Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) is announcing its latest core router today, the T4000. It's an upgrade from the T1600 that can be achieved within the same chassis, just as the T640 could be upgraded to the T1600 (pictured below).

The T4000 is due to ship in the second half of 2011, and will ultimately have multi-chassis capacity, just like the T1600 and T640, though that capability is not being officially announced just yet.

Why this matters
Carriers claim they're desperate to start deploying 100Gbit/s Ethernet ports, and the T4000 gives Juniper a core-network blueprint for transporting all those big Ethernet feeds. (See Verizon Does 100GigE in Europe and EENY 2010: Carrier Wants Cheap 100GigE Now Please.)

The T4000 also lets Juniper continue to claim a leg up on Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) in the ongoing core-router wars. For example, its capacity of 240 Gbit/s per slot (slightly less than what Juniper had announced in February) outdoes Cisco's CRS-3, which has only 140 Gbit/s per slot. Undoubtedly, Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) and Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) will still claim they can best Juniper in different ways -- Brocade, for instance, recently claimed 960 Gbit/s per slot on its MLXe -- but Juniper's main talking point remains its comparisons against Cisco. (See Juniper Upgrades the Core, Cisco Boosts the Core With CRS-3, and 100G Watch: Brocade Goes Big.)

For more
Between core-router advancements and 100Gbit/s interest, it's been a busy year. Here's some more reading on the subjects.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading