New Cisco edge router for provider networks

Networking supplier Cisco has introduced the ASR 9000 router, which reportedly transmits up to 6.4 Terabits/s when used as an edge router in MPLS provider networks. According to the vendor, a six-slot and a ten-slot version of the device will become available in the first quarter of 2009.

The ASR 9000 has integrated the optical transponders Cisco uses for its proprietary "IP over dense wavelength-division multiplexing" (IPoDWDM) technology in next generation networks. The Advanced Video Services Module (AVSM) caches video streams, inserts advertising, corrects errors, handles fast switching between video channels – and might make existing content-delivery networks redundant in the process. Another advantage Cisco lists for the ASR 9000 is its side-to-back ventilation technology, which allows the router to reduce its carbon footprint by the equivalent of 88 tons of coal – or driving a car around the world 16 times – compared to its competitors. The ASR 9000 is powered by Cisco's QuantumFlow processor, introduced last spring, which has no less than 40 cores and can handle up to 160 parallel processes.

Cisco reports that the ASR 9000 is already in operation at some of the Tier-1 service providers, such as Softbank. Prices for the device start at around $80,000.

(lghp)