On Friday I posted a link to a Pluris PDF. I spent some time
on the weekend reading it and also reviewing the Charlotte's
Web Aranea.
I have some comparisons, but before I show them, I want to
point out that trying to compare different products without
seeing or testing them for a few months, using just vendor
supplied material is a pretty hopeless task. Their
architectures are different too.
Even when talking about the same things they state their
data in different ways.
So take the following information on that basis.
First, here are some items that I COULD compare. The Pluris
basic box is bigger - one per 23" wide rack. The Aranea
basic box is smaller - two per 19" wide rack.
I ignored max connected capacity because before anyone hooks
up multiple boxes, you first have to evaluate and settle on
ONE, and no one is going to need 128 Pluris boxes in a
single CO anytime soon.
For comparison purposes, the following port density table is
based on a single rack, so the Aranea numbers are multiplied
by two.
Description CWNT Aranea Pluris
# OC192 ports 32 15
# OC48 ports 128 60
# OC12 ports 256 60 (240 future)
# GE ports 256 60 (120 future)
Route tbl ents 1 Million ?
IP subnets 256K ?
Packet 384Mpps ?
forwarding (per box)
Box-box "geographically 100 meters
Connectivity remote"
Aggregate 320Gbps 150Gbps
interface
bandwidth
So Aranea wins hands down.
I also spent time looking for major buzzwords. A vendor's
spec document is NEVER going to say "we don't support this
and this and this" - they just omit mention of it. Now,
omission of certain terms doesn't mean that they DON'T have
that capability, but if they had it, they likely WOULD
mention it as a selling point. So take the following for
what it is worth.
Buzzwords found in BOTH Aranea AND Pluris
BGP-4, OSPF, IS-IS, MPLS, PIM, POS, SNMP, GE
Buzzwords found in Aranea, but NOT in the 9 page Pluris PDF plus 2 page spec sheet:
ATM, TDM, DWDM, VPN, Cell based processing capability, OC768 trunking
Buzzwords found in Pluris but not in Aranea
Multiple ports with 1 IP address
The Aranea looks like a superior box with a superior design
to me - and they have four Betas and real sales in Q4. |
