Cisco unveils new core routers, outlines NPU plans and EZchip takes off 

• At a launch event for its new NCS core router line, Cisco (CSCO -0.5%) states its recently-announced nPower X1 network processor (NPU) won't displace EZchip's NPUs.
• EZchip shares, which tumbled when the X1 was originally announced, have shot higher. Oppenheimer had estimated the nPower X1 could hurt EZchip's top line by 20%-25% if used in future Cisco edge routers.
  
• Cisco states the X1, which (per John Chambers) cost $250M to develop, will power the NCS line, as well as its mainstay CRS-X core routers.
• The NCS line is meant to provide better support for diverse traffic loads than the CRS-X line. Cisco touts the programmability of its new hardware, as well as its advanced management tools (both physical and virtual resources can be provisioned across systems) and support for the company's ONE SDN platform.
• The high-end NCS 6000 supports line cards with densities up to 1Tbps; that exceeds the 400Gbps supported by the CRS-X and supports arguments the former will be viewed as a replacement for the latter, even if it isn't officially marketed as such.
• The NCS 6000 is already shipping, as is a complementary 100G optical transport system known as the NCS 2000. Japan's KDDI and Australia's Telstra are among the first clients. A less powerful router known as the NCS 4000 will ship in 1H14.
• Juniper (JNPR -1.2%), whose successful PTX Series routers are being targeted by the NCS line, is ticking lower.

News courtesy of SeekingAlpha.

We are often found ragging on Cisco for its dirty big business antics, but this time the tables are turned and we applaud them.  Cisco will be alive and well at the Olympics this summer in London.  Cisco is a key sponsor and the proud supporter and network infrastructure provider for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.  And from the looks of what they’ve accomplished so far, Cisco has been hard at work for a while getting London ready for the games.

Cisco this week unveiled an updated line of Ethernet switches at the Hanover Messe Industrial Automation trade fair in Germany this week.  Cisco has reinforced its commitment to the industrialization of the Internet with this new series of switches aimed squarely at the industrial market.  The IE 2000 series is an extension of Cisco's current industrial Ethernet product lines, the Catalyst 2955 and the IE 3000 series. They are intended to address the expansion of machine-to-machine communications on factory floors and in other industrial environments.