Will Cisco's New Backend Net Hardware Help AT&T's iPhone Service Suck Less?

Cisco Systems just revealed its new CRS 3 datacenter-level broadband router. Constrain your whoops of joy, Net infrastructure geeks. But the rest of us probably should pay attention: It may transform AT&T's mobile broadband.

Cisco's hardware--the mysterious lumps of metal, plastic, and silicon standing in racks inside datacenters and telecommunications management facilities--is absolutely key to enabling much of the way current Internet signals get routed around the World. This is a...