Avici broadens focus

In an effort to broaden the application and revenue opportunities of its Internet core routers, Avici Systems this week unveiled software designed for aggregating lower-speed links and peering between different service providers' networks.

The company's software, IPriori 4.2, now includes a number of features specific to aggregation and peering functions closer to the network edge, such as packet accounting, filtering and quality-of-service marking capabilities. The software is also intended to reduce the number of devices required in service provider points-of-presence for edge aggregation, which enables users to better defend against denial-of-service attacks, Avici claims.

Avici's software release is the latest move among Internet core router vendors to broaden their addressable markets during the current downturn in the telecommunications economy. Vendors are looking at every way possible to get stingy carriers and service providers to loosen the purse strings on their shrinking capital budgets.

"Core routing vendors have got to find an expanded market focus," says Chris Nicoll, an analyst at Current Analysis. "The edge/aggregation function is where service providers are focusing today. If vendors have the features, the market has problems that need to be addressed."

Avici's forte to now has been core routing, which operates in the OC-48 and OC-192 range. With IPriori 4.2, Avici is looking to make a footprint in the lower-speed OC-3, OC-12 and Gigabit Ethernet arenas.

Avici even released an eight-port Gigabit Ethernet module for its routers this week that's designed to take advantage of the new software. This new module -- along with an existing 16-port OC-3 card for Avici's routers -- enable the vendor to offer densities of 320 Gigabit Ethernet links and 640 OC-3s per 7-foot rack.

But densities like that mean nothing without software. IPriori 4.2 runs on Avici's Terabit Switch Router and Stackable Switch Router platforms. Some of its key features include NetFlow+, port mirroring and packet filtering, which are designed to enable carriers to perform diagnostic traffic analysis and provide protection for their networks from attacks.

NetFlow+ is a packet accounting and billing capability that's ostensibly compatible with Cisco's NetFlow packet accounting technique. This may prod carriers currently deploying Cisco routers for aggregation and peering to evaluate Avici's TSR and SSR, which are considered more reliable, scalable, denser and faster than Cisco's legacy offerings.

"NetFlow is a key differentiator" for Avici, Nicoll says. "It helps (IPriori) 4.2 make a strong statement to say, 'If it's a Cisco network, we can slip in there.'"

Cisco owns about 80% of the market for 1G bit/sec to 9G bit/sec routers used for IP aggregation and peering, and about 73% of the market for higher-class systems, according to Dell'Oro Group. Nicoll says loosening Cisco's stranglehold on the market will also be Avici's biggest challenge with IPriori 4.2.

The software's port mirroring capability, meanwhile, copies traffic to a pre-defined port for inspection. The entire packet can be viewed with an analyzer to determine if a denial-of-service attack is underway, Avici says.

Packet filtering can be enabled by IPriori 4.2's ability to establish 2,000 access control lists (ACL) per module, which equates to 80,000 ACLs per TSR and 40,000 per SSR. With this capability, carriers peering their networks can filter traffic based on source/destination addresses, TCP/UDP port numbers, and protocols to determine whether packets should be forwarded, discarded or mirrored for further inspection.

Another feature of IPriori 4.2, Avici claims, is its ability to decrease the number of devices in a carrier POP used for aggregation and peering. Due to scale and reliability limitations of legacy routers, carriers today are forced to implement complex, costly multi-tiered POP architectures with separate aggregation and backbone router layers, the vendor says.

This results in operational complexity and increased capital costs. IPriori 4.2 enables carriers to consolidate aggregation, peering, and core routing application in the same platform, resulting in cost savings on capital and operational expenditures, Avici claims.

"They're working on simplifying the design of the POP, which, from an IP side, has been racks and racks of equipment," Nicoll says.

IPriori 4.2 and the eight-port Gigabit Ethernet card are available now. Pricing was not disclosed.

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