A s service providers move to-wards next-generation, IP-based services and offer converged voice, data, and video services on a single network independent of the fact whether access media is wireline or wireless, the routing technology would play a key role in helping them deliver the services. Even if a carrier is not really delivering converged services, the fact that network traffic is growing at an hitherto unknown pace and volume will make it imperative for them to go for solutions that are not only capable of handling existing volumes but also efficiently take on sudden surges in network traffic. Telecom services business is gradually entering a phase (in many cases it already has) where competitive pressures would lead to moves that defy all business sense.

Therefore, the network must perform beyond expectations. To achieve these, service providers must deploy routers that are intelligent and dynamic with built-in resilience and security for seamless service delivery.

Tips
Multiple services: It's all too obvious now that any service provider who has survived competition and retained or gained new customers must offer multiple services-voice, data, and video. Moreover, it must be ready to deliver both customized and what can be termed as 'on-demand' services, which may include many other services besides plain bandwidth. Multiple service delivery demands that not only should the router be capable of handling all kinds of traffic, it must also be robust enough to handle huge and sometimes sudden traffic growths. Any router that a service provider decides to deploy must be able to do all this efficiently.

Scalability: Scalability has become a mundane issue as it has to be addressed on an on-going basis, hence the issue is mundane as well as dynamic. What it means is that there are a growing number of services and an increasing amount of traffic that a service provider must be ready to scale all the time. What this also means is that scalability must come both in terms of capacity expansion as well as addition of new features or software upgrades. In other words, if a service provider buys a router today, it must have enough room for capacity expansion and upgradation without new, pocket-pinching, capital expenditure.

Security: Some recent developments have suggested that routers from most of the leading vendors may be vulnerable to security threats. Incidents like denial-of-service attacks can disrupt service providers' networks. It would therefore be imperative for the service providers to focus on security flaws and look for reliable attack-hacking protection solutions in their routers.

Features: It is not only important that the router supports as many features as possible, it must also boast of those features that really help in adding value to the services. Some features that should be looked at are: L3 VPNs, L2 VPNs (Ethernet over MPLS, frame relay over MPLS, ATM over MPLS, PPP over MPLS, HDLC over MPLS, VPLS, IPSec encryption, QoS, and customer self-provisioning.

IPv6: Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the next-generation communications protocol for the Internet. IPv6 is designed to fix the shortcomings of IPv4, such as data security and maximum number of user addresses that are possible. It's the next level in the growth of Internet. A service provider's router must be ready for transition to IPv6.

Stability and performance: Service providers have to provide high reliability to their enterprise customers running mission-critical applications. The objective of any service provider should be to provide uninterrupted service and performance for different applications. As most of the products are modular in nature: if one component fails, rest of the system is not affected. In addition, the various fail over mechanisms helps in restarting of all the protocols and applications.

The router should be able to handle unstable network conditions such as sudden surges in bandwidth usage and routes bottlenecks. Nowadays, routers that separate the routing and forwarding functionality are in demand as they reduce the risk of downtimes.

Per-port revenue: Traditionally, port density has been a key evaluating factor for platforms. However, with the wide variety of applications that are now possible on today's networks, the importance of revenue per port has also emerged as a crucial criterion. Per-port revenue is related to the range of value-added services that can be offered to enterprise customers.

Reliability: With telecom infrastructure improving, service providers are focusing on providing a high reliability network. If the network is reliable, service providers can focus on providing better SLAs to enterprise customers thereby providing professional-grade services. So, routers that are more reliable can definitely help in generating more revenue for service providers and also keep the enterprise customer happy. One has to opt for a vendor who can provide end-to-end quality of service.

Service and support: An important aspect that should not be overlooked is the after-sales support provided by a vendor. One has to see what kind of support infrastructure a vendor is offering-right from the help desk to onsite support.

Deployment Trends
IP and MPLS continue to permeate data networks as service providers plan increasing investments in those technologies, says Infonetics Research in its latest market research study, 'Service provider plans for IP, MPLS, and ATM 2004'. After a single-digit decline in 2003 and a return to growth in 2004, worldwide service provider router and switch revenue will reach $8.4 billion in 2007, up from $4.8 billion in 2003.

Growth in the service-provider router and switch market is being fueled by a more positive capex environment combined with a flurry of projects initiated by carriers around the world, including data network convergence, broadband network transformation, broadening the base of private IP-VPN offerings, and ramping up IP-MPLS build-outs.

The world of routers entered a new era in the past year with the launch of Cisco's CRS-1 carrier routing system. CRS-1 has a system capacity of up to 92 terabits per second (Tbps). The Guinness Book of World Records has certified CRS-1 as the highest capacity Internet router ever developed and is designed to afford up to 100 times more capacity than previously available. Because of the its huge capacity, the router is still to find many takers in the enterprise space-CRS-1 is finding good traction among broadband and multimedia service providers and large research organizations. Softbank BB (providers of Yahoo! BB), the National Institute of Informatics' SuperSinet research network in Japan, as well as the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center have chosen the Cisco CRS-1 as a key component for building out their IP network infrastructures. These customers, along with trials at Telecom Italia, are in addition to 14 other major global service providers that are in various stages of trials with CRS-1.

Cisco's main competitor Juniper is recognized as almost equal to Cisco in terms of product performance and quality. Juniper's routers are rated highly in terms of reliablility and performance in the telecom service provider market, where is has a leading presence. One of the recent deployments of Juniper is that of Red Electrica Telecomunicaciones (RET), a data solutions and broadband services provider in Spain, operating under the brand name Albura, which has deployed the E-series edge routing platform in its broadband networks. Guangdong Telecom, China's largest broadband service provider, has also expanded its edge connectivity with the E-series edge routing platform.

Huawei Technologies of China is a rising star in the global router market. It has now significant market share in the router market. The company almost shocked competitors recently when pan-European business service provider Colt Telecom Group announced that it would be deploying the Chinese vendor's Quidway AR2809 and AR2831 enterprise routers for its managed Internet access and IP VPN services.