Big Routers Continue to Grow - Page 2

Page 2 of 2

Over the last five years, the CRS-1 has not stood still either and has been improved by Cisco in a number of ways. In 2008, Cisco expanded the optical networking capabilities of the CRS-1 with improved IPoDWDM (Internet Protocol over Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing) capabilities to transport 40Gbps of IP traffic over 2,000 kilometers.

Recently, Cisco expanded the CRS-1 capabilities to integrate with their Unified Computing System in a service called the 'Unified Service Delivery' system. Webster explained that the CRS-1 is now moving into the datacenter network space and is really helping to tie datacenter into the network as a whole.

"In the past, datacenters were looked at as their own entity," Webster said. "But to get max effectiveness of datacenters you can use the network to interconnect them and not silo resources. That's recognizing the vision of the network as platform and the CRS-1 is a key part of that."

Juniper's competition

Webster did not specifically call out Juniper as the primary competitor for the CRS-1, though Juniper on the other hand does see the CRS-1 as its primary competitive target for the T1600.

Juniper's Ceuppens said that most of the time the competition is the CRS-1, since in his view the T1600 and the CRS-1 are the only two core routers have 1 Tbps or more of backplane throughput capacity.

Though Cisco and Juniper have competing platforms, that doesn't necessarily mean that vendors are doing 'bake-offs' between the two products.

Cueppens said that he doesn't often see bake-offs in a lab but it's rather a question of functionality, software, stability and pricing. As well he added that many service providers may well often buy from both vendors.

"Most service providers have a dual-vendor strategy for core network equipment," Cueppens said. "There are a few that are single-vendor."

The economy is an issue that may well be limiting adoption of the big core routers somewhat, though carriers in the final analysis may have no choice but to upgrade their networks.

"Some providers are running networks hotter, putting more traffic on their networks," Cueppens said. "But ultimately the way we see traffic growing at between 50 and 70 percent per year, capacity needs to be added."