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Cisco Unveils Router to Compete With Juniper, Lucent (Update1)
Cisco Unveils Router to Compete With Juniper, Lucent (Update1)
(Adds details in 2nd paragraph, analyst comment in 4th
paragraph, closing share prices.)
San Jose, California, Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Cisco Systems
Inc., the No. 1 maker of Internet equipment, unveiled a new
router to direct large amounts of data traffic in a bid to match
the success of a rival Juniper Networks Inc. product.
The high-capacity model of Cisco's popular 12000 GSR router
series is made to fit in fiber-optic telecommunications networks.
Cisco plans to begin shipping the device this month. Prices start
at $65,000, with a typical configuration costing about $200,000,
about the same as Juniper's product.
The new router is Cisco's answer to Juniper's M40, the first
high-capacity Internet router, and a challenge to Lucent
Technologies Inc.'s NX64000, which AT&T Corp. is testing. Nine
months after it unveiled the M40 in September 1998, Juniper had
13 percent of the market for high-capacity routers, compared with
Cisco's 87 percent, according to market researcher RHK Inc.
``The competition is going to have to scramble to keep up,'
said Paul Strauss, a senior analyst at market researcher
International Data Corp. ``They might have to cut their prices.'
Shares of San Jose, California-based Cisco rose 1 3/8 to
101 3/16. They've more than doubled this year. Juniper, based in
nearby Mountain View, California, fell 14 3/8 to 338 7/8. Its
shares have climbed almost 10-fold since its June initial stock
sale.
Terabit Routers
Cisco's new product, known as the 12016 GSR, is the latest
of a new generation of devices known as terabit routers that can
process at least a trillion bits of data per second, and promise
to make the Internet faster and more reliable. A personal
computer modem processes data at 56,000 bits per second. The
12016 GSR has been tested in the fastest type of fiber-optic
network by Qwest Communications International Inc.
Cisco said its routers can process up to 5 terabits per
second when a group of the devices are linked together.
America Online Inc., the world's largest online service, is
also testing Cisco's new router, Cisco said on a conference call.
Among other companies that offer or are developing a terabit
router are Nortel Networks Corp., Siemens AG, Avici Systems Inc.
and Pluris Inc.
``It's only Cisco and Juniper in this space now,' said
Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. analyst Paul Weinstein, who has
``strong buy' ratings on both companies.
Cisco has shipped about 4,000 12000-series routers to 400
customers since the line was introduced in September 1997, said
Kelly Ahuja, its director of marketing for optical networking.
NYSE/AMEX delayed 20 min. NASDAQ delayed 15 min. |
