Cisco to Optimize NTT Plala’s ISP Network Requirements with Cisco NCS 5500 Series Edge Routers

Japanese　|　English

To manage growing ISP network traffic while saving power and space with increased capacity

Cisco Systems G.K. today announced that NTT Plala Inc. selected its Cisco Network Convergence System 5500 Series “Cisco NCS 5504” as edge routers for their Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks.

NCS 5504 modular routers of the Cisco NCS 5500 Series provide low power consumption, great redundancy, a small footprint, and scalability for flexible and efficient expansion depending on the network demand. The Cisco NCS 5504 can support both 100Gbps and 400Gbps Ethernet ports, allowing for speeds of up to 38.4Tbps (full duplex) to meet future traffic growth by upgrading line cards and fabric cards.

NTT Plala provides internet services to individuals as well as business customers. With an increase in video consumption in recent years, accelerated by the increased adoption of remote work and online classes across Japan due to the pandemic, the company needed to boost its network. The immediate challenge that NTT Plala faced was the ability to manage the unprecedented traffic volume while maintaining the quality of internet services for its customers.

To handle this situation, NTT Plala needed to quickly expand its network, especially at the edge, with intensive access. The company was also looking for more scalability in its data center as large equipment was taking up significant space and consuming a great deal of power.

To solve these challenges, Cisco NCS 5504 was deployed as edge routers to house the ISP’s access network. This enabled the company to address two challenges that are contrary to each other, offering high-capacity aggregation capabilities while enabling space and power savings.

NTT Plala believes their new configuration is scalable for future traffic growth, helps reduce consumption of power and space, and minimizes the network implementation and operation workload. In the event that traffic further increases, NTT Plala expects to meet the demand flexibility by adding line cards with without replacing the chassis.

“We needed to align our Internet services with the recent traffic growth more effectively and efficiently,” said Atsushi Fujiwara, engineer in Network Engineering Department, NTT Plala. “Cisco NCS 5504 allows us to do so by providing wider bandwidth for access network aggregation while reducing burdens of implementing and operating the network. We will continue partnering with Cisco and keep providing our customers with high quality Internet environment.”

Related resource

Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 5500 Series

About NTT Plala Inc.