News & blog entries

SRv6 micro-instructions

Network programming is seminal to the Segment Routing over IPv6 data plane (SRv6) solution. It allows for expressing any end-to-end service in a stateless manner as a set of 16-byte instructions (Segment ID, or SID) encoded in the packet header. These instructions may express TE, FRR, VPN behaviours, as well as application behaviours.
In this post, we introduce a straightforward extension to the SRv6 network program: each 16-byte instruction may contain up to six micro-instructions. The SRv6 Segment Routing Extension Header (SRH) data plane (RFC 8754) and the SRv6 control plane are leveraged without any change.
Clarence Filsfils - APNIC blog — May 15, 2020

SRv6: Deployed use-cases

As of 2019, Segment Routing over IPv6 data plane (SRv6) has been deployed in eight large-scale networks; supported by more than 25 hardware implementations at line rate; implemented in 11 open-source platforms/applications; and, importantly, is undergoing IETF standardization (RFC 8402, RFC 8754).
In this post, we will go through the numerous use cases that have been deployed as of February 2019.
Clarence Filsfils - APNIC blog — May 08, 2020

What is SRv6 network programming?

Since the start of the Segment Routing over IPv6 dataplane (SRv6) project in 2017, the ecosystem has grown unabated.
SRv6 has been deployed in eight public, large-scale commercial networks, including Softbank, Iliad, China Telecom, LINE Corporation, China Unicom, CERNET2, China Bank and Uganda MTN.
Clarence Filsfils - APNIC blog — May 01, 2020

Cisco to Optimize NTT DOCOMO’s 5G Mobile Backhaul for Simpler, More Flexible and Scalable Network Operation

NTT DOCOMO selected Cisco NCS routers and Segment Routing technology for network slicing to help optimize its 5G mobile backhaul in preparation for the commercial service.
Mobile backhaul is the transport network that connects the 5G radio (in the cell tower) to the core network that feeds into the data centers. DOCOMO needed a blueprint for more cost effective transport to meet its future 5G base station facility plan capable of achieving 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) speeds.
Cisco Newsroom — February 25, 2020

SRv6 is coming

Segment Routing MPLS customer adoption is truly outstanding. As of today, we count more than 30 live deployments and about 80 deployments are planned. Kevin Wollenweber, Vice President Of Product Management at Cisco Systems, explains why the pace of adoption for SRv6 will be even faster.
Kevin Wollenweber — December 10, 2019

SRv6 Acceleration Using Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000

The Intel FPGA Programmable Accelerator Card (PAC) N3000, an FPGA-based solution, can be programmed to handle almost any type of functionality – including networking functions – thus improving network and server performance. HCL Technologies and Intel have co-authored a White Paper titled “Segment Routing Over IPv6 Acceleration Using Intel FPGA Programmable Acceleration Card N3000” that describes a solution to hardware-based SRv6 using FPGA technology to improve network performance.
Intel Corporation and HCL Technologies — November 06, 2019

Report: How Segment Routing is Changing the Limitations in US Federal Network Architectures

Agencies that continue to operate legacy systems can achieve greater IT performance and versatility, lower their operating costs and enhance their security controls simply by taking advantage of newer networking capabilities.
This promise comes through the segment routing architecture, which is gaining rapid adoption among large-scale network operators and architects, according to a new report. This report highlights the key benefits of segment routing and explains that it is designed to work with legacy systems too.
FedScoop Staff — October 29, 2019

October 2019: State of SRv6

In 2019, SRv6 gained solid customer traction with noteworthy live deployments. The authors of the key SRv6 documents (SRH and Net-PGM) provide an update on the State of SRv6.
SRH and SRv6 Network Programming IETF draft co-authors — October 29, 2019

South Slope Boosts Bandwidth Speeds with Cisco To Accommodate Over Three Terabytes

South Slope, a rural independent telecommunications cooperative, has deployed the Cisco NCS5500 series platform to meet growing capacity demands, using its existing network to deliver voice, data, and video services along with a variety of business ethernet and cellular backhaul services to its customers throughout eastern Iowa. To facilitate the transition, increase the power of the underlying transport network, and reduce operational complexity, Cisco and South Slope created a converged solution based on the Cisco NCS5500 router series. South Slope has also deployed Cisco Segment Routing with Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Ethernet VPN (EVPN).
Cisco, Cisco PR — September 26, 2019

