The fact remains that a ping packet stream a Linux 386SX would barely notice maxes out a 7010 (far more powerful CPU)
Bzzzt. That's a 30Mhz 68040 you're talking about. You're 386SX is on par if not ahead. And you might recall that it's handled at process level, whereas Linux does it at kernel level (or at least other Unixen do).
Considering the general trend in other markets towards cheaper, faster CPU's, I hope Cisco is working on router rev's with far more CPU and memory capacity at marginal price increase. I don't know how deeply the proprietary hardware is embedded in IOS. Of course, there may not be enough competitive pressure on Cisco to rev up their product line so quickly. While I'm at stating the obvious in armchair router design, how about the next 2500 series with a modest 100 MHz CPU and 32MB and so on for the 4xxx and 7xxx series? Sanjay.