3/11/2008 -- Cisco Systems Inc.'s new Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 1000 has a couple of intriguing technology additives, including an integrated session border control (SBC) facility.

Even though Cisco isn't pushing the ASR 1000's built-in SBC capability, analysts say it could give carriers a more cost-effective means to handle the flow of bearer traffic traversing their networks.

However, Cisco's idea of what constitutes an "integrated" SBC facility does beg a few questions.

"[T]he SBC capabilities are limited to media processing, requiring the system to be deployed with an external device for handling session signaling management," wrote Joe McGarvey, a principal analyst for carrier IP telephony with Current Analysis. "While the inclusion of SBC capabilities, especially when combined with related session management functions, such as IPSec support and deep packet inspection (DPI), add significantly to the attractiveness of the ASR as an edge routing platform, the overall functionality is limited when compared to a full-blown standalone SBC."

For example, McGarvey pointed out, though the ASR 1000 Series SBC supports security gateway functions -- including IPSec encryption/decryption -- it doesn't comply with the 3GPP standard for security gateways. This limits it from being deployed in a fixed mobile convergence (FMC) environment, he said.

It also lacks many of the security functions that are standard fare on standalone SBCs, such as protection for internal infrastructure gear (like the external call agent) from layer 5 (SIP) DoS attacks. In addition, McGarvey said, the ASR 1000 Series SBC does not currently support the transcoding of compression/decompression protocols.

So the ASR 1000's SBC capabilities leave a little to be desired. That shouldn't detract from its powerful all-in-one value proposition, according to McGarvey.

"Cisco...is not relying on the platform's SBC capabilities to sell the ASR. The Cisco ASR 1000 Series is first and foremost a powerful router in a small platform," he said. "The ability to perform some SBC capabilities and other service assurance-related tasks is essentially the equivalent of affixing add-ons to a high-powered platform, which is primarily designed to move lots of IP packets at high speeds."

Nevertheless, McGarvey suggested, there's a sense in which Cisco's move -- coupled with similar moves by other router manufacturers to incorporate SBC capabilities into their devices -- could ultimately result in a much more competitive landscape for specialty SBC providers.

"[T]he actions of Cisco and other router makers to duplicate the functionality of standalone SBCs threaten the continued existence of those products," McGarvey said. "The delivery of the ASR, which was estimated by Cisco to have cost about $250 million in research and development resources, is a powerful reminder to the much smaller standalone companies that inhabit the SBC market of Cisco's deep pockets. The product announcement demonstrates that Cisco has almost unlimited resources to throw at the SBC product category if it decides that such a pursuit is in its overall strategic interest."

The ASR 1000 Series will be generally available in April and pricing starts at $35,000. --Stephen Swoyer