September 19th, 2009 
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Cisco routers are specialized computers used in data networks to provide connectivity between remote computers (also called hosts) and network segments. Cisco routers operate on the third network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model and perform such functions as packet forwarding and best-path determination.
The architecture of Cisco routers is very similar to that of other computers. Routers have memory and a processor, which are used to execute the operating system and numerous processes or programs. Generally speaking, the Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is a set of processes running inside a router. Examples of such processes are the forwarding engines for network-layer protocolsâ€â€for example, IP, IPX, AppleTalkâ€â€routing protocolsâ€â€RIP, OSPF, BGPâ€â€data link layer protocolsâ€â€PPP, HDLC, Frame Relayâ€â€as well as numerous other tasks.