PacketFabric Secures $75M Joint Venture Funding With Digital Alpha Advisors Supporting Connectivity Advances for Next-Generation Networking Platforms

PacketFabric has secured a joint venture funding with Digital Alpha Advisors to advance the development of innovate network connection technologies that meet the needs of enterprises deploying next generation networks. As part of this investment, the network will evolve towards a more flexible and scalable Segment Routing (SR-MPLS) architecture.
PacketFabric, BusinessWire — August 27, 2019

SRv6- A new approach for the evolution of IP Networks

Segment Routing is now a well-accepted evolution path for simplifying IP/MPLS networks and for providing a solution to address the emerging requirements of 5G/IoT and service virtualization. We believe SR-MPLS and SRv6 will be increasingly deployed in service provider, enterprise, and data center networks. However, it is still early days for SRv6, and there is still a lot of work ahead to develop the vendor ecosystem and get to standardized, interoperable implementations of key features and services.
Heidi Adams, IHS Markit — August 06, 2019

Using SR-TE IGP Flex-Algo in the Multiplanar Backbone design

This whitepaper describes the drivers, use cases, and design of the multiplanar backbone.
Given stringent financial controls, flat CapEx and OpEx budgets, and being asked to do more with the same or less, network operators are limited in their ability to create new services and new revenue streams.
The concept of a multiplanar design, or multiplanar backbone (MPBB), which this document introduces, can be used to deliver the next generation of services and support as well as increase reliability and performance over today’s current network designs.
The MPBB design leverages the flexibility and simplicity of SR-TE IGP Flex-Algo. Read this document to find out how Flex-Algo helps realizing the MPBB goals.
Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems — August 01, 2019

Equinix Segment Routing-powered network delivers increased value to its customers

In this blog Muhammad Durrani, leading Global Network Architecture and Engineering at Equinix, explains how SR builds value to their customers. As the world’s global data center interconnection leader, Equinix is constantly innovating on behalf of its customers to help them grow their businesses. At the core of the Equinix interconnection value proposition is a global network infrastructure that offers multiple network services to both Service Providers and Enterprises alike. To offer new and differentiated value-added services and to provide a second-to-none customer experience, Equinix is implementing Segment Routing in their next-generation network infrastructure.
Muhammad Durrani (Equinix), Cisco SP360 — July 02, 2019

SoftBank Started operation of “SRv6 (segment routing IPv6)” in mobile IP network

Softbank Corporation announced that they introduced SRv6 and began full-scale operation on a commercial network from April 2019.
Softbank aims to further enhance the efficiency and functionality of the network by introducing the latest technologies such as SRv6, and aims to realize a highly reliable mobile network that can cope with the future traffic for the age of 5G and IoT.
Click here for an English translation.
Softbank Corporation, Softbank Corporation News — April 24, 2019

SR-TE solves the 3-tiered slice service use-case for Vodafone

The 3-tiered slice service solution (minimum cost, minimum delay, minimum cost with delay bound) was announced at CiscoLive! 2019 in Barcelona and at MPLS WC 2019 in Paris.
This solution is a product of the co-development between Vodafone Germany and Cisco Systems.
Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems — April 11, 2019

EANTC Multi-Vendor Interoperability Test 2019

EANTC AG, the European Advanced Networking Test Center published the results of the latest massive multi-vendor interoperability test with 174 successful test combinations involving 68 device types from 19 vendors.
The multi-vendor event focuses on the interoperability of the full range of next-generation wide-area transport solutions, network management and clock synchronization. Segment Routing MPLs and SRv6, Flex-Algo, and SR-TE are among the tested solutions.
Click here to access the EANTC whitepaper PDF.
EANTC AG, EANTC News — April 09, 2019

Etisalat and Cisco have successfully deployed the first segment routing technology in the region

DUBAI, UAE: Etisalat and Cisco have successfully deployed the first segment routing technology in the region over its international network with closed-loop automation, introducing automation and software-defined networking (SDN) to the service provider’s Emirates Internet Exchange (EMIX) network, deploying cutting-edge technologies that set the foundation for new opportunities and business models.
Cisco Systems, Cisco News — March 25, 2019

Cisco Supports SoftBank on First Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) Deployment in Prep for 5G

