Alcatel-Lucent Challenges Cisco® With Router for Network Cores

Alcatel-Lucent, the Paris-based manufacturer of telecommunications gear, has designed a router that can be used at the center of Internet providers’ networks, a market dominated by Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. The new routers are designed to cut the amount of hardware that a telecommunications-service provider needs. The product 7950 XRS router is a device to speed packets of data along networks. According to the company, the core router, which operates at large-network junction points, took three years to develop and is designed to support as much as 6.4 terabits -- or 6.4 trillion bits -- per second of data traffic, making it suitable for the largest potential customers such as AT&T Inc. and BT Group Plc. Alcatel-Lucent has been selling smaller-scale routers designed for the perimeter of the Internet, as distinct from the core. The company is entering the core market with the help of a processor that keeps power consumption down while handling more data traffic. News source and image credit: Alcatel-Lucent