Cisco Unveils Faster Router

Cisco's new router, named "Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System", is designed to deliver a new wave of video, mobile, and data centre/cloud services. The company said that that the new router triples the capacity of its predecessor, the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System, with up to 322 Terabits per second. The company boasted that this would enable the entire printed collection of the United States' Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; enable the entire population of China to make a video call, simultaneously; or create the ability to stream every movie ever created in less than four minutes. However, those measurements are only for data passing through the core network and consumers should not expect to experience that kind of speed. Cisco has also stated that CRS-3 is not only capable of delivering huge amounts of data at high speeds, but also able to optimise the route that traffic takes through a network. The CRS-3 router is scheduled to be launched during the third quarter, with prices starting at US$90,000.

Meanwhile, AT&T, a key client of Cisco, said it had completed a test with the router, which allowed its long-distance internet backbone to carry data traffic at 100 Gbps. AT&T added the trial had advanced development of the next generation of backbone network technology that would support growing volumes of wireless and wired internet and data traffic in the years to come. The company said that the amount of internet traffic it handles had more than doubled in the last three years. The new router "allows us to serve volumes of traffic that we need to serve," said Keith Cambron, CEO of AT&T Labs.

Outlook and Implications

• Much-Expected Move: The CRS-3 is the latest addition to one of Cisco's best-known product lines, the routers that enable telecoms operators to direct traffic on the internet. Cisco said it had sold about 5,000 units of the previous router in its class, which it introduced in 2004. John Chambers, the company's chief executive, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying that the latest version is "a step that's really needed today" given the growing amount of global data traffic. According to Chambers, Cisco sees "video as the killer app, delivered to any device over any combination of networks". The new router has indeed firmly placed Cisco at the top industry position in this category, with the company claiming that the CRS-3 has 12 times the capacity of the company's nearest competitors.
• Broadband Development Momentum: The announcement also came ahead of the expected announcement of the U.S. FCC's National Broadband Plan, which could propose that "up to" US$25 billion be spent on new broadband lines and a new public safety wireless broadband network (see United States: 3 March 2010: Broadband Plan to Enhance U.S. Public Safety Wireless Networks). In addition, Google in February said that it was to become a fixed-line carrier by building out an experimental fibre-optic network. Although its plans are still at early stages, it aims to lay fibre to the home offering speeds of more than 1 Gbps to between 50,000 and "potentially up to 500,000 people" (see United States: 11 February 2010: Google Plans 1 Gbps Trial Fibre-Optic Network Deployment). Instead of positioning Google as a direct competitor, Chambers has said that Cisco's strategy is to bring the kinds of services that Google offers or plans to offer "to life".