GSR, 7600, Juniper M?, oh my!

Tue Jan 6 18:11:25 UTC 2004

Hello all,

    I'm faced with a difficult decision.  I work for a large multi-node
regional ISP (and Cisco shop).  In our largest nodes we've found the Cisco
7500 series routers to be at the end of their useful life due to the
throughput generated by POS OC-3 feeds and 10,000+ broadband users whose
traffic needs to be moved out of the node.  Short of building a farm of
7500's the need to upgrade seems clear.

    But where to go?  The Cisco GSR platform seems a logical choice, but
their new 7600 series units are attractive for their cost.  Juniper may also
have a place at this end of the processing spectrum.  I'd also like to
ensure that the new platform supports doing CAR and ACLs at line rate, given
the client base.

    I wanted to see what other operators in this situation have done, so I
would appreciate anyone's input or insight into the pros and cons of these
platforms or any other ideas as to how I can grow beyond the Cisco 7500.