Cisco Unveils Plan for Building Internet for the Next Decade of Digital Innovation

Announces �Internet for the Future’ Strategy and the Industry’s Most Ambitious Silicon Architecture

 

News Summary:

• Cisco
  shares further details behind its ‘Internet for the Future’ technology strategy
  based on development investments in Silicon+Optics+Software
• Cisco Silicon One^TM,
  a first-ever single, unified silicon architecture that can serve anywhere in
  the network and be used in any form factor. 
• New Cisco 8000 Series, the
  first platform built with Silicon One and new IOS XR7 operating system.
• Cisco 8000 Series set to reduce
  cost of building and operating mass scale networks to run digital applications
  and services such as 5G, video and cloud.
• New flexible business model
  options that enable customers to consume new innovation in new ways that best
  fit their business needs.  
• AT&T,
  Century Link, Comcast, Facebook, Microsoft and The Walt Disney Studios share
  insights on joint innovation and the needs of the next Internet

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., - Media
OutReach - 12
December 2019 – Cisco
today unveiled further details behind its technology strategy for building a
new internet — one designed to push digital innovation beyond the performance,
economic and power consumption limitations of current infrastructure. A
multi-year approach that is defining the Internet for decades to come, Cisco’s
strategy is already delivering technology breakthroughs to pave the way for the
world’s developers to create applications and services they have only begun to
imagine.

Cisco introduced its latest innovation including Cisco
Silicon One^TM, the industry’s only networking silicon architecture
of its kind; released the new Cisco 8000 Series, the world’s most powerful
carrier class routers built on the new silicon; and announced new purchasing
options that enable customers to consume the company’s technology through
disaggregated business models.

“Innovation requires focused investment, the right team and a
culture that values imagination,” said Chuck Robbins, chairman and CEO of
Cisco. “We are dedicated to transforming the industry to build a new
internet for the 5G era. Our latest solutions in silicon, optics and software
represent the continued innovation we’re driving that helps our customers stay
ahead of the curve and create new, ground-breaking experiences for their
customers and end users for decades to come.”

Building Blocks for the Internet for the Future

Over the next decade, digital experiences will be created
with advanced technologies — virtual and augmented reality, 16K streaming, AI,
5G, 10G, quantum computing, adaptive and predictive cybersecurity, intelligent
IOT, and others not yet invented. These future generations of applications will
drive complexity beyond the capabilities current internet infrastructure can
viably support.   

For the past five years, Cisco has driven a technology
strategy that is building the internet our customers will need for the future
success of their business in an advanced digital world. Aimed at solving the
toughest problems that will emerge as digital transformation taxes current
infrastructure to its breaking point, this strategy will lead to the
next-generation of internet infrastructure that combines Cisco’s new silicon
architecture with its next-generation of optics. Cisco’s strategy will change the
economics behind how the internet will be built to support the demands of
future, digital applications and will enable customers to operate their
businesses with simpler, more cost-effective networks. 

 

Cisco’s strategy is based on development and investments
in three key technology areas: silicon, optics and software. 

 

“Pushing the
boundaries of innovation to the next level — far beyond what we experience
today — is critical for the future and we believe silicon, optics and software
are the technology levers that will deliver this outcome,” said David
Goeckeler, executive vice president and general manager of the Networking and
Security Business at Cisco. “Cisco’s technology strategy is not about the
next-generation of a single product area. We have spent the past several years
investing in whole categories of independent technologies that we believe will
converge in the future — and ultimately will allow us to solve the hardest
problems on the verge of eroding the advancement of digital innovation. This
strategy is delivering the most ambitious development project the company has
ever achieved.”

 

Introducing
Cisco Silicon One — Breakthrough Unified, Programmable Silicon Architecture

The
new Cisco Silicon One will be the foundation of Cisco’s routing portfolio going
forward, with expected near-term performance availability up to 25 Terabits per
second (Tbps). This is the industry’s first networking chip designed to be
universally adaptable across service provider and web-scale markets. Designed
for both fixed and modular platforms, it can manage the most challenging
requirements in a way that’s never been done before. The first Cisco Silicon
One ‘Q100’ model surpasses the 10 Tbps routing milestone for network bandwidth
without sacrificing programmability, buffering, power efficiency, scale or
feature flexibility.

