Alan wants to rewrite the core router configuration

The core router is the crown jewel of the network equipment market. The stable, reliable, simple function and large exchange capacity are the main features. At present, 90% of this market is owned by Cisco and Juniper Networks. In this highly concentrated market, there is a new entrant, Alcatel-Lucent. Recently, Alcatel-Lucent introduced an Internet core router supporting up to 32 Tbps switching capacity, which is five times the port density of current mainstream core routers. Zhu Zhen, vice president of Alcatel-Lucent China flagship company and head of IP business of the Cable Product Competence Center, said in an interview with “China Electronics News” reporter: “We aim at the rapid development of video and cloud services and redefine the core router.”



The three parties determined that the market has changed from 10G, 40G to 100G, and the market has generated different requirements from traditional core routers.

The core router has always been a high-margin market that data communications companies aspire to. In addition to Cisco and Juniper Networks, there have been communications companies that hope to make a comeback in this market, but high input, high technology, and high market threshold will ultimately result in them. Blocked outside the most lucrative market area. Eight years ago, Alcatel entered the router market, succeeded in edge routers, had a market share of 25%, and achieved $2 billion in revenue in 2011, becoming the second-ranked company. This year Aaron believes that the time to enter the core router market is ripe. "We saw that the market has changed from 10G, 40G to 100G, and the market has generated different demands from traditional core routers. While providing stable and reliable, large-capacity switching, the rise of video and cloud services, the core routers The functional requirements are improving.” Zhu Zhen said, “In addition, due to the increasing capacity, relying on push-pull methods to expand capacity has made the core router more and more 'fat', and the engine room has occupied more and more areas and needs 'slimming'.”

Zhu Zhen told reporters that Alan was determined to enter the core router market with three reasons.

The first is the birth of the FP3 400G chip. In June 2011, Alcatel introduced the network processor chip. Alan’s CEO Ben Weinworn believes FP3 “is the key to opening up a brand new connected world”. This chip brings Aaron a two-year lead and has the ability to enter the high-performance core router market, achieving a five-fold increase in capacity and performance, and saving 66% in energy consumption.

The second is the success of the edge service router market. This laid the foundation for Alcatel's IP router market and its router operating system, SR OS, has been deployed in 28 global top carrier networks.

The third is to integrate IP/optical networks. The 7950 XRS integrates DWDM color interfaces and reserves scalable optical connectors. The embedded service awareness management system enables unified management and network scheduling for IP and DWDM transmission equipment. The optical network is the traditional advantage of Alcatel.

It is a market gap to go light on the current high-performance core routers, especially core routers that have cluster deployment capabilities.

In the third quarter, the 7950 XRS began to supply. Although the price is not yet clear, the competition in the 100G core router market will start and will become the starting point for the change in the overall market structure. For the next ten years, Alan, who has no traditional equipment and is equipped with light equipment, will improve the ability of core routers to jump.

The 7950 XRS product line currently available from Alcatel-Lucent includes three models, the 7950 XRS-40 with a capacity of 32 Tbps, the 7950 XRS-20 with a capacity of 16 Tbps, and the 7950 XRS-16C with a capacity of 6.4 Tbps. The exchange capacity of 32 Tbps is the highest in the industry. However, Alan is ready to continue expanding on this basis. Zhu Zhen said: "The 7950 XRS-40 is a cluster of two 7950 XRS-20s. We can continue to expand them through clustering. We are already doing the core router with 240T switching capabilities and interconnecting six chassis." Market Research According to Ray Mota, an analyst at ACG Research, the current high-performance core routers, especially core routers with cluster deployment capabilities, are market gaps in this area. If Aaron does not enter the core router market, it is like "throwing money to go."

The global core router market is 4 billion U.S. dollars, which accounts for 1/3 of the entire router market, and grows at an annual rate of 10%. Mark Koh, Senior Industry Analyst, Frost & Sullivan, believes that with the increasing demand for data usage in broadband Internet services, smart phones, multimedia tablet computers and cloud computing applications, the possibility of replacing old cabinet systems in China, especially in Hong Kong SAR, is high. Increasingly high, this is a market opportunity for Aaron's core routers.

Tiger Mouth eats away from Cisco and Juniper Networks, and there is a third option, which is also what the market needs.

In 100GE core router products, Cisco has CSR-3, Juniper Networks has T4000, and both products have been introduced to the market in 2010. How does Alan persuade the existing market to switch to the 7950XRS? Michael Howard, co-founder of Infonetics Research, a market research company, believes that in the deployment of 100G networks, operators face serious challenges. If they continue to add the same equipment to the network, the floor space and power consumption requirements will also increase exponentially. And Alang's products can meet the demand without increasing these costs.

In the 100G market, there are not only operator networks but also data center networks. On the content distribution network (CDN), the rapid growth of video services is also doubling the demand for network capacity. In addition to Cisco and Juniper Networks, there is a third option that is also desirable for market demanders.

Analysts are optimistic about Alan’s move. Stuart Jeffrey of Nomura Securities believes that Alan can take 10% of the market share from Cisco in 2014 and take 4% of market share from Juniper Networks.

The 5 times higher integration density and 66% power saving than the current mainstream core routers can save a lot of operating costs. With the same switching capacity, the 7950 XRS-40 occupies a length of 0.97 meters, while current mainstream equipment requires 2.2 meters. "It is worth mentioning that our equipment is MPLS / IP exchange, the current mainstream equipment only MPLS exchange, for each of these devices, each additional function, the area will increase nearly doubled." Zhu Zhen said.