AlcaLu Trash-Talks Cisco on 100G
JULY 20, 2010 | Craig Matsumoto
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Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is talking tough about 100 Gbit/s, saying the technology is helping its routers beat out Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) and especially Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) in some big-name carriers.
That's different from AlcaLu's 100-Gbit/s optical transport technology, the first in the industry to operate on a single optical carrier. That technology has gotten some accolades, too. (See Analyst: AlcaLu's 100G Game-Changer.) But it's the recent wins on the router side that have AlcaLu particularly fired up:
AlcaLu won a T-Systems International GmbH deal to connect two universities with a 100-Gbit/s network. (That one used the 100-Gbit/s optical gear as well.) That's in spite of Cisco winning Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT), T-System's parent, as a customer for the ASR 9000. (See T-Systems Deploys AlcaLu 100G and DT Likes Cisco's ASR 9000.)
Verizon Wireless picked AlcaLu for a wireless backhaul deal, even though a year earlier, it had selected the ASR 9000 for wireless backhaul. Cisco's win amounted to a pittance next to the amount of business AlcaLu is getting, says Lindsay Newell, vice president of marketing for AlcaLu's IP division. (See CTIA 2010: Verizon Picks AlcaLu for LTE Backhaul and Cisco Lands Verizon.)
In June, Verizon -- Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) this time -- ran a 100-Gbit/s Ethernet field trial on its Switched Ethernet Services network. AlcaLu had been presumed to have won the contract for that network, but Verizon hadn't said so until this announcement. AlcaLu officials say their boxes are replacing Cisco Catalyst 6500s here. (See Verizon Tests 100G With AlcaLu and AlcaLu Grabs Verizon Deal.)
"Our assertion in the industry is that we are well ahead on 100 Gbit/s with services," Newell says. It's the "with services" part that's key, he says, because the Cisco CRS-3 and Juniper T1600 announcements have pertained to core routing -- "you put packets in, you get packets out." (See Cisco Boosts the Core With CRS-3 and Juniper Claims 100-Gig First.)
The distinction, AlcaLu says, is that it has built the 7750 Service Router to handle services tasks in addition to shoveling packets around. It's a more complex job aimed more at metro and edge networks.
So, who's right? We pinged Cisco about all this, considering the ASR 9000 is the box AlcaLu keeps picking on.
Cisco, on short notice, couldn't provide a spokesperson to directly respond to AlcaLu's crowing. But the company did note, in a written statement to Light Reading, that DT and Verizon Wireless are deploying the ASR 9000, as are Cogent Communications Group Inc. (Nasdaq: CCOI), Neutral Tandem Inc. (Nasdaq: TNDM), NTT America Inc. , SoftBank Corp. , Swisscom AG (NYSE: SCM), and Telstra Corp. Ltd. (ASX: TLS; NZK: TLS).
"With the shift to IP NGNs having firmly taken hold, we believe we are strongly positioned with the global service providers," the Cisco statement reads.
As far as 100 Gbit/s goes, Cisco hasn't announced it for the ASR 9000, although it did produce a card with 16 ports of 10-Gbit/s Ethernet. |
