Alcatel-Lucent wins new router customers
Alcatel-Lucent is winning share in the core router market, which has historically been dominated by Cisco, Juniper and Huawei. CenturyLink has chosen Alcatel-Lucent as its core router vendor, and China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom will all deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s routers in their IP networks as well.
In China, the Alcatel-Lucent 7950 XRS was chosen through a central bidding process for IP core routers. China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless carrier, chose Alcatel-Lucent’s router as part of its high-performance Ethernet router central bid. China Telecom’s central bid resulted in the selection of the 7950 XRS router in two of five areas up for bid: The Jiangsu province and Shanghai city. China Unicom chose Alcatel-Lucent as its sole supplier in its all-Ethernet core router central bid.
Here in the U.S., CenturyLink will deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s 7950 XRS core routers in its IP network. CenturyLink has recently introduced 1 gigabit broadband service in 16 U.S. cities, and says it is the nation’s third-largest telecom company after AT&T and Verizon. The company also offers voice and data solutions, managed IT services, colocation, managed hosting and private and public cloud offerings.
Core routers direct data traffic at the heart of an IP network, and while some operators are working to move the core routing function to software, the hardware remains vital to the network. CenturyLink said today that Alcatel-Lucent’s 7950 XRS router can forward 16 terabits of data per second while consuming only 1 watt per gigabit switching capacity.
“This deployment further validates The Shift Plan Alcatel-Lucent created and our focus on IP Networking as one of the key areas of specialization,” said Charles Marsh, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Americas region, in a statement. The Shift Plan, announced 16 months ago, is Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michael Combes’ plan to transform the company from a telecommunications generalist into an IP networking and broadband access specialist.
Ericsson partners with TIBCO for OSS/BSS
Ericsson said today that TIBCO middleware will be part of the company’s OSS/BSS (operations support systems, business support systems), as well as its consulting and systems integration services. The Swedish telecom equipment giant said that TIBCO software will complement its own OSS/BSS portfolio, and that by partnering with other vendors it can offer a more complete solution.
TIBCO is a Silicon Valley software company that specializes in real-time data management, analytics and event processing. The company already works with Ericsson and its systems integrators on projects around the world. TIBCO, a public company, recently agreed to be acquired by a private equity firm called Vista Equity Partners.
Image source: CNN
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