Cisco dropped the other shoe with the introduction of its 1000 series of Aggregation Services Routers (ASRs), designed to combine multiple functions in a single system at the edge of service providers’ networks.
The ASR 1000 series products are the first announced that make use of a new communications processor Cisco touted last week.
The ASR 1000 series includes firewall, IP security virtual private networks (IPSec VPNs), deep packet inspection (DPI) and session border control (SBC). Software virtualization enables provisioning.
The combination saves capital costs and operations expenses, and Cisco said it reduces users’ carbon footprints. Cisco said the product can also simplify network design because a single router can be used in different hardware deployments and provide different services based on software enablement.
The Cisco ASR 1000 series is driven by the new Cisco QuantumFlow Processor (QFP). The line also features Cisco’s IOS XE software, a virtualized Cisco IOS implementation optimized for compact routers at the edge to deliver in-service software upgrades and software redundancy in a form factor much smaller than previously possible.
“We believe it will be necessary for the edge of the network to perform dynamic quality control to flexibly and securely enable aggregation of traffic from broadband services and converged communications,” said Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Communication (NTT) EVP Shin Hashimoto. “The Cisco ASR 1000 series is expected to provide the functions essential for such IP NGNs in a flexible and scalable manner with the high availability that we and our customers demand.”
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