[j-nsp] EX4600 Vs QFX 5100 VS ACX 5048

[Harald F. Karlsen]

On 02.05.2016 22:26, Saku Ytti wrote:
 > On 2 May 2016 at 13:20, Mark Tinka <mark.tinka at seacom.mu> wrote:
 >> When reviewing Metro-E boxes back in 2009, the MX80 was just being
 >> developed. I "convinced" Juniper to make a 1U MX Metro-E switch with 40
 >> - 48 ports, that could do everything the larger MX chassis could, since
 >> the MX80 was simply too big and too costly.
 >
 > I don't see the logic here. Just because it's 1RU, does not mean it'll
 > become cheaper. If anything, it's more expensive due to more NRE
 > needed to solve thermal issues.
 > If they'll make 1RU Trio box, there is no reason to suspect price
 > point would be significantly cheaper than MX80/MX104. If you need
 > cheaper box, you need to go low-touch/pipeline/asic style
 > forwarding-logic.
 >
I would say it depends on the market they aim for. If they could price a 
small form-factor Trio-based device to compete with the smaller ASRs (or 
even ME switches) they could ramp up production and hence decrease 
production cost. I really think a lot of service providers want MPLS 
closer to the edge and I think it's a big market for anyone who makes a 
MPLS-capable device with a proper FIB, decent control-plane and proper 
MPLS features (P2MP LSPs would be nice). Someone smarter than me should 
figure out how to create such a device without cannibalizing their 
existing products.

TLDR; I want to replace my metro switches with proper MPLS routers and 
only spend marginally more on it. I personally think there's a big 
market for whoever makes such a device.

 > Does 1RU/2RU/3RU really matter that much? To me MX104 is better option
 > than MX80 due to being less deep, depth of MX80 was an issue, not the
 > RU.
 >
I agree. Lower height and depth is of course better, but I agree that 
depth is the biggest concern for a lot of telcos. For datacenters, 
height is usually the biggest concern. A lot of SPs operate in both 
domains so it's all about finding the best compromise (or maybe two 
different SKUs?).

-- 
Harald