Juniper Networks
Encyclopedia
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. Juniper's main products include T-series
, M-series
, E-series
, MX-series
, and J-series
families of routers, EX-series
Ethernet switches and SRX-series security products. Junos
, Juniper's own network operating system
, runs on most Juniper products.
, a principal scientist at Xerox
's Palo Alto Research Center, returned from vacation with the idea to start a company to supply high-performance routers to support the quickly emerging Internet. Sindhu started the company in February 1996 with $200,000 in seed money from powerful venture capital
firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He hired two other engineers, Bjorn Liencres from Sun Microsystems
and Dennis Ferguson from MCI
. For business expertise, Sindhu recruited Scott Kriens
, co-founder of StrataCom
.
As a startup, Juniper received $6 Million in funding from AT&T
and the Anschutz Corporation
in 1997. It also received another $14 million from a variety of venture capitalists. It garnered financial support of over $40 million of Northern Telecom, 3Com
, UUNET Technologies
, a subsidiary of WorldCom, the Siemens
AG/Newbridge Networks
alliance; and Ericsson
.
Juniper went public
on 25 June 1999. The price per share was US$34.00, and 4.8 million shares were offered on the Nasdaq
National Market under the trading symbol JNPR. The company had one of the most successful initial public offerings in history. By the end of the first day as a publicly traded company, Juniper's stock rose to $98.88, a 190 percent single-day jump that increased the company's market capitalization to just below $4.9 billion, the highest ever first-day valuation for a technology company, according to Securities Data Corp.
Pradeep Sindhu
served as Chief Executive Officer
and Chairman of the Board
of Directors until September 1996. Kriens became CEO in October 1996, and is credited with leading Juniper's initial commercial success. Juniper was reincorporated in March 1998 in Delaware.
After being highly visible in 1999-2003 timeframe, Kriens became largely inactive for several years between 2004 and 2007 until eventually stepping down in 2008. Scott remained as Chairman with annual compensation totaling $3,958,110.00 in 2008.
Kevin Johnson
succeeded Kriens as Juniper's third CEO in July 2008; Johnson was the former chief of Microsoft's Platform and Services Division. Johnson had to immediately deal with the effects of the Late-2000s recession, and decided against cuts to Juniper's $800 million R&D budget. This decision contributed to the development of new products such as the MX 3D
and SRX.
, an intellectual property
design firm for $19 million. In December 2000, Juniper acquired ASIC
design firm Micro Magic Inc.
, for $260 million in stocks and cash. November 2001 saw the acquisition of the CMTS startup Pacific Broadband Communications
for $200 million. In May 2002, Juniper bought the intellectual property of Nexsi Systems. In July 2002 Unisphere Networks
, a subsidiary of Siemens
, was acquired for $740 million.
In 2004, Juniper utilized the recovery of high-tech markets to fund the company's largest purchase: a $4 billion acquisition for NetScreen Technologies
(which had previously acquired Neoteris). In April 2005, Kagoor Networks
was acquired for $65.7 million. In July 2005, Juniper acquired two companies: Peribit Networks
($337 million)
and Redline Networks
($132 million). Acorn Packet Solutions
was acquired in October 2005 for $8.7 million. In December 2005, Juniper acquired Funk Software
for $122 million. In April 2010, Juniper announced it would acquire Ankeena Networks for under $100 million. More acquisitions followed in November of the same year, adding Wi-Fi vendor Trapeze Networks and intellectual property of video specialist firm Blackwave.
Juniper's acquisitions were not all successful. During its 4Q2008 earnings call, E-series products were still quoted as a significant source of revenue five years after acquisition of Unisphere, while Juniper SLT division (originally built with NetScreen products) was credited with record revenue of $246 million. This suggests Juniper realized good return on Unisphere, and largely overcame the technical and managerial challenges of integrating with NetScreen (although the latter company was apparently overvalued).
At the same time, products acquired from Pacific Broadband (G-series), Kagoor Networks (SBC), Peribit (WX platform), Redline (DX platform) and Funk Software (SBR appliance) did not succeed.
, which reportedly benefited senior executives. The investigation started in 2006 and ended in February 2010. Juniper agreed to pay $169m to settle a class-action suit. During the investigation, Juniper delayed financial results and got a delisting notice from NASDAQ
. Concurrently, Juniper wrote off $1.3 billion in goodwill
for the quarter ended 30 June 2006.
In the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, Case No. 1-09-CV-148882 Juniper Networks was sued for misclassification of its unix systems administrators ("lab administrators" aka "lab trolls") as salaried exempt employees when they were hourly exempt employees. A settlement hearing is now pending for 2012.
Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work for. Juniper ranked 4 in Fortune
Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies list in Networking Communications category in 2009. Juniper received the Association of Support Professionals' The Year's Ten Best Web Support Sites award every year from 2006 to 2011.
(ASIC
s) that could sustain line-rate packet forwarding across eight packet-over-SONET
(OC48c) ports in a half-rack
form factor. This was a critical technological improvement, which allowed unconstrained Internet growth and gained Juniper a place in a market formerly dominated by Cisco Systems. Since then, high-end routing was closely watched by industry experts and analysts and is still regarded as important technology showcase.
Juniper maintained market momentum by capitalizing on the M40 design: M20, a smaller version with partial redundancy, launched in 1999; and compact M5 and M10 platforms were added the following year. The M-series further expanded in 28 March 2000, with the release of M160, which employed packet spraying across quad M40-style packet engines to achieve line rate forwarding at OC192 speeds.
By 2000, Juniper took 30 percent of the core router market, almost entirely at expense of Cisco Systems. However, the unchallenged reign of M-series as Internet core routers did not last for long. Cisco responded with its Engine 4 linecard for its GSR
router in 2001, starting the first round of "Core Wars". Although Engine 4 was a time to market
product with few features other than IP forwarding and Multiprotocol Label Switching
, M160 was also a line extension of the original M40 blueprint, bringing the rivalry to a stalemate.
The status quo ended in 2002, when Juniper announced its new flagship router, T640. Unlike the original M-series, T-series
was a distributed design, capable of 40 Gigabit
/slot performance and terabit
-level system scaling with multi-chassis options. A smaller T320 system was quick to follow and cement T-series
position in the core. Juniper's dominance became so obvious, that Cisco had to effectively retire GSR core products and refocus surviving 12000/12400 systems for provider's edge. This time, however, Juniper could not effectively convert its technological advantage into market share: by mid-2002, the dot-com bubble
popped and most carriers cut their growth plans and expense budgets.
