UPDATE -- Cisco Accelerates Growth for Service Providers with New Silicon and Software for the 5G and Multicloud Era

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the world continues to embrace the reality of 5G and multicloud, service providers are experiencing disruptive growth and change that require new approaches to more efficiently build and cost-effectively manage critical IP networking infrastructure.

5G connections are expected to explode from 2.3 million in 2020 to more than 25 million in 2021 -- more than 1000-percent growth¹. Multicloud services are accelerating, driven by shifts in content, compute and cloud requirements. Nearly 850 zettabytes of data will be generated by all people, machines and things by 2021, up from 220 ZB in 2016².

How IP networks are architected and built through these transitions is critical for sustaining service provider profitability during this period of explosive traffic growth.

Enter Cisco
Cisco is focused on creating networks that anticipate and respond to customer needs and shifting market conditions in real time, based on closed-loop automation and advanced analytics capabilities.

Today the company is unveiling continued innovation for its flagship service provider edge routing platform to support its customers business transitions, offering more flexibility with new licensing models to purchase capacity on demand.

Cisco ASR 9000: Better, Stronger, Faster
In the past ten years, more than 4500 service provider, enterprise and public sector customers around the world have relied on the Cisco ASR 9000 edge routing platform to manage and deliver billions of connections over their networks.

Now the same edge routing platform thousands have grown to know and trust can carry them into the 5G and multicloud era with new automation software, a new networking processor powering high-density 100GE line cards to boost network performance, and enhancements to the IOS XR network operating system.

Continued Investment Protection with IOS XR Software Flexible Consumption Model
Service providers are building their IP infrastructures with end-to-end architecture evolution in mind to support multiple revenue-generating services, as well as preparing for inevitable shifts in traffic. To support these goals, Cisco is now offering network-wide pay-as-you-grow license pooling, allowing ports on the new-generation line cards to be activated on-demand, within deployed or new ASR 9000 chassis.

Customers no longer have to forecast capacity and purchase licenses on a site-by-site basis. Licenses can be dynamically allocated as across global networks, optimizing capex spend and simplifying capacity planning with a full network view.

Primed for Automation to Reduce Operational Expenditures
Powered by Cisco IOS XR software, the ASR 9000 is automation ready. Service providers can now take advantage of the Cisco Crosswork Network Automation portfolio, the industrys most comprehensive closed-loop, mass-scale automation solution that embraces multi-vendor networks. Architecture plus automation now primes Cisco customers for the most optimal cost footprint with operational agility.

With these advancements to the Cisco ASR platform, we are simplifying, automating and converging our networking technology for the 5G and multicloud era, said Sumeet Arora, senior vice president of engineering, Service Provider Network Systems, Cisco. We are committed to helping our customers deliver better experiences for their customers, enabling them to optimize the capex spend with an easy roadmap for network planning purchasing and optimization.

Cisco is leading the disruption in the industry with its technology innovations in systems, silicon, optics, and security, and its unrivalled expertise in mass-scale networking, automation, optical, cable access, and mobility. Together with our portfolio of professional services, we enable service providers, media, and web companies to reduce cost and complexity, secure their networks, and grow revenue. 

Supporting resources

• Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers
• Sumeet Arora Blog: Cisco ASR 9000 Reloaded For Mass Scale Networking
• Video: Cisco ASR 9000: The 4th Generation is Better than Ever on TechWiseTV
• For more information about Cisco service provider news and activities, visit the SP360 blog or follow us on Twitter @CiscoSP360
• Follow us on our LinkedIn page for targeted updates and announcements
• Subscribe to Cisco's SP360 feed

RSS feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/rss-feeds

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader that has been making the Internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrows digital opportunity today. Discover more at newsroom.cisco.com and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.

Press contact
Sara Cicero stutzes@cisco.com

____________________

¹ Cisco VNI Mobile Forecast, 2016-2021

² Cisco Global Cloud Index: Forecast and Methodology, 20162021