NC540 Use Case/Deployment Models

[Ex-Engineer1968]

Folks, its been a hundred years since I used this forum and since I followed Cisco's portfolio... So, please excuse the basic question. But what the devil is the NC540 router used for? Who typically purchases those? From the spec sheet, it looks like its uses by SPs for carrier ethernet (Q-in-Q), or as an MPLS PE router (MP-BGP) or an MPLS P router. 

Can someone kindly shed light on who typically buys these and why they are deployed? 

[M02@rt37]

Hello @Ex-Engineer1968 

To sum-up, the Cisco NCS500 Series is a highly secure and highly available access-routing platform for service providers. It could be an alternative of ASR 9900 series. 

[Ramblin Tech]

The NCS540 brings XR down from core/edge/aggregation to access networks, including carrier-e along with mobility front-haul, mid-haul, and back-haul. The NCS 540 front-haul product line (code named "Felidae") includes FPGAs to handle CPRI data formats as well as Ethernet.

Elements deployed in SP access networks typically require environmental hardening to Telcordia Class 2 specs as defined in GR-3108. Additionally, there are often constraints imposed by SP customer requirements for installation inside outdoor cabinets (as defined in Telcordia GR-487) and max equipment depths to comply with ETSI standards. The robustness to be installed in outdoor environments (albeit, non directly exposed to weather) does drive up the cost of the NCS 540 line beyond that of an enterprise-oriented Catalyst device, but top-tier SPs do demand equipment that can stand-up to -40 to +65C environments.

[Ex-Engineer1968]

Thanks, folks. You have given some useful information, but haven't really answered my question. As close as you both got to answering it is saying "carrier edge." Simply stated, is one use case for this router an MPLS PE or PE router? 

[Ramblin Tech]

“Simply stated, is one use case for this router an MPLS PE or PE router?”

That depends entirely on your own use-case’s requirements for a PE. Can members of the NCS 540 product family perform PE functions like pushing & popping MPLS labels, and providing a UNI to a CE? Yes, certainly. Do they have the same bandwidth, interface scale, route scale, label scale, QoS scale, ACL scale, and control-plane scale as the ASR 9000/9900 product line? No, not even close. Top-tier SPs would not deploy the NCS540 as a PE on the edge of their core network.

The A9K is targeted for high-scale at the PE edge of SP core networks and is designed for installation in environmentally-controlled locations like COs/PoPs/MTSOs. By contrast, the NCS 540 product line is designed specifically for SP access & agg networks which are considered outside plant (OSP) with limited environmental control. Consider the NCS540 in the context of classic SP topologies: a backbone/core network with MPLS or SR P routers; a multi-services edge (MSE) with PEs linked to the core; and access networks (PON, active ethernet, 4G/5G, hybrid fiber-coax, xDSL, etc) to provide transport between business/residential/mobility subscribers and the MSE PEs. The NCS 540 is targeted for deployment in the access networks, but might fit elsewhere also.

If your PE requirements include environmental hardening, then the NCS540 is likely for you. If you have modest PE scale requirements without hardening, then the 540 might be for you. If you have high scale requirements, the 540 is not likely a good PE for you. Enumerate your scale requirements and see how they match up with NCS540 supported scale to determine if it is a good PE fit for you.

(BTW: “carrier-e” refers to carrier-ethernet, aka metro-ethernet, not “carrier edge”. Carrier-ethernet is an *access* network)

[tahsin.gececi@sky.uk]

great response, thank you