Re: Speed Vs Stability
I'm not a tin shifter either, so a core router increasingly.. isn't. But then AT&T's paper isn't about just 'core' routers. It's about turning 100,000 routers into something cheaper, flexible and manageable. But assume a classical 'P' router in an MPLS world, that's mostly a transit router. I mean switch. Well, it could be a switch if certain vendors let you slap SP code onto their switches.. And switches can switch fast, and support things like SPB/PBB(TE), and so does the real core, ie the transmission layer. Internet, IPVPNs, MPLS VPNs, P2P or P2MP are just service instances on the transport infrastructure.
But having a simplified services architecture makes it easier to use the automation tools, and the orchestration. But I'd agree with the challenge of making network engineers think like network engineers, rather than an extended vendor salesforce. Real engineers should also understand what's happening in the packet/frame transport world and be vendor agnostic. Then you avoid things like selling EoMPLS delivered over a 'router' infrastructure that's connected via GFP-capabable packet/frame switches.. So one element is largely redundant, and expensive.
(and of course being able to ditch 100,000 routers would save a bunch of space/heat/power as well as the OAM costs)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
