Juniper Launches New Service Aware T1600 IP Core Router - Upgrades in 90 Minutes

| June 11, 2007 | Carrier Infrastructure | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: Glen Hunt

Current Perspective: Very Positive
Vendor Importance: Very High
Market Impact: Very High

Event Summary

June 11, 2007 - Juniper launched the T1600 core router which is capable of delivering 1.6 Tbps of throughput in a single half-rack chassis, the service-aware T1600 will ease the transition to next-generation networks and enable service providers to efficiently accelerate the deployment of the experience-based services. Building upon more than a decade of core routing innovation, the T1600 offers scalability, service richness, and will provide superior investment protection for existing customers.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Very positive on Juniper’s announcement of the new T1600 core router platform, since it addresses next generation IP core routing requirements. The new platform extends additional service awareness to the core, offers a 2.5X increase in routing capacity at reduced power consumption levels, and provides a seamless upgrade path for existing T640 customers by re-using the chassis and interface modules. In addition, the T1600 provides rich service control and uses the same JUNOS operating system, which provides a full suite of MPLS and high availability features.

• Vendor Importance: Very high to Juniper, because the T1600 provides its customers with a painless upgrade path to greater capacity to reach the required levels of performance needed to support the flood of video and other high bandwidth traffic. The new router expands the service awareness in the core network to address more granular end-to-end service delivery, whereby the core works closely with edge routers and participates in policy management. The move also defends Juniper’s stake in the core router market by providing an effective counter to Cisco’s CRS-1, which was first shipped in August 2004 and now has been deployed in over 85 service provider networks.

• Market Impact: Very high on the IP core router market, since the T1600 addresses growing requirements to increase the bandwidth as well as the service delivery sophistication in the IP core network. Increased capacity within the IP core network is an obvious trend as new video-centric services emerge, but offering the capability for core routers to be service aware, and to provide fine grain QoS and various levels of packet classification and treatment at scale, further optimizes the end-to-end service delivery life cycle.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Alcatel-Lucent, which remains somewhat core agnostic, should ensure that its IP product portfolio interoperates with the new T1600 and can leverage the platform’s service aware capabilities to enhance service delivery of its TPSDA based solutions. Alcatel-Lucent should also point out that its 7750 Service Router, which is designed for 40 Gbps per slot performance, is deployed as the core solution in multiple networks.

• Cisco should point out that its CRS-1 provides the required scale and service richness for the next generation core, and since its FCS in August 2004, it is deployed in 85 service provides to deliver core services.

• Ericsson should ensure that its end-to-end solutions leverage the additional capabilities of the T1600 for video-centric service delivery, and that its SmartEdge Multiservice Edge Router (MSER) is fully interoperable with the new capabilities of the T1600.

• Nokia Siemens Networks should ensure that its end-to-end solutions leverage the additional capabilities of the T1600 for video-centric and converged wireline-wireless service delivery, and that the T1600 is fully integrated into its solution portfolio.

• Ethernet router vendors such as Extreme, Force10, and Foundry should highlight the capacity of their high end Ethernet routers, such as the BlackDiamond 1000 series, E-series, and the XMR 16000/3200, respectively, for emerging service provider core solutions.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• Service providers that are currently using the T640, which have reached or are beginning to approach the capacity limits of their existing core routers, should consider leveraging the new platform as an upgrade solution, since the new T1600 will increase headroom and can be added with a minimum of disruption to existing network traffic.

• Service providers that are considering their next generation architectures should compare the T-series’ value proposition to that offered by Cisco’s CRS-1, which is the cornerstone for its IP NGN portfolio. Any comparisons should be considered in the context of an overall core network architecture, with capacity and service delivery requirements, in addition to basic features such as: high availability features, routing capabilities, and network management and provisioning support.

• Service providers should benchmark the impact of leveraging an optimized service aware IP core versus an over-built core from a CapEx, OpEx, and full life cycle perspective. Evaluation of specialized packet processing features should also be part of the consideration. The T1600, for example, could minimize the number of multiple external network appliances required, such as those for security, DPI, and others.

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