Summary
1. With the impact that Cisco Systems made with 40GbE on its routers, it is important to Juniper to leapfrog to 100G on its systems. 2. It is interesting that Verizon has gone out of its way to provide an endorsement in the supplier’s press release. 3. According to news reports, Cisco and AT&T appear to be in the process of solidifying a relationship that may leave Juniper out in the cold (at least for a while) on new systems.
Analysis
It seems that AT&T has also had a few failures with the Juniper routers. On the other hand, Verizon has a love/hate association with Cisco and strives not to increase the amount of money spent with the vendor each year. Perhaps there will now be even tighter ties between Juniper and Verizon.
In the final analysis, Juniper getting out early with a pre-standard 100G interface is not likely to make a big difference. The telecom industry is only in the initial stages of developing the market for that rate and more of the demand could easily be at the enterprise level. In addition, the only way that Juniper could take a controlling position is by using 100G to stimulate demand such as employing it as a loss leader – but that possibility seems improbable.
For more information on high-speed optics, please see the latest issue in our 40/100G Network Strategies Monthly, “RBOC Strategies.” The report can be purchased directly from GLG.