Second round of "Core Wars" started in 2004, with the launch of Cisco Carrier Routing System
into a quickly recovering market. Cisco CRS-1 boasted innovative hardware and a brand new operating system, IOS XR
, aimed squarely at Juniper T-series
and Junos
. At 40 Gbit/s per slot (full-duplex), the Cisco Carrier Routing System offered comparable density to the Juniper T640 and established parity in features. After the release of the CRS-1, Juniper core market share stabilized at 27.7% The newly found balance in the Juniper-Cisco core duopoly lasted until 2007, when Juniper released the T1600. Initially available with effective density of 80 Gbit/s per slot, this new T-series member received a 100 Gbit/s per slot facelift late 2009 and in 2010 became the first-ever product to deliver a commercial implementation of the 100GE
interface (IEEE 802.3ba
). Juniper was able to advance its market penetration by a few points, but still could not win more than a third of the core market.
The latest stage of core competition was initiated by Cisco at the end of 2010 with launch of CRS-3. Surpassing the original T1600 in density by forty percent, the 140 Gbit/s Cisco CRS-3 also brought Cisco into the 100GE
league. New companies such as Brocade
and Huawei
have entered the market from the low end and are exerting market pressure on Cisco and Juniper.
Overall, in the "core wars" between Cisco and Juniper, Juniper was shipping denser products in 1998-2001, 2002–2004 and 2007–2010, while Cisco stayed at parity in 2001 and 2004–2007 and shipped denser product in 2011.
was based on Internet Processor I ASIC, which did not have many edge functions. However, the design proved to be flexible enough to be retrofitted with sampling, firewall and MPLS VPN features. Therefore, in September 2000 Juniper announced plans to expand its line of Internet core router
s to the access edge and started shipping T1/E1 and channelized interfaces on Juniper M-series
. By the end of 2002 Juniper had also penetrated the broadband aggregation segment with the Juniper E-series
BRAS devices based on technology by Unisphere Networks
. This move towards the edge was further supported by extending the Juniper M-series
technology with M40e (2002) and M7i/M10i (2003) systems, featuring edge-specific packaging for proven M-series chipset.
Juniper's edge products borrowed silicon from the core routers (LMNR chipset) once again in 2004, to launch a highly acclaimed M320. This product became the last to support heterogenous interfaces (such as ATM and channelized) at high scale; in the following years, edge focus steadfastly shifted towards Ethernet. In 2006, Juniper introduced its first edge-specific chipset (I-Chip) which formed the basis for a highly redundant M120 router and a new family of Ethernet-specific carrier platforms, Juniper MX-series. Armed with the new silicon, Juniper was able to fit twelve 40 Gbit/s linecards into 16RU MX960 chassis and set the new density standard.
Driven by the growing importance of Ethernet services, Juniper MX-series
was an instant hit and gained in excess of 250 accounts in less than 18 months after the initial launch
Capitalizing on growth of Carrier Ethernet, Juniper also saw the opportunity to consolidate edge, broadband and Ethernet-specific services around MX product line. Unveiled in 2009, a second generation of MX-series (MX 3D) is based on a new "Trio" chipset with density of up to 120 Gbit/s (full-duplex) per slot and available subscriber services. As of 1Q2010, Juniper maintained position #2 in the edge market, with Cisco and Alcatel being the closest rivals.
as well as the internally developed low-end router family Juniper J-series
. In the last quarter prior to acquisition (ending 31 Dec 2003), NetScreen reported $81 million in revenue, and Juniper reported net revenue of $207 million.
Despite gaining market share thru NetScreen, Juniper experienced difficulties penetrating the Enterprise routing segment - partially due to well-entrenched positions of Cisco Systems and partially due to the time it took Juniper to assemble a consistent product lineup. Being well-heeled in the carrier space, Juniper robustly performed at the high end of the enterprise connectivity with M7i/M10i, but found challenges when merging Junos software for J-series
with NetScreen's security code for low-end, branch office and integrated security markets.
On the hardware side, J-series
systems were built around Intel CPUs and utilized packet-based forwarding in the software path to achieve IP/MPLS forwarding functionality comparable to their larger M-series counterparts. First-generation J-series
(J2300, J4300, J6300) emulated linecards by stacking network interfaces behind Intel IXP NPUs running an embedded Junos clone. Control plane of J-series was powered by normal Junos build talking to a "software PFE" emulated on top of a small hypervisor. Such software structure allowed J-series
to remain architecturally close to the "mainstay" Juniper routers with hardware forwarding path. Naturally, feature set was largely the same across J/M/T products. On the other hand, NetScreen devices used a variety of embedded CPUs and encryption accelerators to achieve flow-based secure forwarding within NetScreen OS, thus forcing Juniper enterprise customers to choose between a good router with limited security performance (J-series) and a good IDS/firewall with rudimentary routing functions (NetScreen appliance).
Over the time, it became clear that J-series architecture needs to evolve to accommodate faster Ethernet interfaces and flow-based security processing in the software model similar to NetScreen. It was also determined that satellite IXP processors mostly failed the task of insulating CPU from packet handling and are to be eliminated from design. Therefore, second-generation J-series
(J2350, J4350, J6350) was launched in 2006, with high-speed interfaces connected directly via PCI Express
and sharing the hardware platform with NetScreen SSG devices. This way, Juniper was able to leverage some hardware and software similarities across J-series
and NetScreen product lines, but customers still had to choose whether to boot their system with Junos or NetScreen software load.
It was not until 2010, when the two product lines started merging under Junos 10.3 umbrella into the low-end SRX product line (SRX100, SRX210, SRX240) with rich security and routing features. This new branch of Juniper products was a major redesign form both software and hardware perspective - it runs Junos on top of the multi-core Octeon CPUs, with control and forwarding planes residing on different cores.
Meanwhile, at the high end of security market, the SRX moniker also hit a sweet spot. After inheriting some high-end firewall business from NetScreen, Juniper was eventually able to reinvent this technology under Junos for datacenters and mobile operators as SRX service gateways, effectively combining high-speed firewall, IDS and AppSecure features at scale. Top-end SRX products reuse chassis, fabric and network-facing modules from successful MX-series
, while employing proprietary load-sharing services processing cards (SPCs) to implement complex security services entirely in hardware.
hold its international operations. They include Juniper Networks K.K. (Japan
), Juniper Networks B.V. (Netherlands
), Juniper Networks International Limited (Cayman Islands), Juniper Networks FSC Inc. (Barbados), Juniper Networks U.K. Ltd. (United Kingdom
), Juniper Networks GmbH (Germany
), Juniper Networks France Sarl (France
), Juniper Networks Australia Ltd. (Australia
), Juniper Networks Hong Kong Ltd. (Hong Kong
), Juniper Networks South Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong), Juniper Networks China Ltd. (Hong Kong), Juniper Networks Canada Inc. (Canada
), Juniper Networks International, Inc and Juniper Networks India Pvt Ltd (India
). Separately, Juniper also owns the "Juniper Acquisition Corporation".
(formerly written as JUNOS) is the operating system
that runs on most of Juniper's networking equipment. It is Juniper's single in-house network operating system
spanning routing
, switching
and security
platforms on its router products. Juniper Junos was the first commercially available full-fledged modular OS with full memory protection available for routing products. Initially, the biggest competitor of Junos was Cisco Systems
's IOS
, but now Junos mainly competes against other modular systems, such as Cisco IOS-XR and Alcatel-Lucent SR-OS. Junos features both vertical and horizontal modularity, and provides APIs for third-party applications (known as "Junos Space"). Although Junos was originally derived from FreeBSD
, subsequent product development resulted in major kernel
and infrastructure improvements (like In-Service Software Upgrade and real-time packet forwarding plane). Unusually for a vendor with comparable product breadth, Juniper sticks to a strict software release discipline, with four major Junos releases per year covering all supported platforms.
was the first product by Juniper Networks, which was released in 1998. The M40 was the first of its kind product, capable of forwarding packets entirely in silicon, without support from a general-purpose CPU. This was achieved by using a proprietary chipset codenamed "ABC". The chipset consisted of three ASIC types, "A", for high-speed switching, "B" for L2 processing and memory interface and "C" for L3 services, together forming a packet processing engine (PFE). The PFE also included shared packet memory
, a single packet forwarding table, and a one-write, one-read architecture.The entire PFE was capable of forwarding at 40 Mpps, a capacity more than 100 times faster than that of any other available router architectures at that time. Many features of M40 (such as separation of control and forwarding plane and modular OS) have become industry standard.
The J, LN, M, MX, and T series routers run Junos
.
While the E, LN, M, MX and T series are all high speed ASIC
based devices capable of terminating multiple broadband optical connections, the J series forwarding plane is partially software-driven. J-Series
also is capable of carrying non-Juniper hardware in the form of Avaya
IP Telephony module.
Although Cisco claimed to have the fastest/highest capacity core routing platform in the world with the CRS-3 platform, the new Juniper T4000 core router promises to be even faster
EX Series Juniper's switch products were introduced in 2008 and run Junos
. Available in fixed and modular form factors with full or partial PoE functionality, EX represents Juniper's bid for enterprise switch market, augmenting the "One Operating System" strategy and generating $74 million in revenue during 4Q2009.
. Ranging from compact branch-office models to 16RU SRX 5800 (dubbed "the world's fastest firewall" by ComputerWorld in 2010), SRX combines security, routing and switching in one chassis. Security features include the full UTM functionality previously found on ScreenOS, including web filtering, IDP and anti-virus. Although high-end and low-end SRX platforms differ in the underlying hardware, common software base enables feature consistency and signature Juniper routing code.
The NetScreen 5200/5400, SSG Series and ISG Series firewalls run the ScreenOS operating system and deliver firewall, anti-virus, intrusion protection and VPN services. Intrusion detection and prevention appliances (IDP series) provide zero-day protection against worms, trojans, spyware, keyloggers, and other malware. Acquired with NetScreen Technologies, these platforms were originally powered by ScreenOS and now in transit to Junos and SRX technology.
Juniper Secure Access products provide SSL-based VPN services to remote users thru regular web browsers (e.g. Mozilla Firefox) on a variety of Java-enabled platforms (Microsoft Windows
, Mac OS
, Linux
, Apple iOS). This product line came to Juniper from NetScreen via last-minute acquisition of Neoteris and became one of the company's technological wins. Unlike legacy IPsec tunnels, basic SSL VPN access works right out of the box on virtually any SSL-capable device (e.g. iPhone
with mobile Safari browser) without a specialized client.
NSM Network and Security Manager is an enterprise-wide management tool for Juniper devices that features single-point bastion control over multiple Juniper devices, a syslog host and configuration backup repository, and the NSMXpress appliance that provides distributed hierarchical features.
, Juniper's Service Provider program is four-tier, with JNCIE requiring lab exams.
Enterprise Solution Provider partners offer product and solution portfolios that enable customers to build business critical networks. Enterprise Solution Providers resell, service, manage and consult on Juniper products & solutions.
Service Provider Infrastructure partners deliver a wide range of high-performance networking solutions based on purpose-built technology that support the world's largest and most demanding networks. Juniper Networks is recognized as a center of excellence in the development of software, hardware, and silicon technology designed to support high performance, intelligent networks deployed by service providers.
Managed Service Provider partners offer differentiated managed services with the features and performance that meet your business needs. Managed Services Partners can manage, monitor, and deploy Juniper Networks-based solutions.
Juniper products are also sold thru IBM and Dell under OEM agreements.
Since Dell acquired Force10
in the summer of 2011 the ethernet-switches that Dell sold as PowerCo0nnect J-series became End of Sales per December 2011 as Dell can now deliver comparable Force10 switches. Only the Juniper security products (SRX series) are still being sold as PowerConnect J-series
Also of note is Juniper's Open IP Solution Development Program which provides Independent Software Vendors, OEM partners and Research Institutions with full access to Junos
SDK
for control and services planes. This allows partners to leverage Junos
for rapid development of new applications like next-gen signaling protocols, deep packet inspection and SLA
monitoring.
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
and computer networking products multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
network products and services. Juniper's main products include T-series
Juniper T-Series
Juniper T-Series is a series of core routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. The T-Series core router family comprises the T320, T640, T1600, TX Matrix, and TX Matrix Plus, designed for high-end and core networks with throughput from 320 Gbit/s to 25.6 Tbit/s with a maximum...
, M-series
Juniper M-Series
Juniper M Series is a series of Multiservice Edge routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks, for enterprise and service provider networks. It spans over M7i, M10i, M40e, M120, and M320 platforms with 7 Gbit/s up to 320 Gbit/s of throughput. The M40 router was the first product by...
, E-series
Juniper E-Series
Juniper E-Series is a series of Broadband Services routers or edge routers manufactured by Juniper Networks. The E series was originally developed by Unisphere Networks, which Juniper acquired in 2002...
, MX-series
Juniper MX-Series
Juniper MX-Series is a series of Ethernet Services routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. These are a line of Ethernet-optimized multilayer packet processing devices designed for aggregation at the service-provider edge. These routers run on Juniper's network operating system, JUNOS...
, and J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
families of routers, EX-series
Juniper EX-Series
Juniper EX-Series is a series of Ethernet network switches designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. These switches run on Juniper's network operating system, JUNOS. Juniper's then CEO and present Chairman, Scott Kriens said that the product launch marked the beginning of a transcending...
Ethernet switches and SRX-series security products. 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 own 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...
, runs on most Juniper products.
History
In 1995 Pradeep SindhuPradeep Sindhu
Pradeep Sindhu is the Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer/ Vice Chairman of the Board of the Directors of Juniper Networks Inc. He was also the CEO of the company until 1996....
, a principal scientist at Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
's Palo Alto Research Center, returned from vacation with the idea to start a company to supply high-performance routers to support the quickly emerging Internet. Sindhu started the company in February 1996 with $200,000 in seed money from powerful venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He hired two other engineers, Bjorn Liencres from Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
and Dennis Ferguson from MCI
MCI Communications
MCI Communications Corp. was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington,...
. For business expertise, Sindhu recruited 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...
, co-founder of StrataCom
StrataCom
StrataCom, Inc. was founded in Cupertino, California, USA, in January 1986 by 26 former employees of the failing Packet Technologies, Inc. StrataCom produced the first commercial cell switch, also known as a fast-packet switch. Its product was the working proof of the technology which became...
.
As a startup, Juniper received $6 Million in funding from AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
and the Anschutz Corporation
The Anschutz Corporation
The Anschutz Corporation is a privately-held holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It was started in 1958 by Fred Anschutz, an wildcatter, and the father of Philip Anschutz, who took over the company in 1962....
in 1997. It also received another $14 million from a variety of venture capitalists. It garnered financial support of over $40 million of Northern Telecom, 3Com
3Com
3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
, UUNET Technologies
UUNET
UUNET founded in 1987, was one of the largest Internet service providers and one of the nine Tier 1 networks. It was based in Northern Virginia and was the first commercial Internet service provider...
, a subsidiary of WorldCom, the Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
AG/Newbridge Networks
Newbridge Networks
Newbridge Networks was an Ottawa, Ontario, Canada company founded by Welsh-Canadian entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews. It was founded in 1986 to create data and voice networking products after Matthews was forced out of his original company Mitel...
alliance; and Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
.
Juniper went public
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
on 25 June 1999. The price per share was US$34.00, and 4.8 million shares were offered on the Nasdaq
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
National Market under the trading symbol JNPR. The company had one of the most successful initial public offerings in history. By the end of the first day as a publicly traded company, Juniper's stock rose to $98.88, a 190 percent single-day jump that increased the company's market capitalization to just below $4.9 billion, the highest ever first-day valuation for a technology company, according to Securities Data Corp.
Pradeep Sindhu
Pradeep Sindhu
Pradeep Sindhu is the Co-founder and Chief Technical Officer/ Vice Chairman of the Board of the Directors of Juniper Networks Inc. He was also the CEO of the company until 1996....
served as Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
and Chairman of the Board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Directors until September 1996. Kriens became CEO in October 1996, and is credited with leading Juniper's initial commercial success. Juniper was reincorporated in March 1998 in Delaware.
After being highly visible in 1999-2003 timeframe, Kriens became largely inactive for several years between 2004 and 2007 until eventually stepping down in 2008. Scott remained as Chairman with annual compensation totaling $3,958,110.00 in 2008.
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson (executive)
Kevin Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Juniper Networks, Sunnyvale, California, a position he has held since September 2008.-Career:...
succeeded Kriens as Juniper's third CEO in July 2008; Johnson was the former chief of Microsoft's Platform and Services Division. Johnson had to immediately deal with the effects of the Late-2000s recession, and decided against cuts to Juniper's $800 million R&D budget. This decision contributed to the development of new products such as the MX 3D
Juniper MX-Series
Juniper MX-Series is a series of Ethernet Services routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. These are a line of Ethernet-optimized multilayer packet processing devices designed for aggregation at the service-provider edge. These routers run on Juniper's network operating system, JUNOS...
and SRX.
Acquisition history
In November 1999, Juniper acquired its first company, Layer FiveLayer Five
Layer Five was a US-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 1999 for US$ 19 million. Layer Five was founded by Spencer Greene, of Palo Alto, California. Other employees included Jim Washburn and Sid Agrawal. Spencer left his job at Alliance Semiconductor in early 1997 to found the...
, an intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
design firm for $19 million. In December 2000, Juniper acquired ASIC
Application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...
design firm Micro Magic Inc.
Micro Magic Inc.
Micro Magic Inc. was a US-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2000 for US$ 260 million in stocks and cash....
, for $260 million in stocks and cash. November 2001 saw the acquisition of the CMTS startup Pacific Broadband Communications
Pacific Broadband Communications
Pacific Broadband Communications was a US-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2001 for US$ 200 million....
for $200 million. In May 2002, Juniper bought the intellectual property of Nexsi Systems. In July 2002 Unisphere Networks
Unisphere Networks
Unisphere Networks was a networking equipment manufacturer founded in 1998 and later acquired by Juniper Networks in June 2002 for $585 million, which includes $375 million in cash and 36.5 million shares. Unisphere was initially composed of three other key networking equipment manufacturers:*...
, a subsidiary of Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, was acquired for $740 million.
In 2004, Juniper utilized the recovery of high-tech markets to fund the company's largest purchase: a $4 billion acquisition for NetScreen Technologies
NetScreen Technologies
NetScreen Technologies was acquired by Juniper Networks for US$ 4 billion stock for stock in 2004.NetScreen Technologies developed ASIC-based Internet security systems and appliances that delivered high performance firewall, VPN and traffic shaping functionality to Internet data centers, e-business...
(which had previously acquired Neoteris). In April 2005, Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks
Kagoor Networks was a San Mateo, California-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks for US$ 65.7 million in 2005....
was acquired for $65.7 million. In July 2005, Juniper acquired two companies: Peribit Networks
Peribit Networks
Peribit Networks was a US-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2005 for US$ 337 million in cash, stock and assumed stock options....
($337 million)
and Redline Networks
Redline Networks
Redline Networks was a US-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2005 for US$ 132 million in cash and assumed stock options....
($132 million). Acorn Packet Solutions
Acorn Packet Solutions
Acorn Packet Solutions was a US-based company in Frederick, Maryland that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2005 for US$ 8.7 million....
was acquired in October 2005 for $8.7 million. In December 2005, Juniper acquired Funk Software
Funk Software
Funk Software was a US-based company that was acquired by Juniper Networks in 2005 for US$ 122 million....
for $122 million. In April 2010, Juniper announced it would acquire Ankeena Networks for under $100 million. More acquisitions followed in November of the same year, adding Wi-Fi vendor Trapeze Networks and intellectual property of video specialist firm Blackwave.
Juniper's acquisitions were not all successful. During its 4Q2008 earnings call, E-series products were still quoted as a significant source of revenue five years after acquisition of Unisphere, while Juniper SLT division (originally built with NetScreen products) was credited with record revenue of $246 million. This suggests Juniper realized good return on Unisphere, and largely overcame the technical and managerial challenges of integrating with NetScreen (although the latter company was apparently overvalued).
At the same time, products acquired from Pacific Broadband (G-series), Kagoor Networks (SBC), Peribit (WX platform), Redline (DX platform) and Funk Software (SBR appliance) did not succeed.
Lawsuits
Juniper Networks was investigated for stock options backdatingOptions backdating
Options backdating is the practice of issuing options contracts on a later date than that which the options have listed. While options backdating is not, in and of itself, an illegal practice, intentional backdating that coincides with low underlying stock prices and accounting reports that claim...
, which reportedly benefited senior executives. The investigation started in 2006 and ended in February 2010. Juniper agreed to pay $169m to settle a class-action suit. During the investigation, Juniper delayed financial results and got a delisting notice from NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
. Concurrently, Juniper wrote off $1.3 billion in goodwill
Goodwill (accounting)
Goodwill is an accounting concept meaning the value of an entity over and above the value of its assets. The term was originally used in accounting to express the intangible but quantifiable "prudent value" of an ongoing business beyond its assets, resulting perhaps because the reputation the firm...
for the quarter ended 30 June 2006.
In the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, Case No. 1-09-CV-148882 Juniper Networks was sued for misclassification of its unix systems administrators ("lab administrators" aka "lab trolls") as salaried exempt employees when they were hourly exempt employees. A settlement hearing is now pending for 2012.
Awards
In 2009, Juniper debuted on FortuneFortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work for. Juniper ranked 4 in Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies list in Networking Communications category in 2009. Juniper received the Association of Support Professionals' The Year's Ten Best Web Support Sites award every year from 2006 to 2011.
Core wars
Juniper shipped its first product, the M40 router, in September 1998. The product was a first-ever implementation of packet forwarding in siliconSilicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...
(ASIC
Application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...
s) that could sustain line-rate packet forwarding across eight packet-over-SONET
Synchronous optical networking
Synchronous Optical Networking and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy are standardized multiplexing protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diodes . At low transmission rates data can also be transferred via an...
(OC48c) ports in a half-rack
19-inch rack
A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide, including edges or ears that protrude on each side which allow the module to be fastened to the rack frame with screws.-Overview and history:Equipment designed...
form factor. This was a critical technological improvement, which allowed unconstrained Internet growth and gained Juniper a place in a market formerly dominated by Cisco Systems. Since then, high-end routing was closely watched by industry experts and analysts and is still regarded as important technology showcase.
Juniper maintained market momentum by capitalizing on the M40 design: M20, a smaller version with partial redundancy, launched in 1999; and compact M5 and M10 platforms were added the following year. The M-series further expanded in 28 March 2000, with the release of M160, which employed packet spraying across quad M40-style packet engines to achieve line rate forwarding at OC192 speeds.
By 2000, Juniper took 30 percent of the core router market, almost entirely at expense of Cisco Systems. However, the unchallenged reign of M-series as Internet core routers did not last for long. Cisco responded with its Engine 4 linecard for its GSR
Cisco 12000
The Cisco 12000, also known as a Gigabit Switch Router or GSR, is a series of large network routers designed and manufactured by Cisco Systems. It is marketed primarily to large service providers, as well as for use in some enterprise networks...
router in 2001, starting the first round of "Core Wars". Although Engine 4 was a time to market
Time to market
In commerce, time to market is the length of time it takes from a product being conceived until its being available for sale. TTM is important in industries where products are outmoded quickly...
product with few features other than IP forwarding and Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching
Multiprotocol Label Switching is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. The labels identify virtual links between...
, M160 was also a line extension of the original M40 blueprint, bringing the rivalry to a stalemate.
The status quo ended in 2002, when Juniper announced its new flagship router, T640. Unlike the original M-series, T-series
Juniper T-Series
Juniper T-Series is a series of core routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. The T-Series core router family comprises the T320, T640, T1600, TX Matrix, and TX Matrix Plus, designed for high-end and core networks with throughput from 320 Gbit/s to 25.6 Tbit/s with a maximum...
was a distributed design, capable of 40 Gigabit
Gigabit
The gigabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix giga is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 109 , and therefore...
/slot performance and terabit
Terabit
The terabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix tera is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 1012 , and therefore...
-level system scaling with multi-chassis options. A smaller T320 system was quick to follow and cement T-series
Juniper T-Series
Juniper T-Series is a series of core routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. The T-Series core router family comprises the T320, T640, T1600, TX Matrix, and TX Matrix Plus, designed for high-end and core networks with throughput from 320 Gbit/s to 25.6 Tbit/s with a maximum...
position in the core. Juniper's dominance became so obvious, that Cisco had to effectively retire GSR core products and refocus surviving 12000/12400 systems for provider's edge. This time, however, Juniper could not effectively convert its technological advantage into market share: by mid-2002, the dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
popped and most carriers cut their growth plans and expense budgets.
Second round of "Core Wars" started in 2004, with the launch of Cisco Carrier Routing System
Carrier Routing System
Carrier Routing System is a large-scale core router, developed by Cisco Systems, Inc. It runs IOS XR which is a train of IOS built upon the QNX microkernel. A single chassis holds a maximum of 16 line cards, and can run an OC-768 SONET interface...
into a quickly recovering market. Cisco CRS-1 boasted innovative hardware and a brand new operating system, IOS XR
IOS XR
IOS XR is a train of Cisco Systems' widely deployed Internetworking Operating System , used on their high-end carrier-grade routers such as the CRS-1, 12000, and ASR9000 series.-Architecture:...
, aimed squarely at Juniper T-series
Juniper T-Series
Juniper T-Series is a series of core routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. The T-Series core router family comprises the T320, T640, T1600, TX Matrix, and TX Matrix Plus, designed for high-end and core networks with throughput from 320 Gbit/s to 25.6 Tbit/s with a maximum...
and 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...
. At 40 Gbit/s per slot (full-duplex), the Cisco Carrier Routing System offered comparable density to the Juniper T640 and established parity in features. After the release of the CRS-1, Juniper core market share stabilized at 27.7% The newly found balance in the Juniper-Cisco core duopoly lasted until 2007, when Juniper released the T1600. Initially available with effective density of 80 Gbit/s per slot, this new T-series member received a 100 Gbit/s per slot facelift late 2009 and in 2010 became the first-ever product to deliver a commercial implementation of the 100GE
100 Gigabit Ethernet
40 Gigabit Ethernet, or 40GbE, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, or 100GbE, are high-speed computer network standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers . They support sending Ethernet frames at 40 and 100 gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gbit/s or 25 Gbit/s lanes...
interface (IEEE 802.3ba
IEEE 802.3ba
IEEE 802.3ba is an IEEE standard of the 802.3 family of data link layer standards for Ethernet LAN and WAN applications, whose objective is to support speeds faster than 10 gigabits per second...
). Juniper was able to advance its market penetration by a few points, but still could not win more than a third of the core market.
The latest stage of core competition was initiated by Cisco at the end of 2010 with launch of CRS-3. Surpassing the original T1600 in density by forty percent, the 140 Gbit/s Cisco CRS-3 also brought Cisco into the 100GE
100 Gigabit Ethernet
40 Gigabit Ethernet, or 40GbE, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, or 100GbE, are high-speed computer network standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers . They support sending Ethernet frames at 40 and 100 gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gbit/s or 25 Gbit/s lanes...
league. New companies such as Brocade
Brocade
Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and with or without gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli," comes from Italian broccato meaning "embossed cloth," originally past participle of the verb broccare...
and Huawei
Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China...
have entered the market from the low end and are exerting market pressure on Cisco and Juniper.
Overall, in the "core wars" between Cisco and Juniper, Juniper was shipping denser products in 1998-2001, 2002–2004 and 2007–2010, while Cisco stayed at parity in 2001 and 2004–2007 and shipped denser product in 2011.
Edge routing
First iteration of Juniper M-seriesJuniper M-Series
Juniper M Series is a series of Multiservice Edge routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks, for enterprise and service provider networks. It spans over M7i, M10i, M40e, M120, and M320 platforms with 7 Gbit/s up to 320 Gbit/s of throughput. The M40 router was the first product by...
was based on Internet Processor I ASIC, which did not have many edge functions. However, the design proved to be flexible enough to be retrofitted with sampling, firewall and MPLS VPN features. Therefore, in September 2000 Juniper announced plans to expand its line of Internet core router
Core router
A core router is a router designed to operate in the Internet backbone, or core. To fulfill this role, a router must be able to support multiple telecommunications interfaces of the highest speed in use in the core Internet and must be able to forward IP packets at full speed on all of them. It...
s to the access edge and started shipping T1/E1 and channelized interfaces on Juniper M-series
Juniper M-Series
Juniper M Series is a series of Multiservice Edge routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks, for enterprise and service provider networks. It spans over M7i, M10i, M40e, M120, and M320 platforms with 7 Gbit/s up to 320 Gbit/s of throughput. The M40 router was the first product by...
. By the end of 2002 Juniper had also penetrated the broadband aggregation segment with the Juniper E-series
Juniper E-Series
Juniper E-Series is a series of Broadband Services routers or edge routers manufactured by Juniper Networks. The E series was originally developed by Unisphere Networks, which Juniper acquired in 2002...
BRAS devices based on technology by Unisphere Networks
Unisphere Networks
Unisphere Networks was a networking equipment manufacturer founded in 1998 and later acquired by Juniper Networks in June 2002 for $585 million, which includes $375 million in cash and 36.5 million shares. Unisphere was initially composed of three other key networking equipment manufacturers:*...
. This move towards the edge was further supported by extending the Juniper M-series
Juniper M-Series
Juniper M Series is a series of Multiservice Edge routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks, for enterprise and service provider networks. It spans over M7i, M10i, M40e, M120, and M320 platforms with 7 Gbit/s up to 320 Gbit/s of throughput. The M40 router was the first product by...
technology with M40e (2002) and M7i/M10i (2003) systems, featuring edge-specific packaging for proven M-series chipset.
Juniper's edge products borrowed silicon from the core routers (LMNR chipset) once again in 2004, to launch a highly acclaimed M320. This product became the last to support heterogenous interfaces (such as ATM and channelized) at high scale; in the following years, edge focus steadfastly shifted towards Ethernet. In 2006, Juniper introduced its first edge-specific chipset (I-Chip) which formed the basis for a highly redundant M120 router and a new family of Ethernet-specific carrier platforms, Juniper MX-series. Armed with the new silicon, Juniper was able to fit twelve 40 Gbit/s linecards into 16RU MX960 chassis and set the new density standard.
Driven by the growing importance of Ethernet services, Juniper MX-series
Juniper MX-Series
Juniper MX-Series is a series of Ethernet Services routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. These are a line of Ethernet-optimized multilayer packet processing devices designed for aggregation at the service-provider edge. These routers run on Juniper's network operating system, JUNOS...
was an instant hit and gained in excess of 250 accounts in less than 18 months after the initial launch
Capitalizing on growth of Carrier Ethernet, Juniper also saw the opportunity to consolidate edge, broadband and Ethernet-specific services around MX product line. Unveiled in 2009, a second generation of MX-series (MX 3D) is based on a new "Trio" chipset with density of up to 120 Gbit/s (full-duplex) per slot and available subscriber services. As of 1Q2010, Juniper maintained position #2 in the edge market, with Cisco and Alcatel being the closest rivals.
Security and enterprise
Juniper made a first foray into enterprise and security space in 2003 with assets acquired from NetScreen TechnologiesNetScreen Technologies
NetScreen Technologies was acquired by Juniper Networks for US$ 4 billion stock for stock in 2004.NetScreen Technologies developed ASIC-based Internet security systems and appliances that delivered high performance firewall, VPN and traffic shaping functionality to Internet data centers, e-business...
as well as the internally developed low-end router family Juniper J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
. In the last quarter prior to acquisition (ending 31 Dec 2003), NetScreen reported $81 million in revenue, and Juniper reported net revenue of $207 million.
Despite gaining market share thru NetScreen, Juniper experienced difficulties penetrating the Enterprise routing segment - partially due to well-entrenched positions of Cisco Systems and partially due to the time it took Juniper to assemble a consistent product lineup. Being well-heeled in the carrier space, Juniper robustly performed at the high end of the enterprise connectivity with M7i/M10i, but found challenges when merging Junos software for J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
with NetScreen's security code for low-end, branch office and integrated security markets.
On the hardware side, J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
systems were built around Intel CPUs and utilized packet-based forwarding in the software path to achieve IP/MPLS forwarding functionality comparable to their larger M-series counterparts. First-generation J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
(J2300, J4300, J6300) emulated linecards by stacking network interfaces behind Intel IXP NPUs running an embedded Junos clone. Control plane of J-series was powered by normal Junos build talking to a "software PFE" emulated on top of a small hypervisor. Such software structure allowed J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
to remain architecturally close to the "mainstay" Juniper routers with hardware forwarding path. Naturally, feature set was largely the same across J/M/T products. On the other hand, NetScreen devices used a variety of embedded CPUs and encryption accelerators to achieve flow-based secure forwarding within NetScreen OS, thus forcing Juniper enterprise customers to choose between a good router with limited security performance (J-series) and a good IDS/firewall with rudimentary routing functions (NetScreen appliance).
Over the time, it became clear that J-series architecture needs to evolve to accommodate faster Ethernet interfaces and flow-based security processing in the software model similar to NetScreen. It was also determined that satellite IXP processors mostly failed the task of insulating CPU from packet handling and are to be eliminated from design. Therefore, second-generation J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
(J2350, J4350, J6350) was launched in 2006, with high-speed interfaces connected directly via PCI Express
PCI Express
PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
and sharing the hardware platform with NetScreen SSG devices. This way, Juniper was able to leverage some hardware and software similarities across J-series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
and NetScreen product lines, but customers still had to choose whether to boot their system with Junos or NetScreen software load.
It was not until 2010, when the two product lines started merging under Junos 10.3 umbrella into the low-end SRX product line (SRX100, SRX210, SRX240) with rich security and routing features. This new branch of Juniper products was a major redesign form both software and hardware perspective - it runs Junos on top of the multi-core Octeon CPUs, with control and forwarding planes residing on different cores.
Meanwhile, at the high end of security market, the SRX moniker also hit a sweet spot. After inheriting some high-end firewall business from NetScreen, Juniper was eventually able to reinvent this technology under Junos for datacenters and mobile operators as SRX service gateways, effectively combining high-speed firewall, IDS and AppSecure features at scale. Top-end SRX products reuse chassis, fabric and network-facing modules from successful MX-series
Juniper MX-Series
Juniper MX-Series is a series of Ethernet Services routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. These are a line of Ethernet-optimized multilayer packet processing devices designed for aggregation at the service-provider edge. These routers run on Juniper's network operating system, JUNOS...
, while employing proprietary load-sharing services processing cards (SPCs) to implement complex security services entirely in hardware.
Principal subsidiaries
Juniper's principal subsidiariesSubsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
hold its international operations. They include Juniper Networks K.K. (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
), Juniper Networks B.V. (Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
), Juniper Networks International Limited (Cayman Islands), Juniper Networks FSC Inc. (Barbados), Juniper Networks U.K. Ltd. (United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
), Juniper Networks GmbH (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Juniper Networks France Sarl (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Juniper Networks Australia Ltd. (Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
), Juniper Networks Hong Kong Ltd. (Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
), Juniper Networks South Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong), Juniper Networks China Ltd. (Hong Kong), Juniper Networks Canada Inc. (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), Juniper Networks International, Inc and Juniper Networks India Pvt Ltd (India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
). Separately, Juniper also owns the "Juniper Acquisition Corporation".
Network operating system
JunosJunos
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...
(formerly written as JUNOS) is the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
that runs on most of Juniper's networking equipment. It is Juniper's single in-house 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...
spanning routing
Routing
Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network along which to send network traffic. Routing is performed for many kinds of networks, including the telephone network , electronic data networks , and transportation networks...
, switching
Packet switching
Packet switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data – regardless of content, type, or structure – into suitably sized blocks, called packets. Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams over a shared network...
and security
Network security
In the field of networking, the area of network security consists of the provisions and policies adopted by the network administrator to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of the computer network and network-accessible resources...
platforms on its router products. Juniper Junos was the first commercially available full-fledged modular OS with full memory protection available for routing products. Initially, the biggest competitor of Junos was Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
's IOS
Cisco IOS
Cisco IOS is the software used on the vast majority of Cisco Systems routers and current Cisco network switches...
, but now Junos mainly competes against other modular systems, such as Cisco IOS-XR and Alcatel-Lucent SR-OS. Junos features both vertical and horizontal modularity, and provides APIs for third-party applications (known as "Junos Space"). Although Junos was originally derived from FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
, subsequent product development resulted in major kernel
Kernel (computing)
In computing, the kernel is the main component of most computer operating systems; it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. The kernel's responsibilities include managing the system's resources...
and infrastructure improvements (like In-Service Software Upgrade and real-time packet forwarding plane). Unusually for a vendor with comparable product breadth, Juniper sticks to a strict software release discipline, with four major Junos releases per year covering all supported platforms.
M40
M40 of M-seriesJuniper M-Series
Juniper M Series is a series of Multiservice Edge routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks, for enterprise and service provider networks. It spans over M7i, M10i, M40e, M120, and M320 platforms with 7 Gbit/s up to 320 Gbit/s of throughput. The M40 router was the first product by...
was the first product by Juniper Networks, which was released in 1998. The M40 was the first of its kind product, capable of forwarding packets entirely in silicon, without support from a general-purpose CPU. This was achieved by using a proprietary chipset codenamed "ABC". The chipset consisted of three ASIC types, "A", for high-speed switching, "B" for L2 processing and memory interface and "C" for L3 services, together forming a packet processing engine (PFE). The PFE also included shared packet memory
Forwarding plane
In routing, the forwarding plane, sometimes called the data plane, defines the part of the router architecture that decides what to do with packets arriving on an inbound interface...
, a single packet forwarding table, and a one-write, one-read architecture.The entire PFE was capable of forwarding at 40 Mpps, a capacity more than 100 times faster than that of any other available router architectures at that time. Many features of M40 (such as separation of control and forwarding plane and modular OS) have become industry standard.
Current product series
- E-seriesJuniper E-SeriesJuniper E-Series is a series of Broadband Services routers or edge routers manufactured by Juniper Networks. The E series was originally developed by Unisphere Networks, which Juniper acquired in 2002...
routers are broadbandBroadbandThe term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
edge routers. The E series was developed by Unisphere, which Juniper acquired in 2002. The E series routers run the JunosE (originally written as JUNOSe) operating system inherited from acquisition of Unisphere.
The J, LN, M, MX, and T series routers run 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...
.
- J-SeriesJuniper J-SeriesJuniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
routers are small customer-premises equipmentCustomer-premises equipmentCustomer-premises equipment or customer-provided equipment is any terminal and associated equipment located at a subscriber's premises and connected with a carrier's telecommunication channel at the demarcation point...
or enterprise routers. - LN-Series are compact, rugged edge routers for mobile and military applications
- M-SeriesJuniper M-SeriesJuniper M Series is a series of Multiservice Edge routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks, for enterprise and service provider networks. It spans over M7i, M10i, M40e, M120, and M320 platforms with 7 Gbit/s up to 320 Gbit/s of throughput. The M40 router was the first product by...
routers are multiservice edge routers. - MX-SeriesJuniper MX-SeriesJuniper MX-Series is a series of Ethernet Services routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. These are a line of Ethernet-optimized multilayer packet processing devices designed for aggregation at the service-provider edge. These routers run on Juniper's network operating system, JUNOS...
routers are Ethernet services routers. - T-SeriesJuniper T-SeriesJuniper T-Series is a series of core routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. The T-Series core router family comprises the T320, T640, T1600, TX Matrix, and TX Matrix Plus, designed for high-end and core networks with throughput from 320 Gbit/s to 25.6 Tbit/s with a maximum...
routers are large core routerCore routerA core router is a router designed to operate in the Internet backbone, or core. To fulfill this role, a router must be able to support multiple telecommunications interfaces of the highest speed in use in the core Internet and must be able to forward IP packets at full speed on all of them. It...
s.
While the E, LN, M, MX and T series are all high speed ASIC
Application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...
based devices capable of terminating multiple broadband optical connections, the J series forwarding plane is partially software-driven. J-Series
Juniper J-Series
Juniper J-Series is a series of enterprise routers designed and manufactured by Juniper Networks. They are modular routers for enterprises running desktops, servers, VoIP, CRM / ERP / SCM applications. The J Series routers are typically deployed at remote offices or branch locations...
also is capable of carrying non-Juniper hardware in the form of 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...
IP Telephony module.
Although Cisco claimed to have the fastest/highest capacity core routing platform in the world with the CRS-3 platform, the new Juniper T4000 core router promises to be even faster
Ethernet switch products
Unlike the majority of its competitors, Juniper did not offer Ethernet switching products for the first ten years of the company's existence. However, the need for Ethernet switching portfolio became apparent as early as 2002 when Juniper announced plans for the Enterprise market. Considering this segment to be price-sensitive and most products using merchant silicon, many analysts expected Juniper to acquire an Ethernet switching specialist to fill the gap. Despite such predictions, Juniper took the task seriously and invested in developing a full range of Ethernet products in-house.EX Series Juniper's switch products were introduced in 2008 and run 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...
. Available in fixed and modular form factors with full or partial PoE functionality, EX represents Juniper's bid for enterprise switch market, augmenting the "One Operating System" strategy and generating $74 million in revenue during 4Q2009.
Security products
SRX Series Dynamic Service Gateways is a series of security services devices running JunosJunos
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...
. Ranging from compact branch-office models to 16RU SRX 5800 (dubbed "the world's fastest firewall" by ComputerWorld in 2010), SRX combines security, routing and switching in one chassis. Security features include the full UTM functionality previously found on ScreenOS, including web filtering, IDP and anti-virus. Although high-end and low-end SRX platforms differ in the underlying hardware, common software base enables feature consistency and signature Juniper routing code.
The NetScreen 5200/5400, SSG Series and ISG Series firewalls run the ScreenOS operating system and deliver firewall, anti-virus, intrusion protection and VPN services. Intrusion detection and prevention appliances (IDP series) provide zero-day protection against worms, trojans, spyware, keyloggers, and other malware. Acquired with NetScreen Technologies, these platforms were originally powered by ScreenOS and now in transit to Junos and SRX technology.
Juniper Secure Access products provide SSL-based VPN services to remote users thru regular web browsers (e.g. Mozilla Firefox) on a variety of Java-enabled platforms (Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Apple iOS). This product line came to Juniper from NetScreen via last-minute acquisition of Neoteris and became one of the company's technological wins. Unlike legacy IPsec tunnels, basic SSL VPN access works right out of the box on virtually any SSL-capable device (e.g. iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
with mobile Safari browser) without a specialized client.
NSM Network and Security Manager is an enterprise-wide management tool for Juniper devices that features single-point bastion control over multiple Juniper devices, a syslog host and configuration backup repository, and the NSMXpress appliance that provides distributed hierarchical features.
Other products
- WX Central Management System and WXC — series WAN Accelerators
- UAC Unified Access Control
- Odyssey Access Client - 802.1x supplicant
- Security Threat Response Manager (STRM)- Juniper sells an OEMOEMOEM means the original manufacturer of a component for a product, which may be resold by another company.OEM may also refer to:-Computing:* OEM font, or OEM-US, the original character set of the IBM PC, circa 1981...
version of Q1 Labs' QRadar product running on Juniper hardware.
Certification programs
The Juniper Networks Technical Certification Program (JNTCP) was introduced by Juniper Networks, Inc. and intended for attaining proficiency in Juniper line of products. The certifications are divided into several levels based on skill level requirement. Originally influenced by technical certification program by Cisco Systems, JNTCP soon took its own course to reflect company's focus on carrier solutions and emphasize practical IP/MPLS skills and technical prowess. Unlike Cisco Career CertificationsCisco Career Certifications
Cisco Career Certifications are IT Professional certifications for Cisco Systems products. The tests are administered by Pearson VUE. There are five levels of certification: Entry, Associate, Professional, Expert, and Architect, as well as seven different paths, Routing & Switching, Design, Network...
, Juniper's Service Provider program is four-tier, with JNCIE requiring lab exams.
Technical Certification Program Service Provider
| Level | Service Provider | M/T Series | E Series |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expert (JNCIE) | X | X | |
| Professional (JNCIP) | X | X | X |
| Specialist (JNCIS) | X | X | X |
| Associate (JNCIA) | X | X | X |
Technical Certification Program Enterprise
| Level | Enterprise Routing | JUNOS Security | Enterprise Switching | Enterprise Routing and Switching | VPN/Firewall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expert (JNCIE) | X | X | X | ||
| Professional (JNCIP) | X | X | |||
| Specialist (JNCIS) | X | X | X | X | X |
| Associate (JNCIA) | X | X | X | X | X |
Partnership programs
Juniper relies on a vast network of partners to increase its technology and sales outreach.Enterprise Solution Provider partners offer product and solution portfolios that enable customers to build business critical networks. Enterprise Solution Providers resell, service, manage and consult on Juniper products & solutions.
Service Provider Infrastructure partners deliver a wide range of high-performance networking solutions based on purpose-built technology that support the world's largest and most demanding networks. Juniper Networks is recognized as a center of excellence in the development of software, hardware, and silicon technology designed to support high performance, intelligent networks deployed by service providers.
Managed Service Provider partners offer differentiated managed services with the features and performance that meet your business needs. Managed Services Partners can manage, monitor, and deploy Juniper Networks-based solutions.
Juniper products are also sold thru IBM and Dell under OEM agreements.
Since Dell acquired Force10
Force10
Force10 Networks , is a United States company which develops and markets 10 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet switches for computer networking to corporate, educational, and governmental customers. It has offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.In 2011 Dell announced that they...
in the summer of 2011 the ethernet-switches that Dell sold as PowerCo0nnect J-series became End of Sales per December 2011 as Dell can now deliver comparable Force10 switches. Only the Juniper security products (SRX series) are still being sold as PowerConnect J-series
Also of note is Juniper's Open IP Solution Development Program which provides Independent Software Vendors, OEM partners and Research Institutions with full access to 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...
SDK
Software development kit
A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...
for control and services planes. This allows partners to leverage 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...
for rapid development of new applications like next-gen signaling protocols, deep packet inspection and SLA
Service Level Agreement
A service-level agreement is a part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. In practice, the term SLA is sometimes used to refer to the contracted delivery time or performance...
monitoring.
Major competitors
- Alcatel-LucentAlcatel-LucentAlcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
- Arista NetworksArista NetworksArista Networks is a computer networking company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The company designs and sells network switches for datacenter, high-performance computing and high-frequency trading environments...
- Brocade Communications SystemsBrocade Communications SystemsBrocade Communications Systems, Inc. , based in Silicon Valley , is a vendor of storage area network hardware and software. The company also designs, manufactures, and sells networking products and management applications for local, metro, and wide area networks...
- Cisco SystemsCisco SystemsCisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
- Tejas NetworksTejas NetworksTejas Networks is an Indian Networking and Telecom equipment products company from Bangalore-Corporate history:Tejas Networks was co-founded in May 2000 by Gururaj Deshpande and US-based ASG-Omni. Headquartered in Bangalore, it has R& D offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Noida...
- DellDellDell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
(following acquisition of Force10Force10Force10 Networks , is a United States company which develops and markets 10 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet switches for computer networking to corporate, educational, and governmental customers. It has offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.In 2011 Dell announced that they...
) - Extreme NetworksExtreme NetworksExtreme Networks, founded in 1996, is a publicly listed company that designs, builds, and installs Ethernet network solutions for enterprise and Carrier Class networks.-Corporate History:Extreme Networks is located in Santa Clara, California...
- Hewlett Packard (following acquisition of 3COM3Com3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
) - Huawei Technologies