[j-nsp] Re: J4350/6350 experiences?

[Peter E. Fry]

> [...] in my view it is more apropriate to compare the
J4350/J6350 with the ISR series than with the 7200.

  OK, so this is a silly point: But what do you have?

1) J-series: GP CPU (x86) with one or more PCI buses. 
Specifically:
- Jx300: P4, 845 chipset, IXP425 (a wannabe network
processor) to provide 2 fast Ethernet interfaces (and two
serial interfaces), PCI bus.
- Jx350: Blazing hot Prescott, 915 chipset, 2 Marvell PCI-E
dual GbE chips to provide four gigabit Ethernet interfaces,
6 PCI shared with 2 or 4 PCI-E 1x slots.

2) 7200 (NPE-G1): GP CPU (a BCM1250 using one core) with
three built-in GbE MACs and a couple PCI buses.

3) ISR: GP CPU (PowerPC, I believe) with a couple
fast/gigabit Ethernet MACs (probably integrated, as on the
BCM1250) and one or more PCI buses.

Not a whole lot of difference.  The 7200 resides in the "I'm
a real router, because I route, and cost as much as an
automobile" space whereas the ISR is aimed at the office,
with "everything including the kitchen sink on a card, and
whatever it is, we can do it in IOS" integration.  The
J-series is somewhere in between, being more of a
narrow-purpose routing platform but intentionally limited to
DS3 WAN interfaces.  The fast P4 and PCI-E actually give the
Jx350 an I/O advantage, and you can cram more Ethernet into
them than you (or they) can possibly use.  And the Jx350s
have the internal miniPCI slot for the ISR-like (well,
Netscreen-like) encryption card.
  Now why am I'm getting an image of a router running
Asterisk...?
  At any rate, it's a rather uneven intersection.  The
J-series will outpower the Ciscos, but lacks the ISR's
integration, the 7200's (and even the ISR's) high-end
interface selection, and the M-series' regular performance.

Peter E. Fry