After years of research and development, network equipment giant Cisco Systems (Quote) has announced its next-generation high-end router as part of its 20th anniversary celebration.
Previously code named HFR for "Huge Fast Router," Cisco is calling its Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System (CRS-1) a "major innovation in global communications and networking." John Chambers, president and CEO, and other
executives are scheduled to unveil the new hardware and software platform at
the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., today.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company said its router is
designed to help providers deliver next-generation data, voice and video
services over a converged Internet Protocol (IP) network to business and
residential customers.
"To be profitable, service providers are focusing on network and service
convergence to reduce total cost of ownership, and adding new,
revenue-generating services," Mike Volpi, Cisco senior vice president and
general manager of its Routing Technology Group, said in a statement.
The new system is currently in field trials with Cisco's carriers and
service providers and is scheduled for release in July with a USD $450,000
price tag.
Cisco is in need of a boost. The company is still reeling from the illegal release of some of its source code for its popular IOS operating system.
"We view this new system as strategically significant for Cisco,"
Christin Armacost, a telecom analyst with SG Cowen & Co., wrote in a research note to investors Monday.
Armacost doesn't see a near-term revenue bump from the product, which is
arguably overdue, but said some contracts or endorsements from carriers may
accompany the HFR announcement.
Among those said to have tested the router are carriers and ISPs with
huge amounts of traffic to direct on their networks, such as Sprint (Quote), AOL (Quote) and Verizon (Quote).
The CRS-1 will compete with Juniper Networks' (Quote) T640
router. Juniper hailed the second anniversary of the
T640, saying that the platform delivers "high availability, reliability and intelligent services at multi-terabit scale." Juniper's T640 customers
include China Telecom, China Unicom, Cox Communications and Science
Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for the U.S. Defense
Information Systems Agency's GIG-BE
Program.
Cisco's CRS-1 parries Juniper's offering with a bevy of new hardware
attributes including non-blocking, self-routed multi-shelf system that
scales from 1.2 to 92 terabits per second (Tbps); an Optical Carrier
(OC)-768c/STM-256c packet interface; and Cisco's Silicon Packet Processor
(SPP), which is a sophisticated 40-Gbps application-specific integrated
circuit (ASIC).
The company said its memory-protected, microkernel-based operating system
also allows for process-level in-service upgrades, and enables fully
distributed processing by separating of the control, data and management
planes. The modular design lets the router support fault containment and
automatic fault recovery so that processes can be started, stopped and
upgraded without human intervention. In addition, Cisco said the CRS-1
features self-defending network capabilities to automatically recognize
disruptive activities, such as distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks,
with hardware- and software-based infrastructure.
The platform also includes Cisco IOS XR Software, a new member of the
Cisco IOS Software family, designed for terabit-scale routing systems built
on massively distributed multi-shelf architectures. The software runs system
management through command-line-interface (CLI) enhancements, Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) or XML-based interfaces. Cisco said its new
XML-based Craft Works Interface (CWI) is a visual management tool that can
manage single-shelf or multi-shelf systems. The company said it is rounding
out the package with its Cisco Intelligent ServiceFlex design for service.
With the new CRS-1 platform, Cisco said system processes such as Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) can also be
fully distributed across the routing system.
Already, customers are lining up to adopt the system. Beyond its testing
base, the company said MCI and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC)
are expected to install the new router system. MCI is scheduled to
demonstrate the fastest IP intercity transmission ever across MCI's IP
backbone at 40-Gbps throughput. PSC said it is using the CRS-1 to manage its
TeraGrid connection and is planning to install the system as part of the
national backbone for National Lambda Rail (NLR).
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