Extreme Networks unveiled a new carrier Ethernet switch for metro networks today that the vendor is hailing as denser and less expensive than similar products from major competitors.

With 64 10-Gb/s Ethernet ports per chassis and 120 10-GigE ports per rack, Extreme is hailing the new BlackDiamond 20808 as a third more dense than Juniper Networks’ MX 960 and more than three times as dense as Alcatel-Lucent’s 7450.

Earlier this year, Alcatel-Lucent promised new line cards in the third quarter that would boost the 7450’s GigE count. Cisco introduced new 40-Gb/s line cards for its 7600 routers this week and is expected to release new edge routing gear this year.

Each chassis of Extreme’s new 20808, available in December, can support 250,000 queues and more than 100,000 streams, the vendor said, and it has a 2-terabit-per-second switching fabric.

Extreme also touted the low price of the new product, under $5800 per 10 GigE port, or less than $100,000 for an “entry-level” system. Extreme also argues that, as a Layer 2 technology, it will save operating expenses by requiring less expensive expertise than MPLS routing platforms. But Extreme executives imagine MPLS will continue to dominate core networks while vendors like Extreme continue to try to penetrate metro networks.

“We’re realists,” said Peter Lunk, Extreme’s senior director of service provider marketing. “We know people spent lot of money putting MPLS in core networks and will expect to use those going forward.”