In-house chip developments place ZTE in the lead
in high end telecoms network router market

14 June 2011, Shenzhen – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, today announced that its ZXR10 M6000-16 edge/service router based on the T8000 platform, which uses microprocessors developed by ZTE, is one of the first to pass the items in the 100G Ethernet Router Performance and Scalability Independent Test Programorganized by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC).

ZTE’s next-generation T8000 IP device platform was released in 2009, and is a strategic product designed to satisfy the industry’s requirements for the next decade. Based on this unified hardware and software platform, ZTE introduced the T8000 cluster router system as part of the same product family, including an Internet super core, the M6000-16 MPLS edge/service router and the xGW wireless packet core. In May 2011, EANTC tested the M6000-16 100G system at ZTE’s R&D center in Nanjing, China.

EANTC validated items such as IPv4 forwarding, IPV4 multicast forwarding, IPv6 forwarding ,RSVP-TE, MPLS label forwarding, HQoS, L2VPN, L3VPN, load balancing based on IP routes, load balancing based on Link Aggregation, full-rate forwarding for all packet sizes tested and all-service power consumption and stability.

The most important achievement is that the ZTE router supports full-rate forwarding for all packet sizes tested through the 100G port. Single-port multiservice overlay and minimum-byte full-rate forwarding are considered the hardest problems to overcome in router development. The router must conduct over 150M packets-per-second service processing and route forwarding while assuring the required throughput and rate.

The ZXR10 T8000 also employs ZTE-developed forwarding, switching and interface chips for packet receiving and route forwarding and switching, and supports full-rate forwarding, especially in multiservice overlay, so its performance is stable and reliable over a long period of time. Using different software, the M6000-16 router also passed the IPv6 forwarding test, proving its ability to support the transition to an IPv6 data plane.

ZTE has decades of experience in the research and development of its chips. It has produced a range of 100G chips which have passed the industry’s most strict and authoritative tests, so that ZTE does not have to rely on commercial chips.

"We are glad to see that ZTE is one of the first vendors to complete the independent Light Reading / EANTC 100 Gigabit Ethernet Router Performance and Scalability Test Program. This is a great achievement as service providers are expanding their networks to use 100GigE technology widely,” said Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director of EANTC.

"Being one of the first vendors to pass the test in the all-service, full-rate 100G forwarding for all packet sizes tested will greatly improve the quality of ZTE’s core technologies and the competiveness of our high-end data products in domestic and overseas markets,” said Fan Xiaobing, general manager of ZTE’s Bearer Network product line.

"The core of data communication competition is in chip technologies; those who get core technologies on data communication chips can respond rapidly to market demands, control costs and deliver industry-leading solutions.

"As cloud computing, mobile internet and HD services continue to grow quickly, users will need more and more data bandwidth. These test results give ZTE a real edge over our rivals in the next-generation, ultra-high-speed routing market,” Fan Xiaobing concluded.

ZTE has had a major R&D focus on developing stable, rapid and reliable data communications for carriers and end users, and plans to increase investment in this area to retain its market-leading position.