Juniper Networks Expands Software-Defined Networking Portfolio to Help Service Providers Build High-IQ Networks

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Juniper Networks

24 Feb, 2014, 08:01 GMT

-- New, Open Solutions Enable Carriers to Build Highly Customizable Networks that Accelerate Service Creation and Optimize Network Operations

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- (Mobile World Congress 2014) – Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), the industry leader in network innovation, today introduced new solutions that expand on its open standards-based software-defined networking (SDN) portfolio to enable carriers to accelerate service creation and build networks that deliver a customized end-user experience. Together with its Contrail technology, Juniper's solutions give service providers the ability to increase network utilization and deliver new, customized services to their customers in real-time. With these latest developments, Juniper now offers the industry's only open, secure, multi-layered, multi-domain SDN solution.

Service providers remain under significant pressure to stay profitable in the face of a data deluge driven by high-definition video streaming, mobile data, cloud computing and Internet-connected devices. At the same time, consumers now expect more customized experiences. According to a recent Bain & Company study, consumers paid an average of 28 percent more for customized goods than "off-the-shelf" products from the same manufacturer.(1) Today, however, service providers must perform complicated and cumbersome manual network changes that prevent the possibility of dynamic bandwidth, function and service provisioning.

Juniper Networks is expanding its SDN portfolio with new software and hardware to help service providers build high-IQ networks and cloud environments. These networks are secure, automated and scalable, enabling rapid service provisioning based on actionable intelligence.

The new SDN solutions from Juniper – which will help carriers address impending 5G demands – reduce complexity, enable networks to securely and intuitively adapt to user preferences in real-time and make existing hardware more efficient and versatile. These innovations will enable service providers to:

1. Automate network operations for simplicity and agility in response to dynamic service needs, while reducing operational costs.

  • Juniper today is unveiling Junos® Fusion, software that can control thousands of independent network elements – either from Juniper or a third-party – from a single management plane. A large network may have multiple core routers, hundreds of edge routers and tens of thousands of additional touch points for transport, aggregation and backhaul, such as microwave, mobile or optical devices. With Junos Fusion, service providers can reduce network complexity and operational costs by collapsing those underlying transport elements into a single point of control from the Juniper Networks® MX Series or PTX Series routing platforms. Junos Fusion is fully interoperable with third-party solutions and is extensible to SDN control.
  • Combining Junos Fusion with the Juniper Networks Contrail controller and Junos Space network management software provides a powerful portfolio of capabilities to simplify the network and make it more responsive to changing service offerings and needs. Junos Fusion will be available Q2 2014.

2. Scale the network infrastructure with silicon and SDN to deliver the performance and efficiency needed to economically meet demand.

  • Juniper is expanding its SDN portfolio with Juniper Networks NorthStar Controller, a new traffic-engineering controller leveraging open, industry-standard protocols built to optimize service providers' transport networks. Expected to be available in the second half of 2014, the NorthStar Controller will automatically identify and program the optimal path within a multi-vendor network, based on operator-defined performance and cost requirements. This will allow service providers to increase utilization, create service-oriented network paths and dynamically adjust to changing network conditions. As a result, service providers can better support dynamic mobile and cloud traffic, avoid costly over provisioning, mitigate wasted CAPEX spend and reduce planning cycles of current static networks.
  • Through the integration of WANDL technology, recently acquired by Juniper Networks, NorthStar Controller is equipped with highly intelligent analytics and modeling capabilities to enhance the performance and cost-effectiveness of an operator's network infrastructure.
  • Today, Juniper is also introducing its 1 TB line cards adding further scale to the PTX Series router. Available in Q2 2014, the new line cards double the PTX router's per-slot capacity to provide operators with more usable per-path bandwidth, yield greater network efficiency and reduce additional CAPEX and OPEX. 

3. Create new customizable services rapidly using an intelligent and programmable network to increase revenue and brand equity.

  • Creating value for service providers is predicated on knowing what users are doing on the network and being able to act on it quickly. Today, with the new Junos Video Focus, Junos Subscriber Aware, Junos Application Aware and Junos Policy Control  products available on the MX Series routers, operators can use the MX in the Gi-LAN as a Service Control Gateway (SCG) to custom-tailor service experiences not only based on who is using the network, but what they are using it for. These SCG functions will be available in mid-2014.
  • Together with Juniper Networks Contrail, service providers can leverage that intelligence to immediately implement Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and quickly provision new services, such as security firewalls like Firefly Perimeter and DDoS Secure, as well as adapt to changing business needs. In addition, service providers can create different service experiences and service chains for different subscribers, based on device, network or application, and charge accordingly.
  • Today, Juniper also introduced the CSE2000 Carrier Services Engine, a purpose-built, NEBS-compliant server platform for the service provider environment. This provides customers with the flexibility to virtualize network functions on the router, in a carrier-grade central office (CO) or on a standard x86 server in the data center, providing the ability to optimize service location based on performance and cost requirements. The CSE2000 is available now.

To assist customers with the transition to highly customizable networks, Juniper Networks offers a full range of professional services. These include assessment, planning and migration services to support customers with roadmap development, design, deployment and integration with their existing service provider operations.

Juniper Networks will be showcasing its innovations in Hall 2, Booth #2061 at Mobile World Congress 2014. In addition, the company will be demonstrating its NorthStar and Contrail Controllers for NFV and SDN at OFC 2014, taking place March 11 – 13 in San Francisco at Booth #309, and at MPLS World Congress, taking place March 18 – 21 in Paris at Booth #102.

Supporting Quotes:

"The sustainability of the service provider business requires significant progress on the evolution towards zero touch networks, as well as the efficiency and flexibility that the virtualization technologies may bring to create new services faster. We share Juniper Networks' vision on automating network processes, deploying scalable network infrastructure, and creating new possibilities thanks to the network programmability. The challenge is ensuring that the industry consistently moves in the same direction."
-Enrique Algaba Montellano, director, Network Innovation and Virtualization, Telefónica

"Expanding Juniper's SDN portfolio aimed at service providers will enable custom service creation opportunities for carriers. What is new and different is Juniper's approach to open, multi-vendor network management of NFV-based services, such as virtual firewall and VPN, which is what service providers are saying they need in order to grow revenues and satisfy consumer and enterprise requirements for flexible service offerings."
-Nav Chander, research manager, IDC

"Historically, service provider networks have expanded economies, given voices to the otherwise unheard, and brought people and communities closer together. Imagine what the next evolution of the network could deliver if it could inherently eliminate complexity for end users and operators, adapt on the fly to deliver experiences based on user preferences, and if intelligent software could be added to make existing hardware more efficient and versatile. That is what Juniper will deliver with an optimized, automated, high-IQ network that allows for real-time customization."
-Rami Rahim, executive vice president, Platform Systems Division, Juniper Networks

Additional Resources:

About Juniper Networks in Routing
Juniper Networks was born from a willingness to challenge conventional thinking. Our routing solutions are the result of some of the industry's most groundbreaking innovations across every aspect of networking technology: in silicon, systems and software.  They continue to be the industry benchmark for performance, scale and rapid services deployment, giving customers a competitive advantage as they set out to build the best networks on the planet.

About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) delivers innovation across routing, switching and security. From the network core down to consumer devices, Juniper Networks' innovations in software, silicon and systems transform the experience and economics of networking. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks (www.juniper.net) or connect with Juniper on Twitter and Facebook.

Juniper Networks and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Juniper Networks and Junos logo are trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Statements in this press release concerning Juniper Networks' prospects, future products and prospective benefits to customers are forward-looking statements that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results or events could differ materially from those anticipated in those forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including delays in scheduled product availability, the company's failure to accurately predict emerging technological trends, and other factors listed in Juniper Networks' most recent report on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements made in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. Juniper Networks undertakes no obligation to update the information in this release in the event facts or circumstances subsequently change after the date of this press release. Any future product, feature, enhancement or related specification that may be referenced in this press release are for information purposes only, are subject to change at any time without notice and are not commitments to deliver any future product, feature, enhancement or related specification. The information contained in this press release is intended to outline Juniper Networks' general product direction and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.

(1) Bain Consumer survey, 2013