9/24/2007 -- At the Cisco Networkers 2007 conference earlier this month, Cisco partner InfoVista announced that its VistaInsight for Networks product was recently validated against Cisco's CRS-1 core router. InfoVista trumpeted its CRS-1 validation as proof that its network management family -- which supports the monitoring of device health, interfaces, quality of service (QoS) and end-to-end performance -- now supports Cisco's IOS XR operating environment, too.

Aside from its importance to InfoVista, the announcement suggests that installations of IOS XR and, more importantly, the CRS-1 are starting to become more common, if not exactly commonplace.

"[T]he [VistaInsight] tool set is designed to provide service providers with a comprehensive suite of monitoring and reporting tools to insure that next-generation IP/MPLS networks are delivering the expected service quality and performance," said Glen Hunt, a principal analyst for carrier infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis. "The inclusion of IOS XR-based routers indicates that deployments of Cisco's CRS-1 have reached the levels where operation tools are required."

Cisco's IOS XR-based offerings include not just the CRS-1, but also the XR 12000 IP core/edge router. In addition to Cisco and its IOS/IOS XR technologies, InfoVista supports competitive offerings from Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper. In this respect, Hunt said, the InfoVista's announcement suggests that IOS XR (and its related devices) have reached a certain maturity level -- as far as the market is concerned, in any event.

"For Cisco, the announcement indicates that IOS XR has reached a level of maturity and it is now being incorporated into tool sets such as VistaInsight for Networks," Hunt said.

The InfoVista announcement comes on top of another CRS-1 milestone: Cisco recently announced that it has shipped nearly 1,000 units of its carrier routing behemoth.

"This level of deployment indicates that a significant number of service providers are using the system in their IP core networks. The expansion of support to include IOS XR may have been expected sooner, given the uptake in deployments," Hunt said, citing research from market watcher Synergy Research, which -- in its recent Q2 2007 report -- said that Cisco had captured nearly two-thirds (61.4 percent) of the IP core router market. --Stephen Swoyer