2/19/2004 -- Cisco Systems Inc. this week announced support for the Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard in its Catalyst series of switches.

PoE is an IEEE standard -- otherwise known as IEEE 802.3af -- that supports the delivery of DC power over copper wire. The idea, Cisco officials say, is that customers can exploit PoE capabilities to integrate new powered network-attached devices into their existing LAN infrastructures.

Cisco on Tuesday introduced PoE line cards for its Cisco Catalyst 6500 and 4500 Series modular switching platforms, as well as new PoE options for its Catalyst 3750 switches. Elsewhere, the networking giant unveiled a new standalone PoE switch family, the Catalyst 3560.

Finally, Cisco introduced a new single slot 96-port 10/100 module with an optional PoE daughter card designed to support high density deployments in compact form factors.

In other news this week, on Tuesday, Juniper Networks Inc. -- which last week acquired NetScreen Technologies Inc. for $4 billion in stock -- introduced a new multiservice router that analysts say creates additional pressure for Cisco to clarify its own strategy for consolidation at the network edge.

Juniper says that its new M320 router is designed to enable service providers to aggregate traffic and services onto a common IP/MPLS infrastructure.

The new router incorporates a new routing engine -- the RE 1600 exploits Junipers Frame and ATM Service Emulation (J-FASE) toolkit to deliver ATM and Frame Relay over IP/MPLS. In addition, Juniper says, J-FASE has been revamped with new capabilities, Diffserv-aware MPLS Traffic Engineering and Connection Admission Control.

The M320 supports carrier-class Metro Ethernet services, including VPLS, per VLAN QoS, and stacked VLANs, Juniper says.

Joe McGarvey, a senior analyst of carrier infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis Inc., says that Junipers new router "firmly establishes the venerable M Series as an edge platform, significantly advancing that product familys transformation from a core routing platform."

In addition, McGarvey writes, the M320 has switching and I/O capacity aplenty, along with the ability to interwork Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic, which makes it ideal for use as a multiservice edge router. McGarvey explains that the multiservice edge router is "an emerging category of IP/MPLS router & designed to consolidate the edge of service providers networks."

More to the point, the M320 ratchets up the pressure on Cisco. It offers several times the Gigabit Ethernet density and packet processing capabilities of Ciscos current edge-oriented products -- the 7600, 10000 and 12000 series router trifecta -- McGarvey says, and compares favorably with products from specialty vendors such as Laurel and Tellabs.

On top of all of that, the M320s flexibility gives Juniper a strategy to target Ciscos three-sizes-fit-all approach to serving the network edge. "[Cisco] is pushing one of three products at service providers, depending on which platform better suites the providers needs," McGarvey writes, conceding that this approach has served Cisco pretty well: It controls about 75 percent of the market.

Nevertheless, he concludes, the simplicity and elegance of an all-in-one solution from a major vendor such as Juniper could amount to a compelling alternative to Ciscos routing trifecta.

"The overlap between these product lines is meant to provide carriers with a sort of customized solution and increased flexibility," he writes. "In situations where the carrier must deploy two or more platforms to handle all its traffic, however, that approach falls short and a one-box solution becomes more palatable." -Stephen Swoyer