Cisco Doubles Density of Industry's Highest-Performance Edge Router

Cisco Aggregation Services Router 9000 Scales to Deliver Video and Mobile Internet Applications in the "Zettabyte Era"


SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - August 25, 2009) - Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced it is doubling the density of its flagship edge router, the Cisco® Aggregation Services Router 9000 Series. This enhances the platform's leadership position as the highest-capacity edge router and gives it the industry's highest density.

Cisco is introducing a new single-slot 16 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) line card, delivering over 100 Gbps, an industry first which is faster than any other forwarding module available. In combination with the Cisco ASR 9000's inherent scalability, the Cisco 10GE line card helps enable the platform to lead the industry in density and scalability. Unlike competitive offerings which are limited up to 50G per slot today, the new Cisco 10GE line card showcases the value of the industry's only system designed for up to 400G-per-slot capability.

The use of video and mobile Internet is growing at a staggering rate. By 2013, the sum of all forms of video such as TV, video on demand, Internet video, and peer-to-peer will exceed 90 percent of global consumer traffic, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index. In addition, fixed-network and mobile data combined is expected to grow 66-fold in the same period. To address this growth, the Cisco ASR 9000 continues to add capacity and capabilities specifically engineered to help service providers handle current and future demands.

The Cisco ASR 9000, a key part of the Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) carrier Ethernet design, allows service providers to scale current services and quickly enable new ones.

Highlights / Key Facts:

  • Scale for video and mobile Internet growth.
    The introduction of a new Ethernet line card unlocks massive capacity from the 400G-per-slot Cisco ASR 9000, has the capacity to grow to 320 x 10GE, or 32 x 100GE per system. When coupled with an ability to intelligently triage traffic according to priority, the Cisco ASR 9000 further delivers on its vision as a platform engineered for the coming "zettabyte era," with as many as 6.4 terabits per second total capacity.
  • Designed to be more efficient and energy-wise.
    The Cisco ASR 9000 is designed to deliver massive scale, non-stop video experience and a reduced carbon footprint. It also includes the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor, the widely adopted self-healing and self-defending Cisco IOS XR operating software, and modular, pay-as-you-grow power supplies. More than 200 global service providers have deployed the Cisco ASR 1000 and 9000 series routers since 2008.
  • Nonstop video experience.
    The Cisco ASR 9000 incorporates the Cisco Advanced Video Services Module (AVSM), a major medianet innovation enabling terabytes of streaming capacity at the aggregation edge while simultaneously offering content caching, ad insertion, fast channel change and error correction.
  • Reduced total cost of ownership for 3G and 4G mobility services.
    The Cisco ASR 9000 Series brings six times the capacity of competing products to Carrier Ethernet mobile backhaul. All Cisco ASR 9000 line cards are SyncE-ready, which means they inherently work with cell site routers to deliver seamless mobile handoffs. This avoids the need and costs incurred to dedicate slots for additional synchronization cards.
  • The "zettabyte era" is approaching.
    Global IP traffic is increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46 percent, nearly doubling every two years. This will result in an annual bandwidth demand on the world's IP networks of more than half a zettabyte. A zettabyte is a trillion gigabytes.
  • Service providers embrace Cisco ASR 9000.
    Cogent, Softbank, Telstra and Verizon Wireless are among the service providers which all selected the Cisco ASR 9000 as their next-generation edge routing platform.

Supporting Quotes:

  • "Cogent is focused on providing the highest-quality service at the lowest price for our customers," said David Schaeffer, CEO, Cogent. "The Cisco ASR 9000 provides us the capacity, intelligence and investment protection that enables us to deliver world-class services. Innovations such as the single-slot 16 by 10 Gigabit Ethernet card are great proof points to how this platform will scale to meet our future needs."
  • "It's good to see Cisco addressing the demands of rapidly growing traffic -- due to collaboration, virtualization, mobility and video -- with products such as the ASR 9000," said Eve Griliches of IDC. "Cisco now leads in Carrier Ethernet capacity, and it's clear that the product is gaining acceptance, given deployments at major service providers such as Cogent, Softbank, Verizon Wireless and Telstra. Successes like these are indicative of Cisco delivering a highly versatile product to the market and one reason for its increase in market share in the Carrier Ethernet router space this quarter."
  • "Since we launched the Cisco ASR 9000, it has been deployed in a wide range of edge applications from carrier Ethernet, IP RAN, and consumer and business services," said Praveen Akkiraju, vice president and general manager, carrier routing business unit, Cisco. "This breadth of capability, coupled with its scale and Cisco IOS-XR, ensures that the Cisco ASR 9000 is the premier edge solution for service providers."

Supporting Resources / Recent News:

Tags / Keywords:
Cisco, Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network, IP NGN, Aggregation Services Router, Cisco ASR, Cisco ASR 9000, ASR, Praveen Akkiraju, Cogent, Softbank, Telstra, Verizon Wireless

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