Data Sheet

Cisco Network Convergence System 540 Router

The Cisco Visual Network Index™ forecasts that global IP traffic will increase threefold
by 2021, driven by both mobile and wireline traffic. This explosion will be driven by
next generation technologies such as 5G for mobile, Remote PHY for cable and
Carrier Ethernet evolution. The service provider network of the future will not just
provide exponentially higher bandwidth at lower operating costs but will also be
capable of enabling new applications such as pervasive mobile broadband, massive
IoT, tactile Internet, smart cities, and virtual reality.

The Cisco® Network Convergence System 540 Routers (NCS 540) are designed for cost-effective delivery of these
next-generation services and applications. These routers are temperature-hardened, high-throughput, small form
factor, low-power-consumption devices suitable for both outdoor and indoor deployments. They are powered by the
industry-leading carrier-class 64-bit version of Cisco IOS XR Software designed for operational efficiency and
service agility. Cisco IOS XR Software offers advanced features such as programmability, application awareness,
network visibility, and automation. The Cisco NCS 540 series of routers is an intelligent converged access platform
which enables service providers to deliver next-level business and entertainment experiences.

Figure 1. Cisco N540-ACC-SYS chassis

Specifications
Tables 1 through 7 list primary specifications for the Cisco NCS 540 fixed chassis.

Table 1. Cisco NCS 540 chassis specification

Chassis PID N540-24Z8Q2C- N540-ACC-SYS N540X-12Z16G- N540X- N540-28Z4C-SYS N540-12Z20G-

SYS N540X-ACC-SYS SYS ** 16Z4G8Q2C ** **
SYS **
(Conformal
Coated)
Route Processor 4-core 1.5Ghz x86 4-core 1.5Ghz x86 4-core 1.7GHz x86 8-core 1.7GHz x86 8-core 1.7GHz x86 4-core 1.7GHz x86
CPU, 32GB, CPU, 16GB, CPU, 8GB DRAM, CPU, 8GB DRAM, CPU, 8GB DRAM, CPU, 8GB DRAM,
128GB SATA 128GB SATA 32G eMMC 32G eMMC 32G eMMC 32G eMMC

Port Config 24x1GE/10GE 24x1GE/10GE 12x1G SFP 16x10G 28x10G 20x1G

8x1GE/10GE/25G 8x1GE/10GE/25G 4x1G Cu 4x1GCu 4x100G 12x10G
E E 12x10G 8x25G+2x100G
2x 40GE/100GE 2x 40GE/100GE

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 Chassis PID N540-24Z8Q2C- N540-ACC-SYS N540X-12Z16G- N540X- N540-28Z4C-SYS N540-12Z20G-
SYS N540X-ACC-SYS SYS ** 16Z4G8Q2C ** **
SYS **
(Conformal
Coated)
PSU/Fan 2 hot-swappable 2 hot-swappable Fixed Dual DC Fixed Dual DC Fixed Dual DC Fixed Dual DC
power supplies power supplies Fixed Single AC Fixed Single AC Fixed Single AC Fixed
provide 1+1 provide 1+1
redundancy redundancy Fixed Fans Modular Fan Tray Fixed Fans Single AC
4 fans provide 3+1 4 fans provide 3+1 Side to Side Side to Side Front to Back Fixed Fans
redundant system redundant system Airflow Airflow Airflow Front to Back
cooling cooling Airflow
Front-to-back Front-to-back
airflow airflow
Temp Range iTemp: -40C to iTemp: -40C to iTemp: -40C to iTemp: -40C to Commercial Commercial
+70C (1000ft.), +70C (1000ft.), +70C +70C Temperature: 0 to Temperature: 0 to
+65C (6000ft.), +65C (6000ft.), Conformal coated Conformal coated 50C 50C
+55C (13,000ft.) +55C (13,000ft.) SKU for hot humid SKU for hot humid
Conformal coated conditions conditions
SKU for hot humid
conditions
Optics 24 x 10GE ports 24 x 10GE ports 1/10G:SR/LR/ER/ 1/10G:SR/LR/ER/ 1/10G:SR/LR 1/10G:SR/LR
with SFP+ or SFP with SFP+ or SFP ZR/ DWDM ZR/DWDM 100G: SR/LR
optics for 10GE or optics for 10GE or 25G: SR/LR,
1GE options 1GE options
40G: SR/LR/ER,
8 x 25GE with 8 x 25GE with
SFP28 or SFP+ SFP28 or SFP+ 100G:
optics for 25GE, optics for 25GE, SR/LR/ER4L
10GE or 1GE 10GE or 1GE
options options
2 x 100GE with 2 x 100GE with
QSFP28 optics QSFP28 optics
(supports 4 x (supports 4 x
25GE breakout), 25GE breakout),
or as 2 x 40GE or as 2 x 40GE
with QSFP+ optics with QSFP+ optics
(supports 4 x (supports 4 x
10GE breakout) 10GE breakout)

