10/17/2006 -- Don't look now, but the revamped Alcatel could become quite an irritant in Cisco Systems Inc.'s proverbial craw.

Alcatel -- which only months ago spent $13.4 billion to acquire Lucent Technologies Inc. -- last week announced a super-sized version of its 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (7450 ESS). The new deliverable helps it stay out in front of the density and performance curve for carrier Ethernet aggregation, analysts say, boasting double the density and switching capacity.

Alcatel positions the new super dense 7450 ESS as an integral component of its Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA). It includes the same high availability features that are common to all of Alcatel's 7450 ESS and 7750 SR models, which officials say are required to support the high bandwidth services it expects will run over TPSDA. On the performance front, the expanded 7450 ESS boasts 400 Gbps and of switching capacity, and ships with 10 slots available for I/O. In terms of Ethernet density, the 7450 ESS-12 can support up to 20 line rate 10 GigE ports and up to 200 GigE ports per chassis.

Analysts say it's an important, if logical, deliverable for Alcatel. "[It] gives service providers the ability to address high density Ethernet aggregation PoPs," writes Glen Hunt, a principal analyst for carrier infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis. In addition, Hunt notes, Alcatel can now support high-density Ethernet aggregation and routing with either its 7X50 platform, the expanded 7450 ESS or its 7750 SR, which includes additional multiservice and routing capabilities.

If there are any drawbacks associated with the new deliverable, they're mostly on the pricing front, Hunt said. "Service providers are entering [uncharted] ground as they scale their IP networks for the mass market, and as the scale increases, all aspects of Alcatel's TPSDA and end-to-end service delivery and management will be under pressure to perform," he wrote. "Also, as service providers begin to face commoditization of services such as IPTV and premium business services, the ARPU per subscriber may continue to decrease, which in turn will force equipment providers to balance all aspects of CapEx and OpEx."

More to the point, Hunt noted, Alcatel's moves (the expanded 7450 ESS and TPSDA) are both verifiable shots across Cisco's bow. The latter company, for example, prides itself on its Ethernet port density and switching capacity chops, as well as on its innovative IP NGN vision, too.

It's in this respect, Hunt counseled, that Cisco should push back against Alcatel. Its IP NGN portfolio, for example, includes the 7600 Series for carrier edge services (such as Ethernet aggregation and routing), the XR 12000 (for edge/core) and multiple flavours of the CRS-1 (for a range of applications, from low-density IP core PoPs to very large PoPs). "Cisco should...tout its recent moves to extend the manageability of advanced services into the enterprise with its Managed Services Solution...providing the ability to extend management visibility from the IP core to the customer premises," Hunt advised. "Cisco should also stress that MSS includes professional services such as life cycle planning, implementation, design, OAM functions and a RapidStart service turn-up model."-Stephen Swoyer