Juniper MX480: Its Benefits vs. Cost-analysis of size and scalability

It’s cliché to allude to the story of The Three Little Bears in any context, least of which is when talking about routers. However, the Juniper MX480 is the perfect combination of size and scalability and is “just right” for most data center and service provider clients looking at leveraging Juniper’s MX 3D Mid-range router in routing intensive environments.

While the Juniper MX240 compromises one of its three available slots for management redundancy, the MX480 offers 5-full slots for line cards (whether they be DPC, DPCE or MPC) as well as redundant routing engines. The MX480 chassis footprint is only 3 Rack Units (or the equivalent of 5.25 inches) taller than the economy MX240.  This additional space affords it much greater port-density; as much as 200GbE or 20x line rate 10GbE ports. Or 80x assuming MPC-3D-16XGE-SFPP card, with intelligent oversubscribed ratio of 4:3. The MX480 only weighs 13.5 lbs more than the MX240 (65.5 lbs vs 52 lbs, respectively) making the increased handling and physical mobility issue of little consequence.

Also, for power conscious customers, the MX480BASE-AC boasts the same conservative 40 W power requirement as its smaller sibling removing variable utility costs as a factor in the upgrade decision. For a complete guide to power requirements refer to Juniper’s easy to plot chart.

Lastly many of our customers have fixed-budgets and costs weigh heavily into purchasing, and ultimately, their decision making process. However both on the secondary market as well as new direct from a Juniper partner, the MX480 chassis only costs incrementally more than the MX240, making the decision to opt for headroom and scalability an easy one. “Just how much more,” you ask? Well without factoring in market supply and thus fluctuating price points, we’d comfortably say not much more than a few thousand dollars.

If you are in the market for your first foray into Juniper MX-Series routers, or have a new perspective on the benefits of upgrading from the more limited MX240, we’d be happy to work with you to find the right routing solution for your network and your budget. Give us a call. In case you couldn’t already tell, we enjoy what we do, which includes talk endlessly about the Juniper MX480 in all its splendor.

Charles Hurbert charles(at)terabitsystems(dot)com 415-483-1190 Direct AIM: chazfilez75