Nov. 11--Cisco today is unveiling a new router designed to help telecommunications carriers like AT&T and Verizon bring more Web video faster to consumers' cell phones and computers.

Capable of transmitting data at a rate of 6.4 trillion bits per second, the ASR 9000 router has 10 times the bandwidth capacity of Cisco's ASR 1000 router, Cisco said.

"We truly believe consumer IP traffic will more than quadruple by 2012," said Pankaj Patel, a senior vice president who manages Cisco's relationships with carriers. He said the new router is capable of delivering 200 movies per second or 250,000 MP3s per second.

"If each bit were a drop of water, you'd be looking at a machine that could sustain a flow of 20 Niagara Falls passing through it every second," he said.

The explosion of online video in recent years has created concern that it will overwhelm the Internet. Increasingly, major entertainment studios and television networks are opening their catalogs for viewing over the Web with full-length episodes of everything from "Arrested Development" to "Saturday Night Live" available anytime and anywhere a state-of-the-art mobile device -- like the iPhone -- can find an Internet connection.

Cisco estimates the amount of video traffic on the Web last year in the United States was eight times greater than all the traffic on the Web in 2000.

The onslaught of bits is already causing some Internet Service Providers such as Comcast

to propose limiting the amount of bandwidth customers can use even at the risk of angering some of them.

As an alternative, Cisco is hoping the carriers will choose to upgrade their networks with the ASR 9000 and other Cisco products.

Glen Hunt, an analyst with Current Analysis, said Cisco's new router, which will cost carriers a minimum of $80,000, is priced competitively.

The ASR 9000, which is called an edge router, is installed close to consumers' homes and businesses. ASR stands for aggregation services router. This model took Cisco engineers four years and $200 million to develop. It is designed to work with an even more powerful Cisco router known as the CRS-1, a core router at the center of the network that can transmit up to 92 trillion bits per second.

When Cisco first introduced the CRS-1 in 2004, some analysts said the machines -- which weighed 2,300 pounds and stood 7 feet tall -- far outstripped what customers actually needed. They predicted that the San Jose company wouldn't sell more than 50 machines. Pankaj said Cisco is now selling close to 50 high-end routers a week.

"The CRS-1 gave Cisco a performance edge and enabled them to retain and recapture a lot of share," Hunt said.

Last year, about 24 percent of Cisco's net sales of $39 billion came from router sales.

Ray Mota, chief strategy officer of Synergy Research Group, said the ASR 9000 will fill a gap in Cisco's product portfolio and should help the San Jose company maintain its market share. Cisco competes against Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper Networks in the sale of edge routers.

Mota said Cisco controls about 59 percent of the market compared with 15 percent for Alcatel-Lucent and 14 percent for Juniper.

Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or (408) 271-3774.

CISCO"S NEW ROUTER

The new ASR 9000 router can transmit up to 6.4 terabits per second. How much data is that? 500,000 books 250,000 MP3s 200 movies

Source: Cisco Systems

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