 

Traditionally,
multiple types of silicon with different capabilities are used across a network
and even within a single device. Developing new features and testing can be
lengthy and expensive. Unified and programmable silicon will allow for network
operators to greatly reduce costs of operations and reduce time-to-value for
new services.

“We look forward to working with Cisco as it enters
the high-end routing silicon space, collaborating to help meet the next
generation of network demands for higher speeds and greater capacity,” said
Amin Vahdat, fellow and vice president of Systems Infrastructure, Google Cloud.

“Facebook has been a strong advocate for network
disaggregation and open ecosystems, launching key industry initiatives such as
the Open Compute Project and the Telecom Infrastructure Project to transform
the networking industry,” said Najam Ahmad, vice president, Network Engineering
at Facebook. “Cisco’s new Silicon One architecture is aligned with this vision,
and we believe this model offers network operators diverse and flexible options
through a disaggregated approach.”

 

“Cisco is changing the
economics of powering the Internet, innovating across hardware, software,
optics and silicon to help its customers better manage the operational costs to
function on a larger scale for the next phase of the Internet,” said Ray Mota,
CEO and principal analyst at ACG Research. “As we move to 2020, the timing of
delivering operational efficiency will be vital.”

 

Introducing: Cisco 8000 Series Platform Powered by Cisco Silicon
One– Industry Leading Performance

The
new Cisco 8000 series is the first platform built with Cisco Silicon One Q100.
It is engineered to help service providers and web-scale companies reduce the
costs of building and operating mass-scale networks for the 5G, AI and IOT era.
Standout features include:

• Optimized
  for 400 Gbps and beyond, starting at 10.8 Tbps in just a single rack unit
• Powered
  by the new, cloud-enhanced Cisco IOS XR7 networking operating system software,
  designed to simplify operations and lower operational costs
• Offers
  enhanced cybersecurity with integrated trust technology for real-time insights
  into the trustworthiness of your critical infrastructure
• Service providers
  gain more bandwidth scale and programmability to deliver Tbps in even the most
  power and space constrained network locations

Global Customer Deployments and
Trials

Cisco is working with a group of pioneering customers on deployments and
trials of the Cisco 8000 Series. STC, the leading telecom services provider in
the Middle East, Northern Africa region, marks the first customer deploying the
new technology. Ongoing trials include Comcast and NTTCom among others.

 

Optics for 400G and Beyond

Building a new internet that can support future digital innovation will
depend on continued breakthroughs in silicon and optics technologies. Cisco is
unique in the industry with advanced intellectual property in both areas.

As
port rates increase from 100G to 400G and beyond, optics become an increasingly
larger portion of the cost to build and operate internet infrastructure. Cisco
is investing organically to assure our customers that as router and switch port
rates continue to increase, optics will be designed to meet the industry’s
stringent reliability and quality standards.

 

Through
the company’s qualification program, Cisco will test its optics to comply with
industry standards and operate in Cisco — and non-Cisco hosts. With this
program, customers can utilize Cisco optics in applications where non-Cisco
hosts have been deployed and have confidence that the optics will meet the
reliability and quality standards that they have come to expect from
Cisco.  

 

In
addition, as silicon and silicon photonics advance, functions that were
traditionally delivered in separate chassis-based solutions will soon be
available in pluggable form factors. This transition has significant potential
benefits for network operators in terms of operational simplicity. Cisco
is investing in silicon photonics technologies to effect architectural
transitions in datacenter networks and service provider networks that will
drive down cost, reduce power and space, and simplify network operations.

 

Changing the Economics of the Internet with Flexible Business
Models

Cisco
also announced plans to
offer flexible consumption models first established with Cisco’s Optics
portfolio, followed by the disaggregation of the Cisco IOS-XR software, and now
including Cisco Silicon One. This new model is highly adaptable and offers
customers choice of components, white box, or integrated systems to build their
networks. This approach matches the evolving nature of operators selecting
discrete or aggregated technology elements for their buildout and creates new
economics of the Internet to provide significant business value. 

 

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Some of the offerings and features described above remain in
varying stages of development and will be offered on a when-and-if-available
basis.  Any such items are subject to change at the sole discretion of
Cisco, and Cisco will have no liability for delay in the delivery or failure to
deliver any of the offerings or features set forth in this document.