Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is upping the size of its core routers, but more importantly, it's touting a carrier-network virtualization that could expand the market for monster multichassis systems. (See Juniper Updates Core.)

The idea would be to let carriers offer hosted backbone networks that all run on common routers. It's analogous to data center virtualization, where a particular server can host different applications for different clients. The idea isn't new to telecom, but Juniper thinks its technology, combined with carriers' need for new revenue sources, could really make it work.

"There are models that are going to take a while to get adopted, but the carriers we talk to, they see the potential," says Luc Ceuppens, senior director of Juniper's high-end business unit.

On the surface, the TX Matrix Plus -- which will be announced today and is due to ship in the third quarter -- is just another salvo in the war of the big core routers. Specifically, it's the box that makes multichassis routers out of Juniper's T1600s, a development that was promised when the T1600 launched in 2007. (See Juniper Attacks Cisco's CRS-1.)

So, let's start with the numbers.

The T1600 has 1.6 Tbit/s of capacity (800 Gbit/s if you don't add incoming and outgoing traffic together). The TX Matrix Plus can put 16 of the T1600s together to form a node with capacity of around 25 Tbit/s or, put another way, room for 1,024 10-Gbit/s ports.

The TX Matrix Plus still doesn't match the 92 Tbit/s claims for a maxed-out CRS-1 configuration from Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO). But it's a catchup step that Juniper needed to take.

"To be frank, they needed to bring the Matrix Plus to market, because it's something Cisco has had already," IDC analyst Eve Griliches says.

The argument for these multichassis routers has been that big carriers really are going to need that much routing firepower. Cisco says the multichassis market is starting to blossom, as it's got 20 customers using multichassis CRS-1s. (See Cisco Toasts Big Iron.)

That may be true, but it still defines a limited market for these boxes. That's where Juniper's virtualization pitch comes in.

The virtual world
Juniper's virtualization pitch plays on the idea that larger service providers already tend to use multiple subnetworks to accommodate services. "A lot of these networks are managed by different operational groups, and that's the way it used to be in the data center," Ceuppens says.

So, what could you do with carrier-network virtualization? Well, anyone remember Allegro Networks? (See Allegro Holds a House Party .) Similar to Allegro, Juniper is pitching its new core router as a vehicle for networking-as-a-service. A TX Matrix Plus setup would sit on the network as a pool of bandwidth that multiple parties could tap, letting a carrier lease out part of its backbone, in a sense.

For instance, large carriers could make peace with over-the-top video services by giving them their own content delivery networks, which the carrier could even manage. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) has talked to content owners about this, Ceuppens says, and he thinks Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is considering the possibility, too.

"A couple of years ago, everybody thought Google would build their own network. Now, I think they realize what an undertaking it would be, not only to build it, but to manage it," Ceuppens says.

Other possibilities: The carrier could become the wholesale provider of a small operator's network backbone, or lease out a network arm to a service provider that lacks a presence in a certain geographic area.

To Page 2

There's also an application waiting in the mobile world, which would let operators rent a backbone from a wireline provider. Or carriers that own both wired and wireless networks can start running them on the same backbone. Analyst Griliches thinks that kind of consolidation is going to be popular as the recession wears on.

"While we're in this down time, we're all to some extent looking to clean our houses out. I think the service providers are doing that, too. They're looking not at the first mile, but at second-mile and third-mile inefficiencies," Griliches says.

Juniper's hope is that these these potential new services will give carriers a reason to consider the TX Matrix Plus even if they don't need that kind of bandwidth right away. The new services would help fill the routers while requiring no organizational changes on the carrier's side.

Juniper says the key to this concept is the Juniper Control System (JCS) 1200. Introduced in 2007, the device houses the network's control plane -- an alternative to having the control plane distributed among routers. (See Juniper Splits Out Its Control Plane.)

That gives Juniper a new degree of, well, control over the networks. It also means that each virtualized service doesn't require a new processor blade -- because that kind of processing is handled in the JCS 1200. That factor can save slots on the router.

Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), and Redback Networks Inc. already boast virtual routers as features. But Juniper sets itself apart from those efforts because the JCS selects groups of linecards to form each virtual router: In other words, it's a hardware-based scheme, rather than software-based.

Among the advantages is security. One awkward point of the early software-based virtual-routing attempts was that "you were broadcasting all of the routes to all of the routers," Griliches says. The virtual routers can share uplink ports -- or, security-obsessed customers like government agencies can be given isolated uplinks.

Seeing the light
But wait, there's even more: Juniper is now pushing the IP-over-optical concept that Cisco loves so much. The idea is to integrate an optical transport network (OTN) transponder into the router port, obviating the need for a separate transponder system. (See Cisco's CRS-1 Goes Optical.)

Juniper is doing this using off-the-shelf transponders from a vendor it's not specifying. Cisco's IP-over-DWDM is handled via transponders from StrataLight, which recently got acquired by Opnext Inc. (Nasdaq: OPXT). (See Opnext Steps Up With StrataLight and Opnext Completes StrataLight Buy.)

Naturally, the router guys claim there are lots of advantages to this. The IP network gains some knowledge of what's going on in the optical network -- meaning routers can reroute traffic if it looks as if a break has occurred.

The optical camp isn't so certain. "That whole vision is great from the router vendors' standpoint, but the economics aren't great for the customer" because router ports are so expensive, says Jagdeep Singh, CEO of Infinera Corp. (Nasdaq: INFN).

Singh thinks the world is heading in the opposite direction -- towards packet optical networks, where switching becomes a function of the optical layer. (See Packet-Optical Transport Confusion Is on the Rise.)

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading