Juniper Networks officially rolled out at the end of October what it referred to as “groundbreaking new software, silicon, systems and partnerships designed to propel the ‘new network’ for enterprise and service provider customers.” Altogether, they “combine breakthrough technology with smart partnerships to help customers immediately reinvent the experience and economics of networking, while fostering a broad ecosystem of innovation across the network,” said the statement issued by arguably one of the world’s strongest information security and high-performance networking solutions provider on October 30.
Unveiled brand new were: the Junos software platform, including the Junos network operating and management system, Junos Space network application platform and Junos Pulse network client; Junos-based silicon and systems, including the Junos One family of processors; Junos-based cloud networking and security solutions; and partnerships that throw open the doors to development work and joint delivery of products based on Junos, including go-to-market relationships with IBM and Dell, and the licensing of the Junos operating system to BLADE Network Technologies for the development of Junos-based blade server switches.
With new parts
Juniper’s network operating and management system now comes on a software platform (also named Junos) that integrates a new network application platform called Junos Space, and a network client called Junos Pulse.
Junos Space is said to enable developers to simplify network operations, automate support and accelerate service delivery. Junos Pulse, as a new unified client, provides location-aware, identity-aware and device-verified access to cloud services, mitigating security threats and improving the user experience on PCs and mobile phones, according to official sources at Juniper.
Altogether the Junos software platform, according to the Juniper statement, enables “customers to directly program multiple layers of their networks for rich user experiences, smart economics and fast time to market.”
New Junos-based silicon and systems
A new family of processors, Junos One, is now loosed upon the networking world, to improve it, we are told by Juniper executives. In the mix is the Junos Trio chipset, which incorporates 3D scaling technology that “enables networks to dynamically support more subscribers, services and bandwidth” simultaneously, and will come in modular line cards and new 3.5-inch routers for Juniper’s MX Series of ethernet services routers, delivering throughput speeds of up to 2.6 terabits-per-second (Tbps). According to a Juniper comparison study done sometime earlier this month, the MX 3D routers with 3D scaling deliver two to four times the capacity of competitors’ offerings. (Throughput speed of Juniper’s MX960 3D—2.64 Tbps; throughput speed of competitive products—1-1.28 Tbps.)
This category of new products are significant because they herald Juniper’s leap into the cloud computing revolution. Not only can they carry the heavy traffic and high volume demanded by the cloud, they also enable dynamic cloud controls, open application platforms, and ultimately “revolutionary economics for delivering cloud services at [a] massive scale.”
New Junos-based cloud networking and security solutions
The announced offerings in this category include: enhanced virtualised security services, which now provide application-aware and identity-aware policy enforcement for cloud services; the new AppSecure suite of tools, which sees to the provision of greater visibility and control over access to applications in cloud-ready data centres; coordinated threat controls, which by integrating user identity and knowledge of the application into security policies gives administrators more granular control over application flows in the cloud; virtual server security features, which include the ability to set policies across virtual and physical machines traversing the entire network; and, an extended virtual desktop infrastructure, which now includes new and improved support for Citrix and VMware VDI on Juniper’s SA Series Appliances, and the provision of cloud users with seamless single-sign-on access to virtual desktops via SSL VPN.
New Junos-based partnerships
These include a couple that have Dell and IBM delivering Juniper systems as part of their cloud-ready data centre solutions from hereon; one that has Blade Network Technologies developing future blade switches based on the Junos operating system; and a number of agreements with developers—among them Active Broadband Networks, Ankeena Networks, Harris Stratex, Packet Design, Q1 Labs, Telchemy, Telecom Italia and Triveni Digital—facilitating the building and enhancement of applications based on Junos software.
