India's indigenous 'core' router: How fast is it?

Nivetti's 2.4Tbps router is a significant leap for Made-in-India-from gigabit- to terabits-class--critical for enterprise networking infrastructure

- VERNIKA AWAL

On 9 March, Union Communications and Electronics & IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw unveiled India's 'fastest router'. Jointly developed by Bengaluru-based electronics development firm Nivetti Systems, the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), it is a 'core' router. What this means is that it will not be used in home networks but as a crucial component of large networking infrastructure. The development is being seen as yet another success of India's advancements in domestic electronics equipment manufacturing and research.

WHAT IS THE ROUTER, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

A core router plays a critical role in networking infrastructure by supporting the highest possible network bandwidth across all ports. 

Such routers are primarily utilised in large-scale networking systems, which serve as the backbone for modern-day enterprises, defence systems, government Intranets, and more. It is essential to differentiate these devices from the Wi-Fi routers commonly found in homes, as they provide single-point network routing to deliver Internet services suitable for household demands, which are considerably lower than those of enterprise-grade systems.

The significance of such a system, and thus the hype surrounding it, lies in the fact that, until now, core routers were predominantly imported from other countries. In India, notable suppliers of core routers have included China's Huawei and ZTE, as well as global firms like Cisco, Ericsson, and Nokia.

"The indigenously developed router by Nivetti is important from India's security and self-reliance perspective and the C-DOT is fully backing it to further the country's Make-in-India capabilities in critical hardware and equipment sector, as well as in fostering innovation," Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO of C-DOT said adding that the government plans to further invest in such initiatives.