After the incredible expansion of the Internet in the 1990s followed by its abrupt slowdown, the telecom industry now has to find new pragmatic and profitable business models in a highly changeable world. Since Internet services that customers will willingly pay for are still elusive, router vendors must rethink their solutions to allow for the later introduction of services that are unknown when systems are designed.
To achieve this flexibility, the emerging technology of Network Processors (NP) is proving to be the foundation for a programmable data path. NPs offer more rapid, cost-effective and reusable designs, with nearly the same performance as non- programmable application-specific building blocks. Alcatel is building greater flexibility, more intelligence and next generation services into its new breed of products, such as service routers and switch routers, through the use of NPs developed both in-house and by third parties.
Networking Research Library
