Cisco promises to power internet with CRS-3

Cisco has launched its Carrier Routing System 3 (CRS-3), which it claims is a "very important" addition to internet technology and will provide a significant boost to the delivery of video.

CRS-3 is designed to serve as the foundation of the next-generation internet, the firm said, and will "set the pace for the astonishing growth of video transmission, mobile devices and new online services through this decade and beyond".

"Video lets us participate in a very collaborative way. It brings the services within the cloud to life all the way from the datacentre to the home," said Cisco chairman and chief executive John Chambers.

The company claimed that CRS-3 has almost 12 times the capacity of competing products, and can handle up to 322Tbit/s.

Cisco explained that this transmission speed could let every person in China make a video call simultaneously, for example, or download every film ever made in just four minutes.

"The next-generation internet is upon us, and we are confident that CRS-3 will play a crucial role as service providers like AT&T deliver an exciting new array of video, mobile, datacentre and cloud services," said Pankaj Patel, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's service provider business.

"CRS-3 is well positioned to carry on the tradition of CRS-1, and will become the flagship router of the future and serve as the foundation for the world's most intelligent and advanced broadband networks."

CRS-3 is powered by Cisco's new QuantumFlow Array Processor, which "unifies the combined power of six chips to work as one", according to the firm.