Verizon taps Cisco for VPN net

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Verizon taps Cisco for VPN net

By Jim Duffy

The Edge, 10/13/03

Cisco announced this week that Verizon is deploying its 12000 series Internet routers to support a national IP VPN network.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The routers will anchor an IP/MPLS VPN service Verizon plans to deliver to enterprise customers as part of its Enterprise Advance initiative. They will be deployed as Verizon’s Local Access Transport Area (LATA) core router as well as one of the carrier’s service edge router platforms.

Verizon recently struck a deal with Juniper for service edge routers. Juniper is the supplier of Verizon’s IP backbone as well, says Stuart Elby, Verizon Network Services vice president for Network Architecture.

“Verizon is nearing the completion of its national backbone router deployment that began about a year ago,” Elby says. “Late this summer, Verizon began its deployment of the local router infrastructure that provides all of the heavy IP/MPLS processing on to and off of the national backbone as well as the VoIP transport within the (local router infrastructure).  This local router infrastructure consists of edge routers provided by both Juniper and Cisco as well as ‘tandem’ or LATA core routers provided by Cisco.”

Verizon expects to have one-third of its deployment complete in early 2004, Elby says.

Verizon’s Enterprise Advance initiative, launched by the company last November, connects existing regional networks across the country via an IP backbone. Enterprise Advance offers packet, optical and transparent LAN services as well as VoIP and IP VPNs.

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