Alcatel-Lucent Announces 100GigE Interfaces for Its Edge Router Portfolio – Challenging Core Routers for Dominance

| Jul 20, 2009 | Carrier Infrastructure | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: Glen Hunt

Current Perspective: Very Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: High

Event Summary

July 16, 2009 - Alcatel-Lucent introduced a 100 GigE service routing interface for the “edge,” where it claims service providers need it most. The interface uses its FP2 silicon to deliver the bandwidth needed to support high scale services and improvements in power efficiency with on-chip power management. Expanding capacity at the edge enables service providers to reduce the cost per bit while delivering more high value services. Canadian service provider TELUS has endorsed the solution.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Very positive on Alcatel-Lucent’s announced performance enhancements for its high end IP router portfolio, because it logically expands their ability to meet the growing requirements for greater service router capacity at the edge, metro and core of the service provider’s network. The solution brings Alcatel-Lucent’s customers new line cards that support growing applications requiring greater numbers of 10GigE ports as well as emerging 100GigE interfaces, while retaining the service-aware capabilities of its edge service router. Endorsing the announcement, service provider Telus noted that with the new line cards they could continue to introduce sophisticated services and meet the needs of customers now and well into the future.

• Vendor Importance: High to Alcatel-Lucent’s IP division, because the move continues the stream of new capabilities and enhancements that it has introduced to its Service Router and Ethernet Services Switch product families since their inception in 2004. The announcement leverages the earlier introduction of the company’s FP2 silicon, which set the stage for 100G/slot capacity on the 7750 SR and 7450 ESS platforms. The move also capitalizes on Alcatel-Lucent’s strategic and costly silicon development, which yields a time to market advantage over off-the-shelf devices. The move also enables the company to tout its chip-level power management capabilities which only consumes around 4 Watts/Gigabit of traffic per 100 Gigabit Ethernet interface module.

• Market Impact: High on the carrier infrastructure market, especially the multiservice and Ethernet services edge router market segments, which continue to grow to meet the demands being brought on by requirements for increased per-subscriber bandwidth, service sophistication, growth in the number and type of users and a trend to converge multiple networks. Alcatel-Lucent can highlight that the new silicon has been in the field (since July 2008) and tested delivering 50G/slot capacity for the past year. The announced advances also give Alcatel-Lucent much higher 10GigE densities (10 X 10GigE ports per slot/100 X 10GigE ports/chassis), which service providers can leverage to meet growing connectivity needs while positioning them for 100GigE support.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

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Recommended Competitor Actions

• Cisco should highlight its 100G Ethernet initiatives, such as its June 2008 100G Ethernet demonstrations at Comcast, and update its product roadmap timeline, noting that its 100G interface for the CRS-1 will be consistent with the emerging IEEE 802.3ba standard. Cisco should also update its messaging around it next generation edge platform, the ASR 9000, with respect to planned support for 100GigE interfaces and greater per slot densities for broadband traffic.

• Juniper should note its June 2009 announcement of a 100 Gigabit Ethernet router interface card for the T1600 IP Core Router. Driven by factors such as increasing video traffic, converged wireless services and emerging trends such as cloud computing, core networks will require greater scale and 100G Ethernet interfaces will provide an order of magnitude increase over current solutions that are currently available. Juniper should provide a roadmap and positioning of its MX Series with respect to 100 GigE support.

• Ericsson should update its positioning with respect to the need to increase interface density and scale of its SmartEdge and SM480 platforms in response to Alcatel-Lucent’s announcement. Although the SmartEdge and SM480 are a highly capable multiservice edge and Ethernet services routers respectively, their 10 GigE densities are significantly less than that offered by Alcatel-Lucent. Ericsson should also point out that although its physical port metrics are less, it provides a high level of subscriber support for each port as well as a rich set of service enabling edge functions.

• Huawei should update its positioning on its next round of interface and capacity upgrades for its NE5000E and NE80E/40E as well as its CX600 metro Ethernet switch with respect to helping its service provider customers meet the challenges of network growth and service enablement. Huawei should tout its leadership position in the industry and standards organizations with respect to the emerging 100/40G standards and its unified model for access, IP and optical portfolio.

• Nokia Siemens Networks, which leverages Juniper’s edge, core and metro platforms (M Series, T Series and MX Series), should weigh in on the need to beef up the service provider edge with 100GigE and expanded N X 10GigE interfaces. NSN should highlight its broad network experience in professional services and network construction for major service providers with regard to how best to deal with the on-going capacity and subscriber explosion.

• Vendors such as Brocade (XMR/MLX series), Force10 (ExaScale E-Series), and Extreme (BlackDiamond 20808), should evaluate their customers’ need for greater 10 GigE density and/or 100GigE interfaces for their edge and core platforms. All should stress their respective networking heritage and strengths, and leverage their overall technology capabilities to address Alcatel-Lucent’s new metrics. All should suggest that 100GigE solutions are still somewhat off in the future, stressing their platforms’ unique abilities and their willingness to meet the needs of their respective customers.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Tier 1 service providers should evaluate the capabilities offered by Alcatel-Lucent’s new 10 X 10GigE and 100GigE interface along with the service routing capabilities of the 7750 SR and 7745 ESS. Although the addition of the new interfaces are key enablers to support higher speeds and densities, the combination of the service enabling and network convergence capabilities of the overall solution should be taken into account.

• Service providers who need higher speed Ethernet connectivity and who are using LAG technology should evaluate the merits of leveraging a single high speed interface in lieu of configuring multiple 10GigE interfaces to achieve increased capacity. Although LAG technologies are commonly used and supported by all vendors, there is a level of physical complexity that can be minimized by using fewer but faster interfaces.

• Service providers using equipment from other vendors, and who have a projected need for greater than 10GigE density interfaces, should press their suppliers for a delivery roadmap for their expanded 10Gige and 100G solutions. Service providers should also look to their suppliers to offer seamless integration between their IP edge/metro/core router-based networks and their optical transport networks to gain additional network simplicity, visibility and resiliency.

• Service providers should press their suppliers to push the cost points of their solutions downward aggressively in order to enable them to leverage the more capable 100G solutions in the 2010-2011+ timeframe following the ratification of the IEEE P802.3ba standard. Higher density/capacity interfaces and more cost effective solutions will enable carriers to adopt and support converged wireline and wireless network models to meet the needs of future applications.

• Service providers should evaluate their overall network architectures with respect to the roles of their core, edge and metro networks. Platforms that support service sophistication as well as deliver the required scale may provide a more streamlined model that helps to reduce complexity and overall TCO.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Carrier Infrastructure | More information

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