Juniper Networks will leverage its new Trio silicon to bring "3D" scaling to create a new class of "universal" edge routing. This is accomplished with new modular line cards, new applications and new metro aggregation routers for its existing MX Series of routers. 
The new 3D line cards will double capacity for the MX240 model, or triple capacity for the MX480 and MX960. This pushes the maximum edge routing capacity of the MX960 to 2.6 Tbps per chassis. Juniper is also adding a smaller MX80 with 80 Gbps of capacity in a 3U model. This will be available in a modular version as well.
Juniper said the MX960 3D will now offer 4x the capacity as the Cisco ASR 9010, or 2.6X the capacity as the Alcatel-Lucent SR-12.
The new line cards include:
- MX 3D Universal Edge Line Card: based on a flexible GE / 10GE configuration.
- MX 3D 100GbE Line Card: edge routing with line-rate 100GbE performance for edge uplink, inter-data center and high-bandwidth aggregation.
- MX 3D Aggregation Line Card: a 120 Gbps card with the highest 10GE density for aggregation, video distribution, data center and edge routing.
Juniper will start to ship the products in December.
In addition, two new third-party applications being developed on the Junos operating system and Juniper's MX Series: an Active Broadband Networks application for monitoring cable bandwidth and usage to improve cable subscriber experiences; and an Ankeena Networks application for video streaming and caching to enable low-cost, TV-like viewing.
Kim Perdikou, executive vice president and general manager of Juniper's Infrastructure Products Group, said the significance of 3D Scaling goes beyond the bandwidth booth. The technology enables the router to be re-configured through the Junos operating system to optimize the network for service/subscriber requirements. For instance, a platform could be optimized to handle huge number of mobile data users with light traffic volume or smaller number of broadband users downloading HD video.
For the mobile market, Perdikou observed that competitors have introduced a number of point products for edge routing in wireless networks. However, Juniper believes these are limited by bandwidth, scaling of users, security concerns, etc. The company is positioning its 3D routing technology as a "universal" edge, enabling the router to adapt to mobile or wireline requirements, rather than pursue a purpose-built router for this application. Currently, about 70% of the software functionality needed for such a mobile edge router currently runs on the Juniper solution.
Earlier this year, Juniper kicked off "Project Falcon," which aims to deliver 3D universal edge mobility using the Trio chipset. This will be a mobile packet core solution capable of handling subscriber management, billing, etc.
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