Cisco's CRS-3 router sets new speed-record

In a high-profile announcement on Tuesday, networking giant Cisco unveiled its new CRS-3 router, which the company says has the capacity to handle 322-terabit of data per second. The 322-terabit capacity is triple that of the CRS-1 router, which was launched in 2004. Cisco claims that this capacity would allow "every man, woman and child in China to make a video call simultaneously."

AT&T Labs President and CEO Keith Cambron, who also participated in the webcast unveiling of the CRS-3 router, says he is confident that the product can handle 100 gigabits of load on its network. His company has apparently done a network test of the CRS-3 technology, stressing it with up to 100 gigabits of traffic from a traffic generator.

On the technical breakthrough that the CRS-3 represents, analyst Zeus Kerravala of the Yankee Group, wrote. "Cisco has set a new bar for network performance, delivering the industry's first 100 GigE-ready product with a total capacity of 322 Tbps--over 10 times that of its nearest competitor."

Of course, one point that is less actively marketed is the fact that the 322-terabit of capacity will only be possible with the use of 72 interconnected CRS-3 chassis. This is unlikely to be deployed "due to space and manageability realities" noted vice president of marketing for Juniper's Infrastructure Products Group, Mike Marcellin.

I've written more on this in today's editorial, do check it out here.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at eWeek 

Related Articles:
Google building its own routers?
Cisco bumps HP from reseller program
Cisco to bring TelePresence to the commuter
Cisco buys Tandberg for $3 billion