuration. Routers of the same model were frequently sold in several configurations differing in memory, interface cards, power supply and licensing, and those differences matter more than the model name does. We can pull the exact specification for this part number from the vendor’s own database before you order.

Three questions worth answering before any router purchase, whatever the model. What the throughput requirement actually is with your feature set enabled, rather than the datasheet figure measured without it. Whether the features you need are licensed as well as present, since on most platforms security and performance are separate entitlements. And how many slots or ports you will need in three years, because adding capacity is cheap and replacing a chassis is not.

A point about end-of-life notices on a platform like this, because it causes real confusion. Cisco publishes these per part number, not per family. The ASR 9000 family is not retired, but individual line cards, route processors and software releases within it have their own notices, and some of them have passed. So “is the platform current?” and “is this specific card still supported?” are two different questions with potentially different answers.

That is why we check the exact part number rather than the family before quoting. Send us the code you are looking at and we will tell you where that specific item stands, not where the platform stands.

Tell us what the router has to do, the circuits it has to terminate, the throughput you are designing to and whether you need the security features licensed. We would rather size it from the requirement than from a part number, because the two commonest mistakes on a router purchase are buying throughput that turns out to need a licence and buying a chassis with no slots left.

Green Code Technologies is a supplier of Cisco, and we supply Huawei and Juniper networking alongside HPE, Dell, Samsung, Netgear, Ubiquiti and Asus. We would rather tell you a part is no longer supported, or that we need to check it, than take an order for something that will not do what you need.

The Cisco ASR-9912-AC is a high-capacity aggregation services router chassis. It is part of the Cisco ASR 9000 Series, designed for service providers and large enterprise networks.

This chassis supports 10 line card slots, enabling flexible deployment of high-speed interfaces such as 10G, 40G, and 100G Ethernet.

It delivers massive throughput and scalability, with switching capacity reaching up to 21 Tbps depending on configuration.

The ASR-9912-AC is powered by AC power entry modules (PEM V2) and supports redundant power configurations. This ensures high availability for mission-critical networks.

The system is designed with modular architecture, supporting:

• Line cards (various interface types)
• Route switch processors (RSP)
• Fabric cards
• Power modules and fan trays

This flexibility allows operators to scale performance and features as network demands grow.

The router uses Cisco IOS XR operating system, which provides advanced capabilities such as:

• MPLS and Segment Routing
• BGP, OSPF, IS-IS
• Carrier-grade NAT and QoS
• High availability and redundancy features

The ASR-9912-AC is widely deployed in:

• ISP core and aggregation layers
• Data center interconnects
• Metro Ethernet networks

It offers carrier-grade reliability, making it ideal for handling large-scale traffic and critical infrastructure.

Key Features:

• Modular chassis with 10 line card slots
• Up to 21 Tbps switching capacity
• Supports 10G / 40G / 100G interfaces
• AC-powered system with redundant PEM modules
• Runs Cisco IOS XR for carrier-grade networking
• Designed for service provider and large enterprise networks
• High availability with redundant components