Timing Internal GNSS Internal GNSS 1588/SyncE,GNS 1588/SyncE, 1588v2, TOD, 1588v2, TOD,
module with GPS, module with GPS, S, 1PPS, ToD, GNSS, 1PPS, BITS, 1PPS, BITS, 1PPS,
GLONASS, GLONASS, 10MHz, ToD, 10MHz, 10MHz, 10MHz,
Galileo, Beidou Galileo, Beidou Class-C Class-C Class-B Class-B
Interfaces: 1 PPS Interfaces: 1 PPS
in/out, 10Mhz in/out, 10Mhz
in/out, ToD in/out, in/out, ToD in/out,
antenna for antenna for
internal GNSS internal GNSS
Class-B Class-B
Physical Specs 1RU 1RU 1RU 1RU 1RU 1RU
1.72 in. x 17.3 in. x 1.72 in. x 17.3 in. x 1.75 in. x 17.5 in. x 1.75 in. x 17.5 in. x 1.75 in. x 17.5 in. x 1.75 in. x 17.5 in. x
10.02 in. 10.02 in. 9.84 in. 9.84 in. 9.84 in. 9.84 in.
Weight: 14 lb. Weight: 14 lb.
(6.35kg) (6.35kg)
**
Coming 2HCY19

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 Table 2. Software feature support on NCS 540 in Cisco IOS XR 6.3.2 release or beyond

Description Specification
Layer 2 Layer 2 switch ports
IEEE 802.1Q VLAN encapsulation / Q-in-Q encapsulation
IEEE 802.1ad
Ethernet Link Aggregation Group (LAG) (up to 32 ports)
Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP): IEEE 802.3ad
Jumbo frames on all ports (up to 9216 bytes)
L2 ingress Access Control List (ACL)
Ethernet Flow Point (EFP) and VLAN trunks
L2 Bridge Domains
Layer 3 IPv4 and IPv6 unicast
Layer 3 interfaces: physical interfaces and sub-interfaces
Routing protocols: static, Open Shortest Path First (OSPFv2), OSPFv3, Intermediate System to Intermediate System (ISIS),
ISISv6, and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
32-way equal-cost multipath (ECMP)
L3 ingress and egress IPv4 ACL and IPv6 ACL
Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)
Cisco bundle Ethernet technology (up to 32 ports per Ethernet bundle)
Jumbo frame support (up to 9216 bytes)
Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)Integrated Routing Bridging (IRB) with Bridge Virtual Interface (BVI)
MPLS Label switching
LDP
SR-MPLS
RSVP-TE and SR-TE MPLS Traffic Engineering
Point-to-point L2VPN – T-LDP, BGP, EVPN-VPWS
Multipoint L2VPN – VPLS, EVPN
L2/L3 VPN EVPN with Anycast IRB
Segment Routing Segment Routing with MPLS data plane
(SR) ISIS extensions to segment routing
OSPF extensions to segment routing
BGP extensions to segment routing
BGP egress peering engineering (BGP-EPE)
Segment Routing Traffic Engineering (SR-TE)
Segment routing Topology Independent Loop-Free Alternatives (TI-LFA)
On-Demand Next-hop (ODN)
Multicast IPv4, IPv6
PIM-SM, PIM-SSM
IGMPv3, MLDv2
PIM-ECMP
mLDP
P2MP-TE
Quality of Service Hierarchical QoS
(QoS) Ingress classification based on class of service (L2)
IP differentiated service code point (L3)
IP precedence (type of service) (L3)
Policing, Shaping
4096 number of queues for user traffic
Support for priority queuing
3GB packet buffer

Timing T-GM, T-BC, T-TSC

Integrated GNSS module with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou
SyncE, G.8265.1, G.8275.1, G.8275.2
G.8273.2 Class B

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 Description Specification
Automation Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) with iPXE
Configuration management
Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF/YANG model)
Security Control-plane and management plane protection
Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)
Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System Plus (TACACS+)
Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol
Layer 2 ingress ACLs
Layer 3 ingress ACLs
Management MIB, XML, JSON, GPB, and SNMP
OAM MPLS OAM
Ethernet OAM
MEF 3.0 certified (ELINE, ELAN, ETREE, ACCESS ELINE, TRANSIT ELINE).

Supported transceiver modules

Please refer NCS 5500/540 Series supported transceivers module matrix
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/interfaces-modules/transceiver-modules/products-device-support-tables-
list.html.

Environment
Table 3. Environmental properties for NCS 540 fixed systems

Normal operating temperature Industrial temperature –40°C to +70°C (1000 ft.), +65°C (6000 ft.), +55°C (13,000 ft.)

