Juniper Networks has released new routing platforms under its PTX Series that are aimed at transforming high-capacity networks for the artificial intelligence (AI) era.

The Packet Transport Router (PTX) series is designed to serve high-end needs for large WAN and data center deployments. At the core of the PTX Series is Juniper's Express 5 silicon, which was first announced back in 2022 and has steadily made its way into the company's routing gear. What's new is that Juniper is now firmly going after the 800 Gb Ethernet (GE) market with the PTX powered by Express 5 silicon.

“We are expanding our PTX portfolio with the addition of 800 GE-capable platforms,” Julius Francis, Sr. director of product marketing and strategy at Juniper Networks, told SDxCentral. “This includes the introduction of the PTX10002, an 800 GE-capable platform with a fixed form factor, and the LC1301, an 800 GE line card designed to enable 800 GE support in PTX10K platforms.”

Juniper emphasizes the solutions allow operators to seamlessly integrate 800 GE in existing networks.

As workloads keep growing there is increasing demand for more bandwidth, which is where 800 GE helps. The PTX10000 modular chassis can be equipped with new Express 5-based line cards supporting up to 72 ports of 400 GE or 36 ports of 800 GE in a 14-rack-unit form factor.

“For service providers, cloud providers and large enterprises, meeting traffic demand without compromising sustainability and automation objectives is an ongoing challenge,” Francis said.  “These organizations face difficulties in delivering the necessary capacity and achieving scale across all congestion points, including metro aggregation, peering, core, data center interconnect (DCI), DCI edge and AI data center networking.”

A foundational element of the new PTX routers is the integration of Juniper's Converged Optical Routing Architecture (CORA).

CORA is Juniper's implementation of IP over DWDM (IPoDWDM), which is a critical approach to modern routing. IPoDWDM is a telecommunications technology that integrates IP routers and network switches directly with the optical transport network (OTN) using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). DWDM is a fiber-optic transmission technique that increases bandwidth by sending different data streams over various wavelengths of light.

Francis explained that CORA is further enhanced by the streamlined multilayer management capabilities of Juniper's Paragon Automation technology, making CORA a scalable IPoDWDM architecture tailored for the most demanding applications.

“Paragon leverages open, standards-compliant management APIs within CORA solutions to automate a range of network operations throughout their life cycle in multivendor settings,” Francis said. “It facilitates interoperability with third-party management systems and enhances multilayer visibility, streamlining operations and ensuring efficient network management.”