Cisco IOS also stands for Internetwork Operating System. The company’s name is Cisco Systems and the product is IOS. There are different versions of Cisco IOS which are separated by three numbers and letters.
It is established in the format of a.b(c.d)e.
A represents the major version number and b is the minor version number.
C is the release number and d is the interim build number.
E is the software release train identifier.
The Cisco IOS image or software provides a large number of capabilities so that the user can do many functions. When you look at the name of the Cisco image, you can determine what is included in this package based on the name. M in this case stands for an extended maintenance release.