this bigger, faster, better generation of routers look like? If fast packet services and co-location on a LAN milking machine won't cut it, then what's the thinking as to what *is* needed to do the job?
There are three ways to approach this question. (1) Bet on ATM. If ATM succeeds, we will be able to buy an arbitrary sized pipe into a network about whose nature and extent we know and care naught, and we will be able to send packets to any destination in the universe without paying special attention to the instantaneous measured bandwidth or delay. (2) Imagine a router that used a backplane sort of like the one in the GIGA switches only on a larger scale; the goal is to come up with a router the size of a 5ESS with similar capacity (and which is installable and maintainable by telco knuckledraggers). Get Bellcore or some other consortia-based lab with near-infinitely deep pockets to invest a near-infinite amount of money building it. Wait for the telcos who own worldwide fibre plants to buy 'em. (3) Sign an NDA and get Vadim to tell you what he's up to at Ncubed.