Verizon upgrades core network with Juniper to prepare for 5G demand

Verizon announced an upgrade in its core fibre network to support increased capacity. The US operator is upgrading older router equipment with new equipment from Juniper Networks capable of utilizing the latest 400 Gbps per port optical technology. When the overhaul of the fibre core network is complete, Verizon will be able to manage 115 Tbps of data. 

The new packet core will provide the reliability and capacity required today and help meet higher future demand driven by growing adoption of its 5G network, the company said. The new optical core is being built to meet estimated demand through 2032, making it upgradeable to future 800 Gbps and 1 Tbps per port optical technology and capacity of 230 Tbps. 

In addition, the equipment is half the size of the existing equipment, reducing space requirements in core facilities and driving down both power usage per GB and cost per GB to operate. The new equipment also offers advanced automation, allowing for automated interfaces with other network systems to make faster decisions and changes, improving reporting telemetry to advance analytics and real-time adjustments to address congestion or other performance improvements, and incorporating protocols like segment routing to make more intelligent routing decisions.

Additionally, because this new equipment is so dense with such large capacity, Verizon said it will be able to redesign its network architecture to spread the equipment out to additional facilities across geographies, building in an additional level of redundancy with the ability to reroute traffic onto a greater number of fibre routes when needed.