Juniper targets backhaul router market
Converges mobile, residential and enterprise access over a single routing platform, cutting out some backhaul links
Published: 8 February, 2012
READ MORE: Juniper Networks | Broadband | Infrastructure | Backhaul
The service provider edge router market is set to grow by 56% over the next five years, according to forecasts by Dell'Oro Group, as operators upgrade their IP data networks, and a key source of this growth is mobile backhaul. Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and many others are chasing the opportunity, but this week saw Juniper showcasing its latest products.
"Routers are the best technology for aggregating, transporting and parsing large volumes of traffic, and we expect network operators to increasingly upgrade backhaul networks with routers to support superfast mobile services based on LTE and HSPA+ technologies," said Shin Umeda, VP of router research at Dell'Oro. "North America has been the hot market for mobile backhaul over the past 18 months, but we expect the trend to expand globally over the next five years."
With such trends in mind, Juniper unveiled its new ACX access routers at the MPLS and Ethernet World Congress in Paris. It claims these are the only access boxes suitable for mobile backhaul, which integrate synchronization technology, allowing cellcos to backhaul their voice traffic reliably over packet connections with the same quality of service as over traditional TDM. Juniper has incorporated the main synchronization techniques, 1588v2 and SyncE, which it gained by acquiring Brilliant Telecommunications last year for $4.5m.
The router has up to 60Gbps of capacity and can manage 10Gbps links, and is managed by the vendor's Junos network operating system. It has the same architecture as the MX metro routers, allowing operators to extend their MPLS network right to the cell site, in effect doing away with the dedicated backhaul connection, reducing cost and boosting efficiency. The devices are not just about mobile, but about running wired and wireless access over a single platform.
They converge usually separate access points for mobile, residential and enterprise networks onto a single router platform to support universal services and lower cost of ownership. The routers come in five configurations for mobile 2G/3G and LTE backhaul, business Ethernet and residential services. Four are 1RU and the fifth is a modular unit. Their main competitors will be the Cisco MWR family of mobile backhaul routers and Alcatel-Lucent's 7705 line.
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