The routers and infrastructure that lay at the foundation of Internet service provider (ISP) networks rarely are named; which service routers that ISPs use are not often openly discussed.

But sometimes the veil does get pulled back, as was the case recently with the announcement that the world’s largest ISP, Germany’s DE-CIX, has leveraged the Alcatel-Lucent 7950 XRS Extensible Routing System (XRS) for its newly deployed DE-CIX Apollon German Internet exchange.

This is a big endorsement for Alcatel-Lucent’s IP core routing solution, because DE-CIX connects 600 leading Internet service providers from over 60 countries via its Frankfurt exchange and requires available capacity of 5.6 TB/s. DE-CIX is one of the most crucial players in the internetworking of the Internet.

IXPs such as DE-CIX in Frankfurt, serve as a network of networks, connecting ISPs to each other. They serve as a natural meeting point for service providers of all stripes, whether ISPs, content and application service providers, or large enterprises. There are roughly 390 IXPs that together make up the lion’s share of the Internet fabric.

The majority of the DE-CIX Apollon exchange connectivity is provided by 10 GE ports and n x 10 GE links, according to a recent Alcatel-Lucent blog post, but it noted that there is growing demand for 100GE. The Alcatel-Lucent 7950 XRS-40 platform used by DE-CIX combines class-leading switching capacity, port density and service scalability with a cost-efficient resource footprint. The DE-CIX Apollon exchange deploys 7950 XRS-40 platforms in 4 super nodes that together form a distributed core switching fabric that serves 18 data center facilities.

“With this in place, the DE-CIX Apollon platform can scale capacity and logical connectivity beyond the physical constraints of a single routing platform and provide rapid failover for connected ports,” noted the Alcatel-Lucent blog post.

While most ISPs are already familiar with Alcatel-Lucent and its portfolio of service routers, the use of the company’s 7950 XRS for the German exchange is a big vote of confidence in Alcatel-Lucent and its router technology. It is one thing to read about the industry-leading performance of the 7950 XRS, and another to have a large IXP such as DE-CIX publically show its support for the technology.