Cisco 10008 Edge Switch Router
Cisco remains the market leader in the overall service provider edge sector, but Juniper, Ericsson/Redback and Alcatel-Lucent have all made headway with their newer platforms, and continue to represent strong threats to Cisco. (8/1/2008)

Price: $495

Ericsson SmartEdge MultiService Edge Router
Redback, as part of Ericsson, continues to add new hardware and software enhancements to the SmartEdge MultiService Edge Router platform, generating new performance benefits that give the company product and marketing differentiators to leverage. (7/13/2007)

Price: $495

Juniper Networks E320/E120
The E320/E120 are Juniper’s flagship IP service solution set, offering dramatically higher throughput, performance and scaling capabilities over the first-generation ERX platform, enabling operators to deliver advanced multi-play service bundles. (8/1/2008)

Price: $495

Juniper Networks E-series (ERX-1440)
Juniper’s ERX family offers service providers a solid IP service delivery platform with a few feature-set enhancers. However, the ERX line still comes up short in scalability and density, and thus, faces competitive challenges from rivals. (7/31/2008)

Price: $495

Tellabs 8860 Multi-Service Router
The Tellabs 8860 multiservice router belies the company’s overall commitment to broadband, as it is not a purpose-built product for the more granular subscriber IP edge services market, and only generates about 5% of the company’s annual sales. (8/4/2008)

Price: $495

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• Sections
  
• - Current Perspective Rating
• - Product Strengths & Weaknesses
• - Product Buying Criteria
• - Product Metrics

Page count: 6-7 pages

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• Buying Criteria
  • Density/Scalability
  • Density and scalability are the number of concurrent subscribers supported per chassis and per 7' rack.
  • Software Feature Set
  • The software feature set is the principle value proposition of this product class. It is the set of IP services, including tunneling protocols, Layer 2 encapsulation, VPN support, encryption capabilities, and security and authentication services.
  • Capacity/Performance

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• Product Metrics
  
  • Svc Solution Set/Config
    • The number of slots in a chassis capable of accepting system cards. Slots generally accept processor or interface cards. The more slots available in a system, generally the greater the scalability of the system. More card slots mean the ability to support more ports or greater processing power to enable more applications.
  • Network Interface
    • The type of network connections to the WAN (service provider) network. Interface types are defined according to set standards, such as T1, E1, OC-3, and SDH-16. Each type denotes a specific physical interface connection, and the type of interface a system supports generally defines the range of speeds that the system can support.
  • Switching Capacity
    • Maximum throughput per chassis is a key factor in the overall scalability of the system as it defines how much data or voice traffic can be switched from one card to another. Switching capacity can be expressed in billions of bits per second (Gbps) or millions of bits per second (Mbps). Some systems may utilize the packets per second, but in this instance the packet size needs to be defined in order to be relevant.
  • Maximum Ports
    • The maximum number of ports per chassis; usually measured in T1s or E1s, sometimes listed as DS-0s (single 64 Kbps line). The maximum number of ports defines the total number of physical connections a system will support. Each physical connection, however, can support numerous logical connections, thus the maximum number of ports may not reflect total number of subscribers a system can support. (see Maximum subscriber sessions).
  • Price Per T1/DS1
    • Price, in U.S. dollars, per DS1 (24 POTs lines). Usually decreases as port number increases. Very large systems are more likely to have a lower price per DS1 than smaller systems due to economies of scale.
  • Max Subscriber Sessions
    • Maximum number of simultaneous IP data transmissions, which indicates the actual numbers of individual subscribers that a system can support.
  • Quality of Service (QoS)
    • ATM Quality of Service Bit Rates. ABR = Available, CBR = Constant, V = Variable, U = Unspecified; GFR = Guaranteed Frame Rate. The -rt and -nrt suffixes stand for real time and non-real time. The type of quality of service a system supports directly impacts the ability to support performance sensative applications such as video and voice.
  • Tunneling Protocols
    • Coding that enables data transmission across the Internet through private tunnels to ensure data security. Tunneling protocols hide the type of data from the transporting network and can be combined with encryption to provide a secure connection, typically through a public network.
  • Encryption
    • Scrambling of information transmitted across a network in order to prevent anyone but authorized users from reading the information. The strength of the encryption scheme used determines how difficult it would be for a party who has intercepted the data to actually decipher it. The higher the bit count, such as 128 bit encryption, the harder it is to decrypt the data.
  • Layer 2 Encapsulation
    • Layer 2 encapsulation provides minimum processing of user data before it is packaged into a frame for transmission across a network. Can be a simple means of supporting a particular application.
  • Security Services
    • The Services available to prevent unauthorized access and to safeguard authorized users. Support for firewalls and other security features helps to prevent unauthorized access to a network or servers, and to verify the identity of users who are accessing network resources.
  • Authentication
    • Authentication is used to verify that the user is authorized to access the network. Can also be used to define what services the user is allowed access to.
  • Session Detail Records
    • Session Detail Records, or Call Detail Records as they are also known, provide the means to create a bill from the use of the network or from a network service. SDR's or CDR's enable a service provider or a user to create a record of each user session on the network for billing, accounting, or tracking purposes.
  • Net. Address Translations
    • Network Address Translation (NAT) converts proprietary user network addresses into addresses known to the public or transport network. NAT is used to hide the real network addresess of users and network resources, such as servers and data storage facilities, so that unauthorized users cannot gain access.
  • Chassis Dimensions
    • Physical measurements of single chassis/platform in inches. Chassis dimensions determine how many systems can fit into an equipment rack (in addition to power and cooling constraints).
  • NEBS Compliance
    • Network Equipment Building Standards for Central Offices; formerly BellCore, now Telcordia Level 3 standards for chassis maximum dimensions, power requirements, temperature hardening, etc. NEBS compliance and certification is required for installation of network equipment in a regulated carrier's central office, but is also an indication of compliance with safety and operational requirements.
  • Avail.(1st customer ship)
    • Date of first customer availability. Indicates when a system was first available for production installation in a customer network, not just for a test install.
  • Base Price
    • Lowest available price of platform; minimum configuration.
  • Customers:
    • List of customers, alphabetical, which indicates level of market success.

Purchase Reports Online Purchasing and downloading reports online is quick and easy. 1. Accept the license agreement prepared by our lawyers.* 2. Select the reports you wish to purchase by clicking the "Purchase" button just below the report name and description. 3. Follow the checkout steps on our secure e-commerce site. All information you exchange with the secure site cannot be viewed by anyone else on the Web. All information is confidential and is used for internal purposes only. Under no circumstance will Current Analysis sell or otherwise redistribute this information. We accept the following credit cards: 4. Once your credit card is confirmed, you can download the reports. Reports are in a PDF format. We recommend you view the reports with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 5. Special Offer: If you purchase two or more reports in one category, we will send you a free Head-to-Head product comparison in one business day. More information. Contact us for special requirements. *The license grants rights to a single user for internal business or personal use only. Please contact us regarding licenses for enterprise-wide use, external use, and reprint rights. Contact Information Email: