Cisco Doubles Line Card Density of ASR 9000

Cisco introduced a single-slot 16 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) line card that effectively doubles the density of its flagship edge router, the Cisco Aggregation Services Router 9000 Series. Cisco also announced Telstra as a new ASR 9000 customer.


Cisco introduced the ASR-9000 in November 2008 and shipped the first systems to select customers in March 2009.

The ASR 9000 platform, which entered general release in May 2009, offers 6.4 terabits per second of total capacity and 400 Gbps capacity per slot, enabling to it accept the new 16 x 10 GE card and grow to 320 x 10GE, or 32 x 100 GE per system. Cisco has not yet announced 100 Gbps interfaces for the platform, saying that an announcement is likely to come when the 100G standard gets closer to ratification.


Cisco said its ASR 9000 is designed for video services over next-gen access networks in the "zettabyte era." The platform leverages the same 40-core "QuantumFlow" processor that is featured in the smaller capacity Cisco ASR 1000 edge router. It also incorporates the Cisco Advanced Video Services Module (AVSM), which provides terabytes of streaming capacity at the aggregation edge while simultaneously offering content caching, ad insertion, fast channel change and error correction. The platform could also be used for aggregating backhaul traffic in a 3G/4G network.


Cisco predicts global IP traffic is expected to increase fivefold from 2008 to 2013, approaching 56 exabytes per month in 2013, up from approximately 9 exabytes per month in 2008.  IP traffic in Asia Pacific will lead the geographic areas. It is forecast to reach 21 exabytes per month in 2013, accounting for more than one third of the global traffic.
Telstra is deploying Cisco Aggregation Services Router 9000 Series (ASR) as their carrier Ethernet platform supporting a range of bandwidth-intensive, content-based services such as video.  Financial terms were not disclosed. In addition to Telstra, announced customers for the ASR 9000 include Cogent, Softbank, and Verizon Wireless
"We are honored that Telstra has chosen the Cisco ASR 9000 for its network edge," said Praveen Akkiraju, vice president and general manager, service provider business unit, Cisco.  "The Cisco ASR 9000 at the edge, coupled with the Cisco CRS-1 carrier routing system, helps enable Telstra to deliver a broader range of innovative offerings in less time, with more capacity and using less energy."http://www.cisco.com