What i am saying neednt be correct, but this is what I think...
The router model numbers have been named, according to a convention like....Low end routers - used in SOHO having a lower number starting with the 800s, 1000s 1600s, 1700s etc....
The one used for remote sites (ROBO) like 2600, 3600, and 4000 can be considered mid range routers, (Cisco might have chosen a number from the next highest range after 1000 was over...)
Higher end series they would have chosen the 7000 range, (already they needed 5000 and 6000 in between for the switches)....7000 range is used for the provider level....
and last but least, the ones used in optical backbones, like the ONS routers have 15000 while the GSR have 12000. Cisco might have chosen a higher value above 10000, to give a feeling of a higher end router....
So generally the convention used might have been
higher end router - higher value...in multiples of 1000s
lower end router - lower value in multiple of 1000s...(or less than 1000)
Hope that helps....and suffice tooo...
Sankar Nair
UC Solutions Architect
Pacific Northwest | CDW
CCIE Collaboration #17135 Emeritus