Nonoperating (storage) temperature –40 to 158°F (–40 to 70°C)

Operating humidity 5% to 95% (noncondensing)
Storage (relative) humidity 5% to 95% at 40°C per NEBS GR-63-Core
Altitude 0 to 13,000 ft.
Power inputs Worldwide ranging AC (90–265V; 50–60 Hz)
Worldwide ranging DC (–40V to –72V)
Airflow Front to Back

Regulatory standards compliance

Table 4. Regulatory standards compliance: safety and EMC

Specification Description
Regulatory compliance Products should comply with CE markings according to directives 2004/108/EC and 2006/95/EC
Network Equipment Building Designed to meet GR-63-CORE and GR-1089-CORE
Standards (NEBS)
Safety UL 60950-1 Second Edition
CAN/CSA-C22.2 No. 60950-1 Second Edition
EN 60950-1 Second Edition
IEC 60950-1 Second Edition
AS/NZS 60950-1
GB4943

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 Specification Description
EMC standards 47CFR Part 15 (CFR 47) Class A
AS/NZS CISPR22 Class A
CISPR22 Class A
EN55022 Class A
ICES003 Class A
VCCI Class A
EN61000-3-2
EN61000-3-3
KN22 Class A
CNS13438 Class A
EMC immunity EN55024
CISPR24
EN300386
KN 61000-4 series
ETSI ETS/EN 300 119 Part 4
ETS/EN 300 019 - Storage: Class 1.2, Transportation: Class 2.3, In-Use/Operational: Class 3.2
ETS/EN 300 753
RoHS The product is RoHS-6 compliant with exceptions for leaded-ball grid-array (BGA) balls and lead press-fit
connectors

Ordering information

Table 5. Ordering information for NCS 540

Part number Description

Chassis N540-ACC-SYS NCS 540 24x1/10GE, 8x10/25GE, 2x100GE chassis

****
N540-24Z8Q2C-SYS NCS 540 24x1/10GE, 8x10/25GE, 2x100GE chassis
N540X-ACC-SYC NCS 540 24x1/10GE, 8x10/25GE, 2x100GE conformal coated chassis

Compliance Model N540-ACC-SYS NCS 540 24x1/10GE, 8x10/25GE, 2x100GE chassis

N540X-ACC-SYS NCS 540 24x1/10GE, 8x10/25GE, 2x100GE conformal coated chassis
N540-24Z8Q2C-M NCS 540 24x1/10GE, 8x10/25GE, 2x100GE chassis

SW XR-6.5-K9-AC-TRK NCS 540 Cisco IOS XR 6.5 image

TRK-6.5-54-K9 IOS XR 6.5 K9 Tracking PID
Fan N540-FAN NCS 540 chassis fan
Power supply N540-PWR400-A NCS 540 AC 400W power supply
N540-PWR400-D NCS 540 DC 400W power supply
Accessories N540-RCKMT-19 NCS 540 19-inch rack mounting bracket
NCS540-ACC-DCAP= NCS 540 Dust Caps
****
For third party app hosting

Table 6. Ordering information for software licenses available on NCS 540

Part number Description

ESS-AC-10G-RTU-1 Essentials SW Right-to-Use per 10G
ADV-AC-10G-RTU-1 Advanced SW Right-to-Use per 10G

ESS-10G-SIA-3 Essentials SW Innovation Access per 10G 3 year subscription

ESS-10G-SIA-5 Essentials SW Innovation Access per 10G 5 year subscription
ADV-10G-SIA-3 Advanced SW Innovation Access per 10G 3 year subscription
ADV-10G-SIA-5 Advanced SW Innovation Access per 10G 5 year subscription

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 Table 7. Ordering information for power cables supported on NCS 540

Part number Description

CAB-AC-SA Power Cord - South Africa, 16/10A,250V,1830mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-ARG Power Cord - Argentina, 10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-ISR Power Cord - Israel, 16/10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-TAI Power Cord - Taiwan, 15/10A,125V,2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-CHI Power Cord - China, 10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-KOR Power Cord - Korea, 16/10A,125V,2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-EUR Power Cord - Europe, 16/10A,250V, 2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-ITL Power Cord - Italy, 10A,250V, 2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-UK Power Cord - UK, 13/10A, 250V, 2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-AUS Power Cord - Australia, 10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C
CAB-AC-US Power Cord - US, 15A,125V,2500mm,-40C to +85C
CAB-AC-BRA Power Cord - Brazil, 10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C

CAB-AC-IND Power Cord - India, 16/10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C

CAB-AC-SUI Power Cord - Swiss, 10A,250V,2500mm, -40C to +85C

Service and support

Cisco offers a wide range of services to help accelerate your success in deploying and optimizing the Cisco NCS
540. These innovative Cisco Services offerings are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes,
tools, and partners, and they are focused on helping you increase operating efficiency and improve your network
operation. Cisco Advanced Services uses an architecture-led approach to help you align your data center
infrastructure with your business goals and achieve long-term value. Cisco SMARTnet® Service helps you resolve
mission-critical problems with direct access at any time to Cisco network experts and award-winning resources.
With this service, you can take advantage of the Cisco Smart Call Home service, which offers proactive diagnostics
and real-time alerts on your Cisco NCS 540. Spanning the entire network lifecycle, Cisco Services offerings help
increase investment protection, optimize network operations, support migration operations, and strengthen your IT
expertise.

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 Warranty
The Cisco NCS 540 has a 1-year limited hardware warranty. The warranty includes hardware replacement with a
10-day turnaround from receipt of a Return Materials Authorization (RMA).

For more information

For more information about the Cisco NCS 540, contact your Cisco representative.

Printed in USA C78-740296-01 02/19

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