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Cisco announced its collaboration with SoftBank on the world's first Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) deployment. With the anticipation of the coming 5G era, Cisco has been assisting SoftBank to deploy state-of-the-art Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) networks nationwide to build a future network architecture that is extremely scalable, with improved reliability, flexibility and agility, all while helping to reduce CapEx and OpEx.
Cisco, Cisco Newsroom — February 24, 2019

Cisco SP Nails It at NFDx

The topic-du-jour was definitely Segment Routing, and Cisco delivered great presentations on both SR-TE (Segment Routing – Tunnel Engineering) with SR Flexible Algorithm, and SRv6 (Segment Routing for IPv6).
John Herbert, MovingPackets.net — January 15, 2019

SRv6 - Building Next-Gen Programmable Network Infrastructure

Segment routing is not a new concept in the networking industry and it has gained great popularity among service providers around the globe. While service providers are adopting it for the multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) data plane that is deployed extensively in existing networks, there is an increased interest to use segment routing with the IPv6 data plane for network programming (SRv6 network programming). There are many use cases that can benefit from the SRv6 network programming concept. Today, 5G is the main driver for fast-paced development of SRv6 standards to simplify the user plane and network plane. With Ixia’s IxNetwork SRv6 solution, customers can simulate SRv6 networks with many nodes to validate device under test (DUT) functions in different roles (ingress node, intermediate node, and egress node) and assess the performance for both control- and data-plane...
Yuanwen (Daisy) Sun, IXIA Blog — October 10, 2018

ACG Research Paper: Segment Routing

Service providers and large enterprises face stiff challenges: the network infrastructure and their operations are growing at tremendous pace and becoming complex. IP/MPLS networks have become operation intensive because of their complex implementations. Service providers feel the added pressure of falling revenues and stiff competition by the over-the-top providers as well as the challenge to innovate. These drivers make the network owners think about a transport technology that can provide convergence across layers, domains and offload the complexities in the networks today. One of these technologies is Segment Routing (SR), which has caught the attention of the network planners because of its potential to ...
Ray Mota, ACG Research — August 29, 2018

Celebrating Segment Routing’s 5th Birthday

With the explosive growth of network traffic, there is more pressure than ever on the network to operate with simplicity, speed, scale and resiliency. Since the emergence of Segment Routing (SR) five years ago, more and more customers have turned to this technology to help address the challenges of digitization and to accelerate the network transformation necessary to meet those challenges.
Jonathan Davidson, SP360 Cisco Blog — June 26, 2018

SR @ MPLS WC 2018 interop

Read Jose Liste’s blog documenting the prominent role that SR played at MPLS WC 2018 interop. This event provides the latest proof-point of overwhelming multi-vendor support for SR.
Jose Liste, Cisco XRdocs blog — May 08, 2018

Colt Fast-Tracks the Delivery of New Services with Cisco Segment Routing and Ethernet VPN

Cisco and Colt Technology Services announced today that they have successfully achieved a key milestone in upgrading Colt's pan-European, U.S. and Asian packet network. This lays the foundation for the Colt IQ Network to deliver further differentiated, high-bandwidth connectivity solutions. Colt's next-generation packet network uses end-to-end segment routing technology to simplify and automate network operation and significantly reduce operating costs. With the quality, speed, capacity and flexibility to meet application-specific service quality requirements, Colt’s customers will benefit from an infrastructure designed for enabling digital businesses.
Cisco, Cisco Newsroom — April 05, 2018

Flexible Algorithm makes Segment Routing Traffic Engineering even more agile

As more and more Service Providers and Enterprises operate a single network infrastructure to support an ever-increasing number of services, the ability to custom fit transport to application needs is critically important. In that respect, network operators have been exploring Traffic Engineering techniques for some years now but have obviously run into many scaling issues preventing them from having an end-to-end, fine-grained control over the myriad services they offer. We firmly believe Segment Routing Traffic Engineering (SR TE) has changed the game and has become the undisputed solution to deliver Traffic Engineering capabilities at scale. What makes SR Flexible Algorithm a noteworthy addition to SR TE solution?
Clarence Filsfils, SP360 Cisco Blog — January 25, 2018

