Juniper Boosts its Supercore Router with New Silicon, Density, SDN

Aiming to 'Revolutionize Routing Again,' Juniper Networks rolled out a series of enhancements to its Converged Supercore PTX Series router based on new custom silicon and expanded software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities. The PTX routers combine full IP and MPLS functionality, transport integration and SDN programmability.

Juniper said its new ExpressPlus custom ASIC is capable of performing more than 1.5 billion filtered operations per second and scaling up to 500 Gbps (1 Tbps half-duplex), making it the world’s most advanced routing silicon.  It delivers four times the performance and three times the efficiency gains over Juniper’s previous-generation Express chipset. The 28 nanometer chip can drive 5x100G interfaces and leverages 3D memory architecture, reducing its physical footprint by 20 times compared with previous solutions, which optimizes power consumption and space requirements.

The new silicon enables the PTX5000 routers to deliver 3 Tbps per slot (30x100GE interfaces) for a total capacity of 24 Tbps (48 Tbps half-duplex).  Energy efficiency is estimated at 1/2 watt per gigabit. In terms of size, the PTX3000 is designed for space-constrained environments and can scale up to 8 Tbps or (16 Tbps half-duplex) in a form factor 91 percent smaller than its nearest competitor. Juniper will also introducing new line cards for the PTX Series core routers.

In addition, Juniper has extended the capabilities of its NorthStar Controller to provide visibility and control into additional layers of the network and fully support and handle dynamic traffic, such as that driven by mobile and cloud applications. Juniper said these capabilities enable the NorthStar Controller to increase utilization by dynamically adjusting to changing network conditions in real-time.

"Today, we build on the Converged Supercore architecture we announced in 2011 with the addition of new silicon, systems and software designed specifically to help our customers achieve unparalleled levels of scale in our platforms and a level of performance, automation and optimization never before seen in the industry with NorthStar SDN control. This holistic approach to networking gives our customers the power to innovate and bring new concepts to life through connecting ideas to people and people to solutions," stated Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager, Juniper Development and Innovation.

http://newsroom.juniper.net/press-release/juniper-networks-unveils-industrys-most-powerful-core-routing-platform