AT&T includes big three router makers in its core strategy
Cisco, Juniper and ALU all named suppliers for IP, Ethernet, MPLS and packet core
Published: 30 July, 2010
READ MORE: US | AT&T | Core Network | LTE
Last year AT&T said it would streamline its network supply chain and select just two vendors in each product category or domain. However, it has named three firms to supply the critical IP core for its wireline and wireless networks, probably because of the huge scale of the project. This is an early example of a major carrier unifying different access networks with a single core and transport system.
The vendors are less surprising - Cisco, Juniper and Alcatel-Lucent, all major players in carrier routers (though as AT&T keeps stressing, being a domain supplier does not guarantee actual contracts). Some or all of them, though, will supply future IP, Ethernet, MPLS and evolved packet core equipment, handling IP data across AT&T's broad range of networks, including LTE.
The carrier says the project will eventually support routing and forwarding of packets across 880,000 route miles of fiber, carrying an average 18.7 petabytes a day. It will also include the packet core for managing LTE traffic in future.
There was no breakdown of which products each supplier might provide, though Alcatel-Lucent, which already has many routers in the AT&T networks, is expected to span all the areas. Its 7750 Service Router is the product best equipped to span all AT&T's key access systems, and could be used as a multiservice router for wireline and wireless backhaul, for the U-Verse IPTV infrastructure, and to support gateways and packet core for LTE. ALU can also go fully end-to-end in LTE, as it was already selected, along with Ericsson, for the 4G access network.
Reports indicated that Juniper was likely to major on IP, MPLS and Ethernet, and Cisco on Ethernet and the packet core (where it acquired specialist Starent last year in order to cover all the core network bases). Cisco routers are also prevalent in AT&T's current networks but its packet core is separated from that architecture, while Juniper and ALU have built their packet cores on top of their IP router platforms.
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