JUNE 23, 2009 -- With an eye fixed squarely on Cisco, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN; search Lightwave for Nokia Siemens) and Juniper Networks Inc. (search Lightwave for Juniper) say they will combine their respective strengths in optical and IP networking to create integrated IP/optical offerings designed to provide operators with a highly flexible, reliable, and cost-efficient way to scale their networks. The joint effort will include the development of 10-, 40-, and 100-Gbps IP-over-DWDM products with management integration and GMPLS control-plane interworking.
"The 10 Gbps solution is available now," Juniper media contact Brendan Hayes told Lightwave, adding that the 40- and 100-Gbps offerings are still in the planning stages.
"Juniper brings world-class IP routing expertise while Nokia Siemens Networks brings forth world-class wavelength-division-multiplexing transport technology including operational management systems for both technologies. To have both worlds under one network management roof means the highest possible quality in terms of simplicity and efficiency," said Uwe Fischer, head of the DWDM Business Line at NSN. "As carriers consolidate their IP and DWDM environments to ensure cost-efficient growth, our solution will form the bedrock of the vision that breaks the barriers between optical and electrical layers."
"As trends such as video, virtualization, and cloud computing continue to drive the need for core networking capacity, operators will be looking for ways to scale their networks efficiently and cost-effectively," said Opher Kahane, senior vice president and general manager, High-End Systems Business Unit, Juniper Networks. "The combination of IP and optical transport technologies increase the efficiency of the network, and we are very excited to be working with Nokia Siemens Networks to bring this innovative solution to market."
The two companies will initially focus on long-haul DWDM optics on router line interface cards. Such cards will increase network efficiency by reducing the need for redundant transponders, the two companies assert. To overcome potential network management challenges created by combining IP and optical capabilities, NSN and Juniper say they will create a way to manage the entire router-to-optical link as a single entity. Using Juniper's T Series Core Routers, the router-integrated optical DWDM interfaces will be able to interoperate seamlessly with NSN's hiT7300 WDM platform and be managed by the NSN's Transport Network Management System (TNMS), the two companies assert.
"We see [the collaboratino] as a step in the right direction, but it might not deliver the type of integration we think many carriers seek. The latest announcement follows an announcement earlier this month that Juniper and NSN would form a joint venture to address the carrier Ethernet market," commented Simon Leopold, communications equipment analyst at broker-dealer Morgan Keegan & Co., in a note issued this morning.
"We suspect carriers have split into two camps regarding the evolution of integrating optical transmission and data networking," Leopold continued. "We believe some carriers such as AT&T seek the architecture offered by this partnership that would integrate high speed optics into routers with optical transmission equipment able to coordinate network management via the Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) protocol, and this is addressed by the new partnership and is consistent with Cisco's IP over DWDM offering. Other carriers such as Verizon strive to reduce the number of routers in the network and offload some of the IP/MPLS function into a fully integrated transport (i.e., optical) platform."
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