San Jose, California, Dec. 13 -- Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1 maker of networking gear, unveiled a new router to direct large amounts of Internet traffic and data, in a bid to match the success of a rival Juniper Networks Inc. product.
The high-capacity model of Cisco's popular 12000 GSR router is made to fit in fiber-optic telecommunications networks. Cisco plans to begin shipping the $65,000 device this month.The GSR 12016 is Cisco's answer to Juniper's M40, the first high-capacity router for the Internet, and a challenge to rival Lucent's NX-64000, which AT&T Corp. is testing. Nine months after unveiling the M40 in September 1998, Juniper had taken a 13 percent market share for large routers from Cisco, according to RHK Inc., a San Francisco-based market researcher.
"It's only Cisco and Juniper in this space now," said Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. analyst Paul Weinstein, who rates Cisco a "strong buy."
Cisco's new product is the latest of a new generation of devices known as terabit routers, which can process a trillion bits of data per second and promise to make the Internet faster and more reliable. A personal computer modem processes data at 56,000 bits per second. The GSR 12016 has been tested in the fastest type of fiber-optic network by Qwest Communications International Inc.
Among the other companies with or developing a terabit router are Nortel Networks Corp., Avici Systems Inc., Pluris Inc. and Siemens AG.
Shares of San Jose, California-based Cisco fell 1 1/16 to 98 3/4 in midmorning trading.