Verizon to deploy Juniper Networks PTX Series in US and Europe

Verizon (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) and Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) have jointly revealed that the international carrier plans to deploy the Juniper Networks PTX Series in its U.S. and European networks by the end of this year.

The deployment announcement follows revelations last week at TIA 2012: Inside the Network that Verizon plans to converge its four packet networks onto a common MPLS-based 100-Gbps backbone (see “Verizon begins backbone convergence”). Verizon Executive Vice President and CTO Tony Melone said at the show that Juniper Networks would have a major role to play.

“In a world where customer needs and speeds are steadily increasing, Verizon will be able to improve the scalability and efficiency of its core MPLS network by employing the industry-leading switch density of the Juniper Networks PTX,” said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global IP and transport planning and technology for Verizon. “The PTX provides significant packet processing power, system scale and reduced power consumption – all of which will help Verizon meet its future needs.”

The deployment is a major win for Juniper Networks’ PTX Series, which the company unveiled at OFC/NFOEC in 2011 (see “PTX Series Packet Transport Switch starts Juniper Networks down packet-optical transport path”). In the context of a general trend towards IP/optical convergence, the fact that Verizon would install a label switch router in its network, which uses so much Optical Transport Network (OTN) technology, will undoubtedly give Juniper a significant boost in marketing the PTX platform.

"Verizon’s reputation as a pioneer in advanced communications and entertainment services was clearly demonstrated in 2010 when the company became the first service provider to commercially deploy 100G Ethernet,” said Stefan Dyckerhoff, executive vice president and general manager for Juniper Networks Platform Systems Division. “Today, Verizon makes another landmark decision by selecting the PTX Series, the industry’s first converged packet transport switch, to advance its network core and provide future-ready scalability while dramatically simplifying its infrastructure overhead.”

Verizon will initially deploy the PTX5000, which delivers 8 Tbps of capacity, with plans to move toward higher capacity as needs warrant. The PTX Series currently has a top capacity of 16 Tbps. Verizon collaborated with Juniper Networks to advance the Junos Express chipset on which the PTX is based to lower power, increase performance, and reduce cost, the companies say.

“Service providers face significant operational challenges as packet data traffic volume across global wireline and broadband wireless networks is forecast to increase seven-fold by 2015, driven by significant increases in Internet, IP data, video, over the top traffic, content distribution networks and mobile data traffic," said Nav Chander, research manager, enterprise telecom at IDC. “Verizon’s decision to deploy a next-generation packet optimized core transport solution helps Verizon better prepare and manage this network growth for the diverse packet data applications across its global network infrastructure and portfolio of wireless and wireline services.”

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