Redback, Laurel vie for C&W edge
 
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On the heels of awarding some core business to Juniper, Cable & Wireless has included Redback Networks and start-up Laurel Networks on its shortlist to supply routers for the edge of its global IP network.
Sources say C&W chose Redback and Laurel due to the ATM and Draft Martini-compliant MPLS Layer 2 VPN capabilities of their respective SmartEdge and ST200 routers. While the source suggested only those two vendors made the shortlist, C&W says the finalists for its edge buildout go beyond Redback and Laurel.
"At this time we have shortlisted several vendors for the edge, but are not able to disclose who they are," says Chad Couser, a C&W spokesman. "It is more than just the two."
Couser did not disclose C&W's current edge router supplier.
C&W last week tapped Juniper to supply its M-series routers for the OC-192 core of the C&W global IP network. Juniper's M160 routers will allow C&W to create IP services using MPLS provisioned over access lines running at OC-3 and above, Juniper stated in a release.
C&W would not divulge the financial aspects of the Juniper deal nor its investment in the IP core and edge buildout, but downplayed the significance.
"In terms of the overall network spend, this investment in core routers for the upgrade of the network to OC-192 using MPLS for traffic engineering is a small percentage of our overall global network spend," Couser says. "The same can be said for the edge routers."
Couser says C&W has currently upgraded seven nodes in the U.S., U.K. and Europe to OC-192 using MPLS. Each node has four Juniper M160's.
In April, five additional nodes in the U.S. will be upgraded to OC-192 using Juniper M160's, he says.
"Juniper is being used for core routers, but we continually evaluate new core routers from other equipment providers," Couser says.
Redback has 20 trials in progress -- two with international carriers and two with North American service providers. Laurel says its ST200 is deployed commercially in the U.S. and Europe, and that the company is a finalist on multiple projects with Tier 1 carriers.
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