PORTLAND, Ore. -- Juniper Networks® (NYSE: JNPR) today introduced a new 10 port, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Physical Interface Card (PIC) for its T1600 Series Core Router, which will enhance the value and flexibility of the T1600. The new 10x10GbE PIC will deliver the highest density of 10GbE interfaces on a core router, as well as unique Intelligent Oversubscription capabilities, enabling customers to reduce costs and increase efficiency. With the new 10x10GbE PIC and the previously announced 100GbE PIC, the T1600 will support multiple options for 100Gbps, providing customers with maximum choice and flexibility for large-scale core networks.

High-capacity 100GbE interfaces and high-density 10GbE interfaces are increasingly required to leverage virtualization to consolidate network architectures, particularly as core routers are increasingly used to aggregate more edge and access network links.

“The combination of this new high-density 10x10GbE PIC, along with the 802.3ba 100GbE PIC earlier announced by Juniper, provides an incredible amount of flexibility and growth to the already impressive T1600,” said Chris Robb, Internet2 manager of network operations. “Internet2 is excited about the opportunities these new options add to the T1600 platform as we continue working aggressively to see 100GbE deployed to support advanced science in the U.S.” In conjunction with Internet2, Level 3 and Infinera, the 10x10GbE PIC is being featured in a live, multivendor network demonstration at the SC09 Conference today. Also at SC09, Juniper is demonstrating the 802.3ba compliant 100GbE PIC (announced in June) in its booth 1448. This demonstration is the first instance of a fully featured IP/MPLS router supporting a 100GbE interface, marking another industry first for Juniper’s T Series Core Routers.

The high-density, oversubscribed Ethernet interfaces available on the new 10x10GbE PIC can be used to aggregate client-facing access interfaces, or to provide efficient connectivity in and between virtualized routers. This will increase the flexibility of the T1600 and will enable customers to use the router in more diverse deployment scenarios, and to more efficiently leverage virtualization to consolidate edge and core functionality. Support for both 100GbE interfaces and high-density, lower-speed interfaces on a single router will be able to dramatically improve power, space and management efficiency.

The T1600 can support a total of sixteen 10x10GbE PICs per chassis, for a total of 160 10GbE interfaces in a half-rack—more than twice that of the closest competitor. As many as 80 of these interfaces can operate at line-rate speed, or the T1600 can be oversubscribed at a 2:1 ratio.

In a separate release:

At the SC09 Conference today, a group of leaders in the networking industry announced a key milestone in the migration to 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) technology by successfully demonstrating a multivendor 100Gbps routing and optical network. In this demonstration, 100Gbps of test data (generated by an Ixia test set) was transmitted from Portland to Seattle through a single slot on the Juniper Networks® T1600 Series Core Router, populated with a new 10x10GbE physical interface card (announced separately by Juniper today) via an Infinera optical system, over Level 3 and Internet2’s nationwide fiber-optic network. The data was then looped back to Juniper’s T1600 Series Core Router in Juniper’s booth on the SC09 show floor in Portland.

Also being demonstrated at SC09 is the industry’s first 802.3ba compliant100GbE router interface in Juniper’s booth 1448. These 100Gbps demonstrations represent the continued advances made by the joint initiative—announced last year at SC08—between the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), Internet2, Infinera, Juniper Networks and Level 3 Communications. The five organizations announced an initiative to work together to develop and deploy 100GbE services with the ultimate goal of implementing a fully-operational 100GbE network.

ESnet and Internet2 have both begun aggressive projects to pursue deployment of testbeds and eventual production deployment of 100GbE to support the growing data demands of scientific research. With these industry-leading partners, both Internet2 and ESnet are continuing to pursue their vision for 100GbE-capable research and education (R&E) networks.

Juniper’s T1600 will support the industry’s first 802.3ba compliant 100GbE router interface, which is also being demonstrated in Juniper’s booth 1448. In conjunction with the TX Matrix Plus, the T1600 is designed to scale up to 25 terabits per second (Tbps) of total capacity.

“With ‘Big Science’ projects like the Large Hadron Collider expected to be generating data flows of 100Gbps as soon as 2010, it’s clear that the world’s scientific research and education community needs to move beyond groups of 10Gbps waves and be ready with 100GbE solutions in the very near term,” said Kanaiya Vasani, vice president of product management, High-End Systems Business Unit, Juniper Networks. “As trends such as cloud computing and video continue to drive network traffic in all other industry and consumer sectors, service providers and other large network operators will require a new generation of scale—100 Gigabit Ethernet meets this need.”

Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR)