Juniper Tightens Grip on Data Center Space

If there was any question what direction Juniper Networks (JNPR) is moving with its networking expertise, the company’s latest product announcement has data center written all over it.

“Routing, switching and security are all equally important in the solutions we deliver to our customers,” said CEO Rami Rahim at Juniper’s Innovation Showcase March 11 at company HQ in Sunnyvale, California.

In the switching space, Juniper unveiled the QFX10000 line of spine switches, designed to support massive throughput data centers need.

“We built a spine switch,” Rahim said. “But we wanted to make sure when we shipped it that it would be truly differentiated from what’s out there now—that it’s not a me-too product, but different from what is out there today.”

The QFX10000 line, along with the Junos Fusion solution for managing network elements, extends the QFX portfolio to serve larger scale and high-performance environments such as cloud hosting environments and data centers. The spine switch runs on a purpose-built Q5 ASIC and offers 100G density with 10/40/100GE transition and up to 96Tbps, depending on the model.

In the router space, Juniper took the wraps off its Converged Supercore, featuring homegrown silicon and updates to its PTX series. Software-defined networking is the name of the game, as the ExpressPlus chip is designed to offer 1.5 billion operations per second in a 3D memory architecture.

“Core networking is the key to service resiliency and experience,” said Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager of Development and Innovation (a lofty title if ever there was one). “Connectivity and core infrastructure are like the need to have fresh water—it’s an expectation from what we all have.

“So what is Juniper doing to respond to the volumes of data now running through the network? We’ve started by building custom silicon,” he said.

Finally, Juniper has updated its SRX5000 services gateway with Express Path, which the company said will boost throughput and reduce latency while keeping up with the security needs associated with the massive amounts of data running through the data center.

With these latest offerings, it’s clear Juniper wants to own the data center space. Perhaps the larger hurdle is ensuring the larger ecosystem the company finally is on firmer ground after a year of turmoil that included another new CEO and upheaval in its channel ranks.

“Last year was a year of significant change for the company. It wasn’t easy,” Rahim said. “It was a year of aligning our strategy, but we’ve emerged from that and when I  look back on the work we’ve done, I feel extremely good about where we are in the industry. We are exactly where I want to be.”