Cisco Puts Starent Products on Display at CES with Verizon

Cisco Systems is showing off its newly acquired Starent Networks technologies by participating in Verizon Wireless demonstrations at CES.

Cisco bought Starent Dec. 18 for $2.9 billion, a move designed to give the company greater traction in the rapidly growing mobile Internet market. Starent makes products for wireless service providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, who want to give users a wider range of mobile Internet experiences.

The mobile Internet is becoming a key focus for companies like Cisco, Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent, as the number of smartphones and other Internet-connected mobile devices—such as netbooks—in use by businesses and consumers is exploding.

Starent’s technology offers multimedia intelligence and core network functions that service providers can use to manage access from any 2.5G, 3G or 4G radio network to a mobile operator’s packet core network.

Cisco is putting some of its Starent wares and other mobility solutions on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, working with Verizon Wireless at the show and in Verizon’s LTE Innovation Center at the show.

The center enables vendors to come together to build products that will leverage 4G LTE technology.

Cisco is supporting several LTE demonstrations using its Packet Data Network Gateway solution, which Verizon uses in its LTE Evolved Packet Core network. The Packet Data Network Gateway gives mobile operators flexibility in designing their networks, and offers high performance and the intelligence needed for multimedia services.

Cisco officials said both their company and Starent have had ongoing relationships with Verizon Wireless.

Verizon uses Cisco’s CRS-1 carrier routing system, ASR 9000 Series routers and ASR 1000 Series routers.

Verizon in February 2009 chose Starent as a core vendor for its 4G LTE network deployment, and recently started using Starent's Gateway GPRS Support Node for its mobile core infrastructure, according to Cisco.