Juniper Networks is developing a massive change that would replace the IP (Internet Protocol) routers in core networks and service providers to combine optical and electronic media that now exist in separate systems with dedicated staff.
The PTX series of transport packets Switch platform, of which the first products will be delivered in the first quarter of next year, combines two technologies that companies use to avoid driving in the center of their networks. Involves routing processor-intensive work to examine each packet, and often it is not necessary for traffic just to cross the network core. In contrast, companies using MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) and optical switching, neither of which requires complete understanding of routing traffic to move through the core.
PTX platform combines these approaches in the same box and is not intended as a router at all. Juniper wants to relegate the routers at the edges of the network and spend PTX chassis change. This will allow the company to concentrate the processing power of the new system at the necessary tasks of the base, Juniper said.
Carriers are under pressure to increase their network capacity to handle traffic loads of rapid growth. Want to do it financially, because they continue to bring the same amount of revenue from its subscribers, including third-party service and content providers to offer more offers bandwidth applications such as video, analysts said. By optimizing the PTX to change their place of routing, and integration of optical technology in the same chassis, Juniper can reduce transport costs, while enhancing their network capacity, they said.
For businesses and consumers buying services companies, this could mean a slower increase in their monthly bills or better services for the same charges.
“For some of these costs are reduced. .. It would be desirable that such reduces the cost per bit, so it is transmitted to the IT guys,” said analyst Ray Mota Research of ACG.
Adding optical switching to a packet switch Juniper brings in an entirely new market and could dramatically change the companies’ operations networks over time. Today, the packages of food companies in their core routers in a separate optical infrastructure, bringing traffic in the wavelengths of light separately for the rapid transmission. Traffic has to be converted from electronic to optical field, and then back at the other end of the network. Place both in the same chassis simplifies the network and eliminates costly conversions, while also making it easier to expand infrastructure, Juniper said.
The company says the platform PTX can reduce capital costs through the network between 40 percent and 65 percent compared with a traditional routing architecture multiprotocol and 35 percent compared with an intellectual property system only routing.
The announcement of the PTX Juniper provides a new way of architecture for the second time in two weeks. Last Wednesday, the company unveiled QFabric a converged network platform company that creates a single logical switch across a data center. As the new network infrastructure operator, QFabric is designed to remove multiple layers of switches and reduce the number of devices needed. The general structure, which Juniper calls the convergent Supercore also include ROADM (reconfigurable optical multiplexers, add-drop), management systems and other components, Juniper said.
The promise of PTX systems will also change the role of T4000, a traditional core router that Juniper announced last November and did not even launch the commercial market until the fourth quarter of this year. A switch of PTX is able to take the place of a T4000 in the cores of networks, which offer higher performance and efficiency. In this architecture, the T4000 would be the option of Juniper to the network edge, where you can also carry out high-end features such as service management along with routing.
“I was impressed that [Juniper] made the decision to compete with themselves and other core router business by building the MPLS switch,” said analyst Michael Howard of Infonetics Research.
Each slot chassis switch PTX has twice the capacity of 240G bps T4000-slot, and slot 480G bps initial capacity can be extended to 2T bps. PTX line will start with two systems, the PTX 5020, with a total capacity of 8T points, and the PTX 9020, with 16T bps. The architecture will ultimately be able to scale up to 32T bps, which Juniper says is 10 times the scale of competitive products. Among the line interface cards available for switches PTX is four modules to 100 Gigabit Ethernet port, a step forward from a port or two letters 100GE ports that other manufacturers are offering today.
Many companies have been looking for pure MPLS core switching network, according to Howard. In addition, large companies maintain dedicated staff of engineers for optical and electronic switching, and independent management systems and infrastructure they want to converge over time, Howard said. PTX switches could allow large companies to consolidate their staff over time, he said. Those struggling with the explosion of the majority of traffic is looking for the consolidation of technologies in two or three years, while others may take five to eight years, he said.
Juniper has a reasonable chance to enter the market for optical equipment, which currently uses its rival Cisco Systems, as well as specialists such as Ciena, ACG Research Mota said. He estimates business opportunity optic revenue by $ 2 billion per year.