Australian telecommunications vendor Telstra has revealed that it is deploying Cisco’s Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 9000 Series as its carrier Ethernet platform to support a range of bandwidth-intensive, content-based services such as video.
Telstra provides telephony services across Australia, providing voice, mobile, pay TV and Internet services. It employs over 40,000 workers and in 2008 it turned over A$24.8bn (£14.15bn) in revenue and A$4.07bn (£2.32bn) profit.
The company selected Cisco’s ASR 9000 as its Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) edge routing platform. One of the key drivers behind the move was the scalability of the platform – Telstra wanted to make sure that future bandwidth requirements would be met.
Telstra already runs the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System (CRS) router in the core of its network, and adding the ASR 9000 to the edge of the network should provide the firm with operational consistency and reliability through the majority of its production network. Both platforms run on the Cisco IOS-XR operating system.
We are honoured 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 leadership Next Generation IP network that supports a broad range of business and consumer services.
As well as Telstra, Cogent, Softbank and Verizon Wireless have also installed Cisco’s ASR 9000. The Cisco ASR 9000 provides us the capacity, intelligence and investment protection that enables us to deliver world-class services. Innovations such as the single-slot 16 by 10 Gigabit Ethernet card are great proof points to how this platform will scale to meet our future needs, said David Schaeffer, CEO, Cogent.
It’s good to see Cisco addressing the demands of rapidly growing traffic — due to collaboration, virtualisation, mobility and video — with products such as the ASR 9000, said Eve Griliches of analyst house IDC. It’s clear that the product is gaining acceptance, given deployments at major service providers. Successes like these are indicative of Cisco delivering a highly versatile product to the market and one reason for its increase in market share in the Carrier Ethernet router space this quarter.
