Juniper claims first with 100G Ethernet

Juniper this week is expected to unveil what it claims is the first 100 Gigabit Ethernet router interface in the industry.

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The interface, for Juniper's T1600 core router, provides an order of magnitude increase over the 10Gbps interfaces available today. Its need is driven by rapidly increasing network traffic and growth in video communications, advanced wireless services and virtualized cloud computing.

Juniper says offering will enable service providers and data centers to reduce the number of interfaces required in their networks, simplify topologies and enhance operational efficiencies. Today, may of Juniper's customer aggregate multiple links to achieve 100Gbps.

Having a single interface will alleviate running multiple fiber optic cables and ease the inefficient operations and management of link aggregation, Juniper says.

The 100 Gigabit Ethernet interface is a network-facing module, meaning it connects to other Juniper T1600s in a service provider core rather than to edge routers delivering services to customers. It is compatible, Juniper says, with the IEEE 802.3ba standard for 40G and 100G Ethernet, even though that standard is not expected to be ratified for another year.

Juniper says the technical aspects of the standard are "frozen," allowing vendors to now develop products compliant or consistent with 802.3ba.

The interface implements CFP pluggable optical modules designed specifically for 40G and 100Gbps applications, including Ethernet. CFP is designed to support different data rates, protocols and link lengths over different media types, including both multimode and single mode fiber.

Juniper will showcase the 100G Ethernet interface in its booth at Interop Tokyo this week. In September, Juniper said it will host an event in its Herndon, Va., labs to demonstrate the 100G Ethernet interface, and in November it plans to have a live link up and running to Internet2 at a supercomputing show.

Juniper expects the interface to be deployed in customer test networks with DWDM optical transmission gear before the end of 2009.

Juniper says the 100G Ethernet interface will cost less that 10 10G Ethernet router ports.