Juniper Networks launched a flurry of new products and services today, in an effort to rebrand the company and take on competitors in the networking industry, such as Cisco Systems.
The networking company revealed its new strategy at the New York Stock Exchange, putting Junos, its network operating system, at the heart of the computer network for enterprises, and surrounding it with a clutch of new systems including powerful new processors that allow for “3D scaling”. 3D scaling, it is claimed, will allow for more subscribers, services and bandwidth to be squeezed on to already overcrowded networks.
Speaking to The Times, Kevin Johnson, chief executive, said the launch represented an “historic day” for the company. “We’re taking a thought leadership position here, and we are rebranding the company.” Sources and analysts described the launch as Juniper’s most important since its creation 13 years ago.
Larry Dignan at ZDNet said the move represented a “comprehensive assault” on Cisco, and “appears to position Juniper as a Switzerland-type neutral and open figure as larger players vie to become the dominant data centre architecture.”
Among the product launches was the new Junos software platform, an operating system intended to run in the background, and a rival to Cisco’s “Interwork Operating System”. The company also revealed a new “Trio” set of chips, which it says has several times more processing power than Cisco or Alcatel-Lucent. Juniper also announced the impending release of new routers and cloud-based services.
Juniper, which makes most of its revenue from selling high-performance computer routers and switches to direct data traffic, is making steady inroads into the territory of its rivals. In June, it signed a deal with the New York Stock Exchange, which could make it the fastest trading system in the world. The time taken between a trader making a bid and it being verified is measured in milliseconds. Any delay can cost millions of dollars.
The new Juniper-backed system will reduce the time taken for a single communication by two-thirds to about 50 microseconds – a significant leap forward for the trading floor. Yesterday’s announcement was significant because of the public backing the company received from NYSE Euronext, which also helped stage the launch.
The markets responded positively to the announcement, with shares in the company up nearly 4 per cent in the hours after launch. That will be a relief for the company, as despite upbeat quarterly results announced last month, shares fell around 5 per cent in the company owing to concern over its long-term growth strategy.
Mr Johnson again addressed some of the criticism made by analysts, that the company needed to consider gaining market share through mergers and acquisitions. He said that the company would consider further acquisitions, but suggested that further growth would come from a focus in innovation, research and development.
Source: Times Online October 2009
