Nokia’s Ultrafast Routers Tackle Rising Bandwidth Challenge

Nokia says its next generation networking equipment will help futureproof internet infrastructure as it copes with ever growing amounts of traffic created by applications such as the Interner of Things (IoT).

The new routing platforms are powered by proprietary silicon (FP4 silicon), which Nokia claims make it six times more powerful than any other network processors currently available.

Indeed, Nokia says the new routers offer the “industry’s highest density and petabit-class performance.”

Next Gen Internet

It points to the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence/automation, which will drive immersive communications in the years to come. But these trends will place increasingly taxing demands on existing network kit.

It cited a Nokia Bell Labs forecast that IP traffic will more than double in the next five years, reaching 330 exabytes a month by 2022 while growing at 25 percent compound annual growth rates.This challenge will require a re-think of the internet infrastructure.

“The internet platform is set to fully subsume HD on-demand video while simultaneously expanding with connectivity to billions of new devices,” said Basil Alwan, president of the ION Business Group at Nokia.

“Stepping forward demands an immense performance increase, vastly improved insight and security and, of course, compelling economics. With today’s announcement, we are delivering the technology advances needed to support this evolution. The end game is all-important: an evolved global nervous system for society and certainly the most capable, cost-effective, resilient and secure infrastructure ever built.”

So what exactly is Nokia offering?

Well the Nokia 7750 Service Router (SR)-s series is claimed to provide the industry’s highest-density routing platform that can support a 144 Tbps configuration in a single shelf.

In addition, Nokia is also offering a petabit-class router, the new Nokia 7950 Extensible Routing System (XRS)-XC, which it says is the world’s highest-capacity router to date.

It scales to 576 Tbps in a single system through chassis extension, without requiring separate switching shelves.

Fastest Router

“The new Nokia platforms are the industry’s first capable of delivering terabit IP flows, a 10x improvement over the existing 100 Gbps links used to construct the internet backbone,” the firm said.

Meanwhile Nokia has thrown in visibility, control, telemetry and security into its new FP4-based routing platforms. Indeed the FP4 comes embedded with enhanced packet intelligence and control technology, which when combined with Nokia’s Deepfield IP network analytics solution and SDN portfolio – maximizes efficiency and minimises security threats.

The FP4 silicon is being touted as a breakthrough networking chipset, as it features the world’s first 2.4 Tbps network processor – up to 6x more powerful than processors currently available.

Nokia said it will start shipping t in Q4 2017.

Nokia of course used to be the world’s largest mobile phone maker. However it sold its handset business to Microsoft for £4.6 billion in 2013, although it has retained significant intellectual property. It now focuses on networks and advanced technology following a further sale of its mapping business.

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