3/14/2005 -- For a game-changing, next-generation routing system, Cisco’s CRS-1 keeps something of a low profile. So when the networking giant prominent demonstrated CRS-1 at last week’s CeBIT 2005 show, it was a bona-fide event.

Cisco positioned the CeBIT demo as part of its Intelligent Information Network (IIN) vision, a carrier-centric initiative that deals with the convergence of networks, services and applications over IP Next Generation Networks.

All that aside, CeBIT 2005 marked a coming out of sorts for CRS-1 in a European setting. At the very least, says John Marcus, a senior analyst for telecom infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis Inc., it’s CRS-1’s most significant European appearance to date. (CeBIT is the largest annual telecom trade show in Europe, Marcus notes.)

“Because Cisco sells through a direct sales channel, this will be the first time many carrier network operators will be able to kick the tires of the product and quiz the vendor about its performance and reliability record to date in existing early customer deployments,” Marcus says.

Because Cisco’s game-changing router has so far seen only limited uptake among service providers—SOFTBANK BB Corp. (Yahoo! BB in Japan) is at present the only carrier which has a live CRS-1 deployment, says Marcus—CeBIT 2005 gave Cisco a not-to-be-missed opportunity to showcase its next-gen offering. In this respect, Marcus speculates, the CeBIT demo helped Cisco to heighten the contradictions between CRS-1 and other competitive offerings.

“[It] highlight[s] to potential customers the lack of comparable products available from Cisco’s competitors in EMEA,” he writes. “Cisco will likely follow up the CeBIT show with related customer win announcements in Europe over the coming weeks, and competitors have already begun preparing their defense against this market development.”

To that end, Marcus says, Juniper has announced a significant National Research and Education Network (NREN) partnership and deployment win with the GARR network in Italy, for example. But Juniper will have its work cut out for it, Marcus speculates. “Network operators examining core routing platforms at CeBIT with Terabit capacity could perceive a significant advantage with the CRS-1 compared to Juniper’s TX Matrix platform, where the Cisco product offers 92 Terabits of capacity versus 2.56 with the Juniper product,” he says.

CeBIT 2005 was an important European coming out for CRS-1, Marcus concludes, but Cisco needs to shift gears over the coming weeks and months if it’s to capitalize on this momentum.

“While the first display of the CRS-1 in Europe at CeBIT will certainly draw attention to and enhance the perceived stability of Cisco’s new Terabit router, Cisco needs to announce a true customer deployment in Europe in order to fully convince network operators in the region that platform is ready right now,” he says. “The continued lack of local reference accounts means a higher level of perceived risk to potential customers in the region.” -Stephen Swoyer