NCS5K?

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1

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

2

I'd heard rumours... But those are interesting specifications. The
NCS5501 isn't too far away from the Arista 7280R, and is probably
Jericho underneath, too. But with a good MPLS stack, as is the case for
the other NCS devices.

Some might be thinking "9001 upgrade!" but it's more likely direct
competition to Arista's recent moves. That and I still hope there will
be a MOD200-ish 9001 replacement to come at some point.

Oh - and it's NCS 55k, not NCS 5k. The NCS 5508 is already a product,
noted for its better buffers than the NCS 5001 & 5002 (which also
already exist).

3

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.

I'd heard rumours... But those are interesting specifications. The
NCS5501 isn't too far away from the Arista 7280R, and is probably
Jericho underneath, too. But with a good MPLS stack, as is the case for
the other NCS devices.

Judging from the NCS 5001 configuration guides they (NCS5K) don't support
any VPLS, is that correct? Just EoMPLS?

Some might be thinking "9001 upgrade!" but it's more likely direct
competition to Arista's recent moves. That and I still hope there will
be a MOD200-ish 9001 replacement to come at some point.

I had hoped for MOD400-ish 9001 replacement for a while,
however, I was told an ASR9001 successor is highly unlikely
in the next few years unless a very large customer asks for it.
  

Oh - and it's NCS 55k, not NCS 5k. The NCS 5508 is already a product,
noted for its better buffers than the NCS 5001 & 5002 (which also
already exist).

  Does the NCS 5508 support VPLS?

4

Tom,

Do you actually think that Cisco would sell at NCS 5501 at the price point
that Arista is going to sell a 7280R for? Spec wise they are very similar
(except Arista has 8 more SFP+ ports and two more 100G ports). Arista is
pricing the 7280R inline with Ciscos ASR9001. I doubt Cisco will offer a
NCS 5501 for the same price as an ASR9001.

5

This seems more question to economists than network engineers. But the
rudimentary understanding I have of free market it means that
competitors cannot sell products competing for same customers at
significantly different price point. On micro-level this may not be
true, we can find anecdotal examples of vastly differences prices for
similar products but on macro-level I'm sure Cisco, Arista, Alu,
Huawei, Juniper etc are all competitive, I base this solely on the
fact that they do exist (albeit Huawei may get unfair tax kick-backs
to enhance its competitiveness).

6

In addition to Saku's comments - I've only really been hypothesising by
looking at the features available on the platforms, and comparing it to
the current list prices that we already have. I've no other insider
knowledge.

Take the line cards in ASR 9000 chassis, vs. NCS 5500 chassis:

A9K-8X100GE-TR, 8x100G = $ 1,000,000
A9K-36X10GE-TR, 36x10G = $ 375,000
NC55-36X100G-BA, 36x100G = $ 360,000

The list price for a 36x10G line card for the ASR 9000 is *cheaper than*
the 36x100G card for the NCS 5500. There are massive gains in Gbits/$ by
having fewer features in your device. (And the SE scale A9k cards are
priced even higher than these TR models...)

More to the second half of your question though, and probably the most
pertinent; the NCS 5001 & 5002 pricing is already out, and they are
smack-back either side of the ASR 9001:

NCS-5001, 40x10G + 4x100G = $ 40,000
ASR-9001, 4x10G + nothing = $ 53,600
NCS-5002, 80x10G + 4x100G = $ 60,000

So, personally, I'm not ruling out the NCS 5501 landing on or around the
9001's price point - particularly if that's Arista's game.

The NCS 55k is obviously being targeted at dense MPLS P roles, and/or
simple BGP edge routers, which may be of enough use to you, in your
environment - it may not.

7

Judging from the NCS 5001 configuration guides they (NCS5K) don't support
any VPLS, is that correct? Just EoMPLS?

It's not targeted as a full-feature box AFAIK. You've got the ASR9k and
ASR9xx series for this sort of thing.

I do recall some mention of NCS5k supporting Segment Routing though -
that seemed quite handy for future MPLS P requirements.

Some might be thinking "9001 upgrade!" but it's more likely direct
competition to Arista's recent moves. That and I still hope there will
be a MOD200-ish 9001 replacement to come at some point.

I had hoped for MOD400-ish 9001 replacement for a while,
however, I was told an ASR9001 successor is highly unlikely
in the next few years unless a very large customer asks for it.

I've heard some rumours to the contrary - presumably it could still be
canned. Tomahawk is still quite new, and the 9001 still sells well, so
perhaps the market just isn't ready yet. I guarantee Cisco's sales of
any given product proceed along these lines:

1. Product sales for flagship $model are good
2. Announce flagship $model+1 to public
3. Product sales for $model plummet, whilst everyone waits for $model+1

Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's really bad. :slight_smile:

Oh - and it's NCS 55k, not NCS 5k. The NCS 5508 is already a product,
noted for its better buffers than the NCS 5001 & 5002 (which also
already exist).

Does the NCS 5508 support VPLS?

I don't recall looking closely, but I very much doubt it due to the
reasons mentioned above.