Core Router Vendors Vie for Space on AT&T Network

By: Erik Kreifeldt

While new AT&T customer @Home network closes in on the selection of its core router vendor, Cisco Systems has pronounced that it is courting AT&T with an Internet protocol (IP) platform that includes its core routers.

In a deal heralded as a major win for AT&T, the carrier is supplying @Home with two 2.5 Gbps DWDM channels for the backbone of @Home's Internet protocol network (see Ma Bell Bites Back: AT&T Wins @Home Optical Backbone Deal).

With a backbone secured, @Home is closing in on a supplier of core routers with 2.5 Gbps interfaces. "You basically have two players," says @Home spokesman Matt Wolfrom, citing Cisco and Juniper. Wolfrom suggests that @Home is concerned at least as much about router software than it is hardware, and Juniper pitches its software prowess as a key differentiator of its product.

Cisco, meanwhile, has teamed up with General Instrument Corp. to propose an end-to-end IP network architecture for AT&T. The proposed architecture would enable AT&T to deliver voice, data, and video services over the hybrid fiber-coax network being deployed by AT&T and TCI, the vendors say, adding that separate networks traditionally do the job.

Cisco and GI's proposed backbone includes the Cisco 12000 Gigabit Switch Router (GSR), a backbone router with optical interfaces capable of connecting directly to DWDM systems with 2.5 Gbps interfaces. Cisco would also supply access routers and voice-over-IP gateways, plus network management technology with the help of additional partners. GI gear is slated for the customer premise.

AT&T, Cisco, and GI plan to conduct a market trial in late 1999, according to the vendors, with commercial availability slated for next year.