[c-nsp] Real life and worst-case performance of Cisco and Juniper?

[Rick Ernst]

I'm looking at a network refresh and both Cisco and Juniper are on the
radar.  We are currently almost all-Cisco.  The two platforms we are
looking at are the Juniper M10i and the Cisco 7606/Sup7203BXL.

Our bandwidth needs are pretty modest; currently less than 500Mbs amd our
packet consumption is about 75,000pps.  I'm currently projecting over 1Gbs
in about a year.  Our existing gear (7200/7500/RSM) handles the load
fairly well, but memory on the VIPs, RSMs, and older RSPs can't handle a
full table.  We also need to be able to absorb high pps DDoSes.

Juniper seems to essentially claim that "you get whatever the platform is
spec'd for, regardless of packet size/type" at ~4-8Gbs.  Cisco claims
720Gbs (full-duplex?) and about 40Mpps on the 720 with DFC.

Our border/core pretty much just moves packets, so I'm not too worried
about the packet handling at that level.  A large portion of our customer
traffic is rate-limited/policed (hundreds of ethernet connections).

Does anybody have any "Yeah, Juniper really does that" stories, or
experience with how packet manipulation impacts the Sup720 performance? 
Essentially, what could the Sup720 handle if every packet hit the CPU? 
Does the architectural difference between the Sup720 and 7200/7500 at
least somewhat mitigate CPU impact with CAR/policing?

Thanks!