The next Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) core router, the MSC 120, could be announced this month, according to Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. analyst Ittai Kidron.

In a note issued today, Kidron adds that the router, with up to 2.88Tbit/s of capacity by some metrics, probably won't ship until mid-2011 due to problems with the switching chipsets.

Kidron thinks the router will have a per-slot capacity of 120Gbit/s, which would appear to outdo the 100Gbit/s of per-slot capacity offered by the Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) T1600 or the Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) 7750 Service Router.

It would certainly best the CRS-1, which carries just 40Gbit/s per slot.

A 24-slot version of the router would therefore have 2.88Tbit/s capacity, although that figure doesn't address the switch-fabric capacity or the aggregate capacity of the router's interfaces.

Kidron also thinks a 12-slot version is in the works.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading