Juniper EX-Series - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Juniper
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...

EX-Series is a series of Ethernet

Ethernet

Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....

network switch

Network switch

A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that connects network segments.The term commonly refers to a multi-port network bridge that processes and routes data at the data link layer of the OSI model...

es designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...

. These switches run on Juniper's network operating system

Network operating system

A networking operating system , also referred to as the Dialoguer, is the software that runs on a server and enables the server to manage data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions...

, JUNOS

JUNOS

Juniper Junos is the software or the network operating system used in Juniper Networks hardware systems. It is an operating system that is used in Juniper's routing, switching and security devices. Juniper offers a Software Development Kit to partners and customers to allow additional customization...

. Juniper's then CEO and present Chairman, Scott Kriens

Scott Kriens

Scott Kriens is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and former CEO of Juniper Networks.-Early life and education:Kriens did his bachelor's degree in economics from California State University, East Bay in Hayward, CA in 1979. As an undergraduate, Kriens used to fix cars to meet expenses. Now he...

said that the product launch marked the beginning of a transcending chapter in Juniper's history, declaring, "The switch is on". The EX series switch was launched after 12 years since the start of the company in 1996.

Models and Platforms

The Juniper EX series switches includes five different families: EX2500, EX3200,EX4200,EX4500 and EX8200

EX2500

The Juniper EX2500 line of 10Gb Ethernet switches address high-performance server access requirements with twenty-four 10 GbE SFP+ ports that deliver wire-speed performance and 700 nanosecond latency. The EX2500 Series will support 480 Gigabit per second (Gbps) throughput (full duplex) in a 1 rack-unit (RU) footprint. The EX2500 Series is expected to be available in 2Q 2009. The EX2500 Series has both power and fan redundancy as standard features. The EX2500 Series comes with dual, load-sharing power supplies, as well as redundant, variable-speed fans to protect from single power supply or fan failure. The EX2500 is a rebranded OEM product which does not run JunOS. Its technical configuration, performance and physical case style is similar to the Blade Network Technologies RackSwitch G8124.

EX3200

The Juniper 3200 switches are 24-port or 48-port boxes with 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet ports supporting power over Ethernet (PoE). They can also support 1G Ethernet and 10G Ethernet uplinks.

EX4200

The Juniper 4200 series is built on modular chassis used for data centers and large corporate offices. They also come in 24-port and 48-port models and support PoE as well as 1 Gig Ethernet and 10Gig Ethernet uplinks. They also have a 24-port fiber option. These switches are stackable, and 10 of them can be linked to create a single virtual switch supporting up to 480 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports, forty 1G Ethernet or twenty 10G Ethernet ports. EX4200 Virtual Chassis can be expanded by using optical ports and/or ethernet ports (VCE - Virtual Chassis Expansion), thus allowing to manage device as a single switch even if locations are separated. Optical modules support up to 80 kilometers range.

EX4500

The Juniper EX4500 series consists models which differ in the direction of the airflow used for cooling and the support for Converged Enhanced Ethernet. All models are two rack units high and have forty 10G Ethernet SFP+ ports. Two slots are available which can be used to add four 10G Ethernet SFP+ ports per slot. The roadmap for these switches includes the ability to stack them together and with switches of the EX4200 series.

EX8200

The Juniper 8200 series are core switches for 10G Ethernet backbones that comes in two models. One has an eight-slot 1.6 Tbit/s chassis that supports up to 64 ports. The other has a sixteen-slot 3.2 Tbit/s chassis that supports up to 128 ports. Separate external routing engine XRE200 can be used to offload switches REs.

Features

The EX switches support a range of features including high availability and network access control (NAC

NAC

NAC may refer to:* Natural Area Code, a proprietary geocode system for identifying an area anywhere on the Earth* National Agency Check, part of a National Agency Check with Local Agency Check and Credit Check for a U.S. Security Clearance...

). The NAC support, which Juniper calls Unified Access Control (UAC), enables the switches to enforce access policies rather than rely on firewalls, VPN gateways or switches made by other vendors.

Juniper Networks EX-series Ethernet switches are compliant with Internet protocol (IP) telephony solutions from Avaya

Avaya

Avaya Inc. is a privately held computer networking, information technology and telecommunications company that is a global provider of business communications systems. The international head quarters is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States...

. They are also interoperable with leading network management platforms from AlterPoint, CA, EMC

EMC Corporation

EMC Corporation , a Financial Times Global 500, Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, develops, delivers and supports information infrastructure and virtual infrastructure hardware, software, and services. EMC is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.Former Intel executive Richard Egan and his...

, HP, IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

, InfoVista and SolarWinds.

Network World Lab Alliance certified that Juniper switches a credible alternative for enterprise access in switching in comparison with other vendors' access switches.