Juniper MX Series

Line Cards and Modules

To provide the high-density and high-speed Ethernet services, a new type of Flexible Port Concentrator (FPC) had to be created called the Dense Port Concentrator (DPC). This first-generation line card allowed up to 80 Gbps ports per slot.

The DPC line cards utilize a previous ASIC from the M series called the I-CHIP. This allowed Juniper to rapidly build the first MX line cards and software.

The Modular Port Concentrator (MPC) is the second-generation line card created to further increase the density to 160 Gbps ports per slot. This generation of hardware is created using the Trio chipset. The MPC supports MICs that allow you to mix and match different modules on the same MPC.

Table 1-5. Juniper MX line card and module types

FPC Type/Module Type	Description
Dense Port Concentrator (DPC)	First-generation high-density and high-speed Ethernet line cards
Modular Port Concentrator (MPC)	Second-generation high-density and high-speed Ethernet line cards supporting modules
Module Interface Card (MIC)	Second-generation Ethernet and optical modules that are inserted into MPCs

It’s a common misconception that the “modular” part of MPC derives its name only from its ability to accept different kinds of MICs. This is only half of the story. The MPC also derives its name from being able to be flexible when it comes to the Trio chipset. For example, the MPC-3D-16x10GE-SFPP line card is a fixed port configuration, but only uses the Buffering Block and Lookup Block in the PFE complex. ...