[c-nsp] Downsides of combining P and PE functions into a single box

[Mark Tinka]

On Friday, October 21, 2011 07:08:15 AM Phil Bedard wrote:

>  Having a
> separate core also sets us up for some of the devices
> coming in the future which may take the place of a full
> featured MPLS router with something with a simplified
> control/forwarding plane (stripped-down LSR) or a device
> with combined packet/optical which can take the place of
> both our P nodes and DWDM transport nodes.  I'd like to
> see more virtualization to be able to use the same
> chassis/line cards as two separate routers and the
> ability to virtually connect them via an internal
> fabric.  I know this is doable on the multi-chassis
> systems from C/J but those systems are expensive and add
> additional complexity.

Juniper's disappointing PTX router was meant to make this 
possible with their Express Chip. But I think they missed 
the mark here, and even though both Cisco and Juniper can 
develop cheap, high-speed 1U P routers, they probably won't.

As of today, your best bet is a CRS with FP-* line cards, or 
the ASR9000; or Juniper's MX.

I'm not yet sure IPoDWDM + SDR (logical systems on a 
Juniper) is ready to do enough to make what you state, 
above, a real reality.

> Right now the reason collapsing is a non-starter is we
> don't have the density on any current MPLS router to use
> a combined P/PE in most locations unless we go to
> multi-chassis configurations.

The ASR9922 is probably what you're looking for, although it 
might be a little big for the smallest of PoP's, unless you 
can achieve huge savings in your P/PE deployment.

The competition has something similar in the pipeline as 
well, but as it's not yet official, I'll keep my mouth shut 
for now :-).

Cheers,

Mark.
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