Cisco EHWIC-4ESG Ethernet Enhanced High-Speed WAN Interface Card equips with  4 * 10/100/1000 switch ports to integrate with Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR2).  EHWIC-4ESG provides layer 2 switching features such as port autosensing, IEEE802.1P, IEEE802.1x, SNMPV1,V2,V3, QoS, VlAN trunking, STP. The new feature of Gigabit Ethernet EHWIC includes: 8 QoS queues per port, Shaped Deficit Weighted Round Robin (SDWRR), dynamic secure port, intrachassis cascading. When connecting with Multigigait Fabric (MGF)-enabled modules in the system acting as a single switch, directly forwards the layer 2 switching packets in the system without utilizing CPU. EHWIC also supports redundancy protocol such HSRP, VRRP and BLGP.

The new Cisco EHWIC card offers IP routing, and voice gateway capability into a single chassis to accommodate;the needs for high traffic data from the small to medium-sized business or enterprise branch-office. The EHWIC does not support routed ports, however, assign each switch port to its own VlAN providing some equivalence to routed port, this features handled by software-based SVI interfaces may cause serious performance issues and limitations.

EHWIC expands the switching capacity for ISR2 routers with cascading capabilities in order to enhance routers performance. The integration of ISR G2 routers deduce network complexity, simplify network management, lower maintenance costs and deliver consistent user experience.