[c-nsp] C7600 vs. ASR 9000

[Mack McBride]

The 9K uses a crossbar fabric evolved from the 6500/7600 (not the same as the GSR -> CRS evolved fabric)
The port interface chips are the same.
The NPU chip is the same as used in the ES cards.
Primary difference is in the way the FIB is run on the 9K vs DFC on the 7600.
Basically they 9K uses the NPU to do more than the 7600 so it is in a lot of ways more efficient
but it is also more 'software' based (not necessarily a bad thing as it is more flexible).

Being evolved from the 7600 should give users confidence that it is solid.
That is a good thing.  But it isn't so revolutionary that the 7600 is completely obsolete.
After discounts the 9K still cost more but has a longer life expectancy.

Mack

-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Lixfeld [mailto:jason at lixfeld.ca] 
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 10:27 PM
To: Mack McBride
Cc: mtinka at globaltransit.net; cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [c-nsp] C7600 vs. ASR 9000

On 2011-10-03, at 11:37 PM, Mack McBride wrote:

> The 7600 and ASR9000 use a lot of similar hardware (Cisco didn't reinvent the wheel they just added rims).

Where?

> The ASR line cards resemble the ES series on the 7600.

Where?  If one is using an ES port on a 7600, I'd assume one is likely using EVCs on said port.  The ES ports on the 7600s do not support SPAN on a physical interface that is configured with EVCs.  The ASR9k thankfully supports this extremely basic feature.  The 7600 ES port's lack of SPAN on an EVC would lead me to believe that the ASIC controlling the ES is very different than the ASIC controlling the ASR linecards.