M40 on fast route

Service providers now have a serious alternative to Cisco for ultra high-end routers, as the "fastest router in the world" has hit the UK.

According to Juniper Networks, its M40 internet backbone router could blow away any competition. "The only thing that is as fast as this router, is this router," said Juniper CEO, Scott Kriens. "We offer wire speed, period."

Juniper said the product had a data-throughput speed of 40Gbps and a packet look-up capability of 40 million packets per second. The M40 is claimed to offer wire-speed routing on an STM-16 (2.5Gbps) interface, without packet drop.

The M40 is being trialled at BT's Martlesham Lab, which is testing Cisco's competing GSR 12000 gigabit router in a separate project.

Mark Kummer, sales director at Cisco's BT division, said that the next generation in the 12000 series would have terabit capacity. Cisco's 12000 gave better traffic prioritisation and would be used by BT for public IP VPN services this summer, he claimed.

"Speed isn't the whole game in the high-end router market. Service and support is important, as is reliability," warned Pim Bilderbeek, European director at analyst IDC.