While Frontier has made its terabit router selection, most other carriers are sitting on the sidelines. No vendor has delivered a true terabit-class device yet,'' points out GST's Tom Niewulis, engineering technology advisor at the company. So, carriers are examining the systems in test labs and are beginning their own trials. May. The devices will support a research network funded by the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency and the National Transparent Optical Network Consortium. To convince carriers to purchase their products, suppliers will need to deliver products with more throughput.
Reliability is another issue.
The vendors have time to address the problems. More bandwidth means enterprises may be able to deploy high-bandwidth apps at better prices. So, if router vendors deliver on their promises, carriers should build that terabit safety net sometime next year. Paul Korzeniowski is a Sudbury, Mass.-based writer. IT pros are sold on Linux, but the OS must run more business apps before it wins over the enterprise.