So I figure a summary is an order, with a whole array of choices pitched so far... - Sup720-3BXL works for light-duty premium ISP services, decent CPU for BGP and an Ethernet hardware throughput monster. Decent enough for our deployment scenario at least. No obvious solution for the FlexWAN/OC3 but could easily be re-integrated with a stronger MSFC CPU to back it up, assuming the IOS-of-the-week doesn't have issues. The pesky OC3 could be pawned off to a dedicated G1/G2 router too along with any oddball <=OC3 stuff our sales guys dream up. - RSP720-3CXL is the best of all worlds option, if we had double the budget to work with. Meh. - ASR1002 is a hardware-assisted overhaul to the 7200/G2. Telco interface options are much better than 7200s, good for OC12s and OC48s. Using GoogleFu product pricing... a ASR1002 router with a SPA OC3, 5Gbps ESP, and base software runs in the $28-30k range + SmartNet. Beware the modular licensing model in addition to IOS editions. Maybe a bit early yet as a core router as some of the software is still getting bugs ironed out. - Vyatta was proposed as an alternative system, probably best architected out of the mainstream traffic flows (no hardware forwarding), say a BGP route reflector or GBE edge router, similar argument to a 7200/G[1|2]. I can't say I'm familiar with the software, but the cost savings of premium x86/x64 hardware and 8x PCI-x serving a few 10GBE interfaces + built-in GBEs is intriguing, especially paired against our budget and relative Cisco costs. A spec'd out 1U Dell box with dual power, 8x cores, 4GB, RAID1 SATA, and 2x 10GBE XFP+2x GBE built-in came in under $7k with CPU headroom to burn. Vyatta doesn't support ISIS though, best I can tell, but may not have to... Maybe yet-another Linux router distro doomed to fail? Worth a lab test internally on some demo hardware. - Mixed thoughts about 7304 hardware. Hardware forwarding quality vs. software and interface selection. - Lots of fans for the 12000 series. Stick with the E3 (~2.5Gbps) and E5 (~10Gbps) line cards for compatibility with XR software and best line card performance. Our team liked the variety of SONET options available too for our central office deployments, even though the systems are power and space hungry. ...and if you can afford them (the 12008/GRP-B being the relative exception). - 7200/G2s are great for <1Gbps throughput. Premium services cut into the performance dramatically, being a fully software-based forwarding platform. Don't bond interfaces looking for more throughput, architecture limitations actually decrease throughput. - Juniper MX series? A budget wildcard but indeed a worthy platform engineering-wise. You could break this list into "routers" and "switches", which in itself spurs the philosophical/pragmatic architecture discussion that got us the impasse to start with. Many thanks to all who've responded with real-life successes, battle wounds, and horror stories. All very helpful. -Dave