Vadim Antonov <avg@pluris.com> writes:

Sprint never used cisco 4000s in the backbone. Just FYI.

True. The only one I ever remember was the DANTE access router which was dropped in place before AS-path prepending in software came about, and that wasn't a backbone router by any stretch of the imagination. There may have been one deployed to handle NACSIS or some other odd case at some point, however I don't remember it concretely.

Historically, memory limitation was because CSC/4 board in AGS/+ routers had memory soldered in. The box was absolute top of the line when it started to fall over.

Sprint, in fact, was in an OK position since it was possible to eliminate full routing on most of the AGS+es in relatively short order once the memory problem became more apparent. I believe you and I got to the point where none of our AGS+es had full routing before people like JANET started having regular problems and had to start dropping routes from places like PSI entirely in order to have any connectivity at all. The AGS+ -> 7000 migration was a conceptual disaster, since the RP+SP combination simply didn't perform well under load. The SSP made things happier, particularly when things like selective packet drop were implemented, and this in essence led to Peter's frequent (and pretty accurate) complaint that the initial introduction of the 7500 compared to a 7000 + RP + SSP was a step backwards. (Several people who used to be at cisco, and some who still are, also have been heard making that complaint from time to time...)

Can you spell "economies of scale"? Or "using fiber at cost means owning the fiber"? If you want to play the backbone game you've got to own long-haul transmission facilities.

And if you own such transmission facilities you have to hope that your competitiveness police don't force you to separate your transmissions facilities from your value-added services, and require the transmissions people to offer consistent pricing to all parties including the value-added services people. Of course, if bandwidth becomes much cheaper than you had bargained for initially, it could be a disadvantage to be trapped into using your own company's transmissions facilities with a requirement of a decent ROI, so it kinda cuts both ways. Sean.