Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) recent 100 Gbps deployments in both Europe and on select U.S. routes may have been gaining all of the attention, but AT&T (NYSE: T) and Comcast maintain they are on the same 100 Gbps path.
Their 100 Gbps intentions were revealed today in a press release issued by Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), which has announced new packet-transport capabilities for its CRS-3 platform.
Of course, the only missing link is that neither AT&T nor Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) would address where where they are actually deploying 100 Gbps and what the length of the network routes are.
AT&T, for its part, was one of the service providers to trial Cisco's CRS-3 routing platform last March during which it demonstrated a single-flow 100-Gigabit Ethernet backbone link operating at the IP layer.
John Donovan, AT&T's CTO said that they have "worked with Cisco on a successful standards-based 100 gigabit (100 G) deployment in a live production network," but the service provider would not elaborate on where or on how many routes it would deploy the technology.
Comcast, while slightly more forthcoming about its 100 Gbps plans, would only say that their "backbone and metro networks are 100G production ready today with live 100G optics carrying customer traffic."
As for Cisco, the networking giant is introducing a new packet-transport capability for the CRS-3 platform via a new network blade without having to purchase another standalone platform.
Ray Mota, managing partner, ACG Research, said that having the packet optical "functionality in a single platform is very attractive to service providers, as it helps lower the total cost of ownership for capex by 44%, reduces complexity and accelerates service velocity."
For more:
- see the release
Related articles:
AT&T conducts 100 GigE dress rehearsal
Verizon lights up 100 Gbps on parts of its U.S. network
Verizon lights up European long-haul 100 Gbps backbone link