Juniper Networks today launched a router capable of handling the
volume of Internet traffic that would be generated by the entire UK
population simultaneously playing World of Warcraft while
calling each other on VoIP telephones.
Isn't the new 25Tbps TX Matrix Plus overkill? No, says Paul
Gainham, director of service provider marketing in Juniper's
Europe, Middle East and Africa division.
Bandwidth, he says, has become a commodity. As a result, there
is room for only one or two low-cost, high volume suppliers. "Most
network operators will have to find other ways to differentiate
themselves or cut their costs to retain their profit margins," he
says.
One way is to hire lots of lines from cheaper operators and to
"virtualise" the network-based service offerings using a smart box
like the TX Plus, he says.
This allows the network operators to position themselves either
as a supplier or as a partner to firms with very high bandwidth and
security needs, such as online gaming and betting sites,
internet-based TV suppliers, and firms now starting to offer
cloud-based facilities, such as high volume storage and transaction
processing.
Aimed at Tier 1-class communications service providers (CSPs)
such as BT, Virgin Media and enterprises with large internal global
networks, the entry level TX Matrix Plus costs $300,000 and scales
up to a single 25Tbps routing node with 16 T1600 processors in a
multi-chassis housing. Gainham says the TX Matrix Plus delivers up
to 25% more routing capacity in the half the footprint, and with
40% less power consumption than the competition.
Gainham says regulatory, operational, organisational and
security issues have made it harder for CSPs to save costs by
"virtualising" their different networks and services, even though
they are dealing essentially with a single bitstream.
"Juniper is addressing this," he says. "Core routers can be
partitioned on a per slot basis into multiple virtual routers, each
of which might represent services or network element types, and
which can share resources such as interconnecting links and
uplinks," he says.
This lets CSPs maintain the appropriate levels of administrative
and service-specific separation, security and management while
still achieving better efficiency and cost-savings from
virtualisation, he says.
"This dramatically speeds up CSPs' capacity to introduce new
services, and also opens up a range of new business models and
partnership opportunities, such as the ability to deliver 'Open
Garden' services, virtual network operator, network as a service
(NaaS) and network sharing," Gainham says.
Juniper will ship the new TX Matrix Plus units in the third
quarter this year, but Gainham says he already has units on test
with potential customers.