Cisco  today announced new enhancements to its innovative Internet Protocol over dense wavelength-division multiplexing (IPoDWDM) technology, which helps enable service providers deliver a wide array of services to their businesses and consumers. Cisco pioneered the technology on its Cisco® Carrier Routing System (CRS-1), the core platform for the Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture, as a means to minimize the additional capital and operating expenses associated with traffic growth. The Cisco technology is also now available at the edge of the network

Cisco (CSCO - News) today announced new enhancements to its innovative Internet Protocol over dense wavelength-division multiplexing (IPoDWDM) technology, which helps enable service providers deliver a wide array of services to their businesses and consumers. Cisco pioneered the technology on its Cisco® Carrier Routing System (CRS-1), the core platform for the Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture, as a means to minimize the additional capital and operating expenses associated with traffic growth. The Cisco technology is also now available at the edge of the network.

To handle the massive growth in video traffic and IPTV applications, service providers such as Sprint and Comcast are upgrading their core network infrastructures with high-capacity port modules that can provide data throughput at 40-gigabits per second (Gbps) across existing 10-Gbps systems using IPoDWDM. The advent of rich online video communications and entertainment, as well as social networking, has greatly increased the impact of video on network traffic.

In 2012, Internet video traffic alone will be 400 times the traffic carried by the U.S. Internet backbone in 2000, according to the "Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast and Methodology, 2007-2012" report. Representative of this trend, Internet video has jumped from 12 percent of global consumer Internet traffic in 2006 to 22 percent in 2007. Video on demand (VoD), IPTV, peer-to-peer video, and Internet video are forecast to account for nearly 90 percent of all consumer IP traffic in 2012.

"Sprint's efforts to move to an all-IP platform continue to gain momentum," said Iyad Tarazi, vice president of network development for Sprint. "By converging all types of business applications (voice, video and data) on a common, flexible IP core network, customers can benefit from greater mobility, cost savings, real-time access to people and information and transform the way they do business with next-generation products and services."

"Video in all flavors means service providers must grow network capacity to meet exponential demands," said Michael Howard principal analyst at Infonetics Research. "Cisco has been in the forefront of anticipating fast-growing user demand for more bandwidth, and the increasing adoption of IPoDWDM is proof that its technology is also at the forefront."

New IPoDWDM Enhancements to Cisco IP NGN Infrastructure Along with boosting port speeds to 40 Gbps to meet bandwidth growth, service providers are looking to integrate packet and optical transport layers with IPoDWDM technology. Cisco today also announced significant enhancements to its IPoDWDM solution and Cisco XR 12000 and 12000 Series routers for service providers. These include: