According to some slides from a russian cisco connect event, the upcoming small-size NCS 5501 and NCS 5502 will support 1M+ FIB and 50ms per port buffers. Seem to be killer boxes. 48x100GE in 2RU with large FIB & buffers? Loving it already. I wonder what prices will look like for those. With Google Translate: NCS 5501 • 800 Gbps @ 430 watts • 40 x SFP + 1G / 10G + 4 x QSFP28 100G • 1RU • Intel Broadwell CPU 8Core @ 1.6GHz • Dimensions WxDxH 444mm x551mm x 44mm • External TCAM for more FIB, large buffers (~ 50 ms) • 1-2M IPv4 FIB • The same set of features as a modular • FCS in IOS XR 6.1.1 NCS 5502 • 4.8 Tbps 100G @ ~ 2200 W • 48 x QSFP 28 or QSFP + optics • 2RU • Intel Broadwell CPU 12Core @ 1.6GHz • 8 ASIC packet processing • Integrated FIA • External FIB TCAM for more • Large buffers (~ 50 ms) • 1-2M IPv4 FIB • The same set of features as a modular • FCS in IOS XR 6.1.1 On Mon Jan 25 18:01:41 EST 2016, Phil Bedard <philxor at gmail.com> wrote:
My guess is you will see something from Cisco similar to the PTX1K in the NCS 55XX series but it will be more expensive than the 500X series. These boxes I believe use the Broadcom Tomahawk chipset and the NCS55XX uses the Jericho. The Jericho can support an external TCAM with more routes but with some speed limitations since the bus to the off-chip TCAM memory is slower. Those boxes will also have more packet buffering than what you'll find on the 500X.
Either way the cost of 100G is rapidly dropping, crazy to think what we paid for just a CFP transceiver a few years ago.