- Apr 10, 2001
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Considering Juniper's best has only oc-192, albeit 32 of these ports, Cisco's entrance will be interesting.
Future of IOS may be seen in Cisco's new core router
By Jim Duffy
Network World, 05/31/04
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. - Cisco's unveiling last week of a new core router marks a technological rebirth for the company 20 years after it introduced the world to commercial routing.
The CRS-1 router, introduced at a glitzy gathering in Mountain View, signals a departure from Cisco's traditional reliance on its aged yet ageless IOS software and more recent practice of acquiring vs. developing new technology.
The box is powerful: a CRS-1 system, also called the HFR, supports 92T bit/sec of bandwidth and each slot is capable of 40G bit/sec. The router features Cisco's first modular operating system specifically for carriers. The company's enterprise-borne, 17-year-old IOS is monolithic, meaning all processes are tightly intertwined and interdependent.
Cisco officials say they are evaluating pushing CRS-1 ASIC and software technology down deeper into its product line, a move that would gradually phase out platforms based on current-generation hardware and IOS software technology and mark a more dramatic reboot of the company's entire product portfolio. A modular operating system isolates certain processes so they can be stopped, started or changed without taking the entire router out of service; IOS could not do that.
Corporations should expect a dramatic makeover of their Cisco routers, starting at the high end. Cisco has said that it is striving to put all of the products in its three lines of business - Commercial, Enterprise and Service Provider - on a common hardware and software architecture for feature, operational and management consistency, and lower cost.
While stopping short of pointing out the CRS-1 as the first example of that strategy, Chief Development Officer Mario Mazzola says it has the "potential" to usher in that era.
Cisco President and CEO John Chambers heralded the CRS-1's release, which was expected, as "the new beginning" at Cisco. The router took Cisco four years and $500 million to build.
"This is the biggest jump we've taken in innovation since the router was introduced 20 years ago," he says. "This is a whole new generation of routing, not an extension. We have to start from scratch in hardware and software."
Chambers promised that the industry will see a "twofold increase in innovation" from Cisco in 12 months. "You haven't seen anything yet in terms of the capabilities," he boasts of the CRS-1.
"This is going to be the future of Cisco," says Frank Dzubeck, president of consultancy Communications Network Architects and a longtime Cisco watcher. "This is going to be the model."
To add the new modular IOS-XR operating system to other products and product lines, Cisco will need to upgrade the hardware, according to Dzubeck. It might not be the same architecture as the CRS-1, but it will require a recast.
"You need certain new hardware functions so the operating system can implement some of the new things they were talking about," such as partitioning one physical router into multiple logical ones addressing different customers or applications, he says.
Despite the significant upgrade that appears to be coming, enterprise users should expect the new products to last much longer than Cisco's current-generation gear. The CRS-1 heralds in the era of a decades-long lifespan of network equipment, according to Chambers, through its use of programmable network processors and modular software that can be upgraded to support new capabilities as requirements change.
This marks a departure in Cisco's usual practice of requiring users to replace routers and switch hardware and software every three to five years (DocFinder: 2247). Chambers has said that customers should be aware that products they buy might become obsolete in two or three years as new advances such as voice integration and multimedia capabilities are introduced.
The new router's launch also makes Cisco a little more bullish about its prospects in every market in which it competes. Chambers usually says Cisco won't enter a market unless it can be the No. 1 or No. 2 supplier.
He now says Cisco is aiming to be No. 1 in each of its three line-of-business markets.
The chest pounding is Cisco's way of trying to distance itself from its competitors, analysts say. Many observers feel the CRS-1 now brings Cisco to technological parity with Juniper's 2-year-old T640 router; but Cisco is looking to get beyond parity.
"They're playing up the company to uneven that playing field," says Joe McGarvey, an analyst with Current Analysis. "On the equipment side, competitors could argue now it's a clean slate for everyone. But outside of the speeds and feeds, Cisco's a formidable company with a lot of history. That's a big advantage."
However, McGarvey cautions that Cisco should be careful with how it presents its technological metamorphosis.
"I don't know if that's a good thing that Cisco says it's a new start for the way they do things," McGarvey says. "They've been pretty successful with executing in the past. As far as the platform goes, it's definitely a departure from what they were doing before, it's a new chapter. That's how they should frame it: a new chapter rather than something completely new."
All contents copyright 1995-2003 Network World, Inc. http://www.nwfusion.com
Considering Juniper's best has only oc-192, albeit 32 of these ports, Cisco's entrance will be interesting.
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