Sprint recently announced that they are deploying 622Mbps POS cross-country links, and the GSRs are the only things you can put on the ends of such beasts that are available today.
This is untrue. L2 switches are available today that reliably receive OC-12 SONET circuits. These can be disaggregated into OC3 ATM pipes that can be fed into many routers with proven technology and reliability. Granted, the disproportionality of the edge ckts to the backbone ckts provides for interesting flow aggregation dynamics, but it does work. Your disdain for ATM does not stop its existence and use by the larger NSPs.
(Someone may point out that it may not be the only choice for very long, however, it's the only one whose design I know and have had any influence upon, and is therefore frankly the only one I trust,
Aggressive statement, though the timbre is occasionally marked by usefulness. I wonder how the world would develop without Sean's input..... {music, clouds, harps... visions of ATM faeries dancing with sugarplums...} There is another router vendor who has OC-12 router interfaces about ready for production. Another (#3) is expected to release a bang-up product real soon now. There is a choice in the market today for OC12 router interfaces. -alan