Packet Pushers podcast on SRv6

Today on the Packet Pushers Weekly Show we talk about control. Imagine being able to control every flow in your data center in a granular way, and not just based on the best path your routing protocol decides or the random hashing your ECMP comes up with. How do you get beyond the forwarding we’re used to? By manipulating flows with modern tools. One such tool is IPv6 segment routing (SRv6). Cisco, along with network architects from Bell Canada and LinkedIn, discuss just how IPv6 Segment Routing makes the network programmable in this sponsored episode.
Drew Conry-Murray, Packet Pushers — December 15, 2017

Bell Canada implements Cisco Segment Routing

Over the past few weeks, Bell Canada has successfully rolled out Segment Routing in its next-generation core network, marking a milestone as the first Canadian carrier to actively use this innovative technology for network automation and software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities.
Yvette Kanouff, Cisco Executive Platform — December 04, 2017

Simplifying Networks through Segment Routing

The networking industry is going through an incredibly dynamic time of change and opportunity. Global IP traffic will increase nearly threefold over the next five years and 127-fold from 2005 to 2021. The number of devices connected to IP networks by 2021 will be three times higher than the global population. On top of that, the diversity of applications has never been greater, with each having its own set of requirements and hurdles. This unprecedented growth requires Service Providers to transform their networks, and Segment Routing is becoming one of the keys to successfully paving the way to that transformation.
Jonathan Davidson, Cisco Executive Platform — September 27, 2017

Segment Routing IPv6 — Interoperability demo is already there!

Who would have bet on a SRv6 interoperability demonstration at SIGCOMM 2017 conference this summer? Very few of us actually… For those who are not familiar with the SIGCOMM 2017 conference, this is a highly respected conference where key networking innovations and orientations are being discussed every year by leading vendors, major web and service providers, and academic researchers.
Frederic Trate, SP360 Cisco Blog — September 07, 2017

Barefoot Networks and Cisco showcase SRv6 interoperability at SIGCOMM 2017

At SIGCOMM 2017, Cisco Systems and Barefoot Networks showcased SRv6 interoperability of SRv6 VPN with traffic engineering and service chaining. The demonstration included three Cisco hardware implementations (Fretta, ASR9k and ASR1k); open source implementations in the Linux Kernel and FD.io VPP; and Barefoot's Tofino switch.
Cisco, SIGCOMM — August 28, 2017

Segment Routing — Ready to Surf the v6 Wave?

Segment Routing has crossed the chasm — "Early Adopters" have already embraced it, and now the "Early Majority" is adopting it. Interestingly, at the very same time the industry is surfing the Segment Routing MPLS wave, the next wave is already coming in and will even be more disruptive to the way you design and engineer your network infrastructure – this is the Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) wave.
Brendan Gibbs, SP360 Cisco Blog — July 19, 2017

Add a dollop of XTC to your network infrastructure

Google XTC and you find out it was an English rock band formed in 1972 and active till 2006... It probably does not ring a bell to most of you — at least for me, I can’t recall any of their songs. XTC had another connotation in the 1980’s, but that’s not the point here either.
Frederic Trate, SP360 Cisco Blog — May 10, 2017

Why I care about Segment Routing

As a WAN guy by chance and opportunity, and a service provider engineer and architect by choice (and also chance and opportunity), segment routing (SR) is one of those wonderful new technologies that keeps rearing its head over and over in recent days – and it’s already playing in the big leagues.
Nick Buraglio, The Forwarding Plane — October 03, 2016

What is Segment Routing?

Do you remember source routing, used in token ring bridging networks? If you're relatively new to networking, you may not know about it. In source routing, the hosts determine the path to take through the network and build a frame header that specifies the forwarding nodes that the frame should pass through as it goes from source to destination.
Terry Slattery, NetCraftsmen — September 22, 2016

Bringing Segment Routing and IPv6 together

You may be pretty familiar with Segment Routing and I bet you’re likely tying it to MPLS as the industry at large has been mainly focused on driving awareness and adoption of MPLS Segment Routing. But did you know Segment Routing could work in a native IPv6 environment? Sounds interesting to you?
Frederic Trate, SP360 Cisco Blog — August 30, 2016

Supercharge Your Network with Segment Routing Innovations!

2016 is clearly an inflection point in Segment Routing adoption. Enterprise and Service Providers have tested and validated the technology and are ready to roll out the technology in live networks. Customers now fully understand the benefits of the technology - it's all about bringing simplicity and scalability to the network. No RSVP, no midpoint state, no tunnel to configure!
Frederic Trate, SP360 Cisco Blog — May 24, 2016