"Every time a customer needs to upgrade, he has to rip out his existing routing infrastructure," he said. "It's a painful way to grow a network. Most times, equipment is being replaced before it has even started depreciating.". Cisco's new router is supposed to alleviate this problem, since it will allow multiple chassis to be clustered together to form a single router. This means that carriers will be able to add capacity to their core routers in increments. Cluster and scaleAs a standalone chassis, the CRS-1 offers capacity of at least 640 gigabits per second--double that of any product from Juniper Networks, Cisco's closest competitor in the market for core routers. It is also the first router in the industry to support single optical interfaces that provide 40gbps. The current design is expected to allow for up to five chassis to be linked in a single cluster.

Avici was the first company to sell a clustering router in 2000, Juniper's T-series routers, introduced in 2002, also are designed to handle clustering, But so far, most carriers haven't needed to cluster routers, Few Avici customers have actually linked the boxes sierra floral iphone case together, and none of Juniper's buyers have clustered T-series routers together, since the matrix needed to do the clustering isn't yet commercially available, But as carriers start consolidating their disparate voice and data networks into a single network, they are looking for more scalable solutions, Li said, Scalable routers that allow clustering could provide investment protection to carriers by allowing incremental upgrades to their core infrastructure..

Scalability isn't the only requirement of next-generation routers. Carriers also need gear that is more reliable. Most carriers today install two pieces of equipment, rather than one, to ensure reliability. "Routers in the Internet today were originally designed for the enterprise," said Jack Wimmer, a vice president of network architecture and advanced technology for U.S. carrier MCI. "In order for MCI's network to perform with a high degree of reliability, we have to put several layers of redundancy in the network. This has worked fine, but we are actively looking for new routers that are highly reliable, both in terms of hardware and software.".

Wimmer added that with more sierra floral iphone case reliable gear in place, carriers will be able to grow higher performing networks at a much lower cost, Cisco seems to be addressing this requirement with its new CRS-1, analysts said, The new software used to power the router is newly designed so that it is more reliable, The company has made the software more modular, so that carriers can more easily add new features and troubleshoot problems, The competitionFor the past two years, Juniper Networks has been shipping its ultra-high-end T-series routers, which seem to have found a strong market, The products have been outselling the company's traditional M-series routers in the core for the past few quarters, Mitchell said, Juniper contends its routers are installed in more than 60 customer networks, including those belonging to carriers BellSouth in the United States and NTT Communications in Japan..

Until now, Cisco has lacked an answer to Juniper's T-640 high-end router. Instead, in December the company released the GSR 12800, an extension to its existing Gigabit Switch Router line of core routers. The product began shipping in the beginning of 2004. "If the HFR (CRS-1) had been ready a year ago, the GSR 12800 probably wouldn't have been introduced," Kamman said. "The 12800 seems to be serving customers who have an immediate need.". But even with the 12800 in the pipeline, Cisco customers seem to be holding out for the next-generation product. Revenue for its high-end carrier-class routers slipped roughly 10 percent during its fiscal 2004 third quarter, Cisco CEO John Chambers said during a recent company conference call.