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Technology Stocks : Juniper Networks - JNPR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Phoenix who wrote (992)	9/21/1999 7:18:00 PM
From: Wizard	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3350

>>What is the technical difference. enjoy. "TECHNOLOGY Our core technology consists of our Internet backbone router architecture, JUNOS Internet Software and ASIC hardware expertise. Our general-purpose architecture is initially embodied in the M40, but also is designed to serve as the platform for future generations of products. M40 ARCHITECTURE The following diagram illustrates the architecture of the M40 Internet backbone router: [DIAGRAM] The M40 architecture delivers the forwarding rates and network control necessary to scale Internet backbones rapidly and reliably. The M40 system includes a Routing Engine, or RE, and a Packet Forwarding Engine, or PFE. The clean separation of the routing and forwarding functions ensures that the two functions do not compete for the same resources. THE ROUTING ENGINE. The RE consists of the JUNOS Internet Software operating on an Intel-based platform. The JUNOS Internet Software features Internet-scale protocol support, with flexible policy software that enables maximum control over the acceptance, modification and advertisement of route prefixes. In addition, the JUNOS Internet Software offers a range of configuration management tools that simplify the configuration process and help protect against operator error. The RE conducts the processing intensive activity of maintaining the routing table, from which the forwarding table residing in the PFE is derived. The RE is connected to the PFE through a dedicated 100 Mbps link. After constructing or updating the forwarding table, the RE downloads a copy of the table to the PFE. Updates to the forwarding table are done atomically in small incremental steps so that packet forwarding is not interrupted by routing changes. THE PACKET FORWARDING ENGINE. The M40 delivers wire speed packet forwarding using our ASIC designs. All links between ASICs are oversized, dedicated channels, and the PFE architecture is free from the bottlenecks faced by traditional crossbar switches, which use intelligent agent software to perform both routing and forwarding functions over multiple connections to either parts of the network. Bottlenecks can occur in a crossbar switch because the routing and forwarding functions are not separated. The heart of the PFE is the Internet Processor ASIC. With over one million gates and a lookup rate of over 40 million packets per second, or Mpps, the Internet Processor represents the largest and fastest route lookup ASIC currently available, capable of processing data at throughput rates in excess of 40 Gbps. All lookup rates reflect longest-match route table lookups for all packets and all lookups are performed in hardware. There is no caching mechanism, which is a mechanism by which critical information, such as destinations for traffic, is stored in rapidly accessible memory to make the process of looking up traffic destinations faster. In addition there is no risk of cache misses in the system which can result in slower storage access and thus considerably slower traffic delivery. In addition, the forwarding table can be updated without affecting forwarding rates. The Internet Processor is programmable to support up to four different forwarding tables (layer 2 and/or layer 3) simultaneously. Supported forwarding protocols currently include unicast and multicast IPv4 and MPLS. Finally, the Internet Processor maintains its performance regardless of length of lookups or table size. The PFE also features a shared memory system with single-stage buffering, so packets are written to and read from memory only once. Single-stage buffering greatly reduces the complexities and throughput delays associated with multistage buffering systems. The pooled memory is distributed across the Flexible PIC Concentrator, or FPC, cards, allowing memory to scale as interfaces are added. The Internet Processor also features prefix accounting mechanisms that operate at rates in excess of 20 Mpps. JUNOS INTERNET SOFTWARE: TRAFFIC ENGINEERING AND CONTROL JUNOS Internet Software offers a full suite of Internet-scale, Internet-tested routing protocols. Protocols and software tools, which are used to control and direct network traffic, are critical to an Internet backbone routing solution. Software control is made more important by the fact that the size and complexity of backbone networks are increasing at a time when service providers are looking to differentiate themselves through value-added service offerings. JUNOS Internet Software features implementations of all major Internet protocols, including BGP4, DVMRP, PIM, IS-IS, Open Shortest Path First. IS-IS and Open Shortest Path First are algorithms broadly used in enterprise networks and by service providers to determine and update the running state of the network and available destinations in the network. These implementations were developed in-house by our design team which has extensive experience in addressing the scaling issues of rapidly growing service providers. JUNOS Internet Software also provides a new level of traffic engineering capabilities with its implementation of MPLS. Developed in conjunction with the Internet Engineering Task Force, our MPLS capability offers enhanced visibility into traffic patterns and the ability to control the path traffic takes through the network. Path selection enables service providers to engineer traffic for efficient use of network capacity and avoidance of congestion. We expect MPLS and its traffic engineering capabilities to become a crucial tool for service providers as they scale their networks. JUNOS Internet Software features a modular design, with separate programs running in protected memory space in conjunction with an independent operating system. Unlike monolithic, unprotected operating system designs, which are prone to system wide failure, the protected, modular approach improves reliability by ensuring that modifications made to one module have no unwanted side-effects on other sections of the software. In addition, having clean software interfaces between modules facilitates software development and maintenance, enabling faster response to customer needs and delivery of new features. JUNOS Internet Software has been extensively tested in multiple service provider networks to ensure compatibility with Cisco's IOS. Since each major service provider's network is different, this extensive testing is necessary to ensure seamless introduction into existing service provider environments.