OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2015. Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), the industry leader in network innovation, today announced it will work with leading global premium airline, British Airways, to build a private cloud data center and IP/MPLS core backbone using Juniper Networks technology. The new private cloud infrastructure will run many of the applications that underpin British Airways’ operations, including ticketing, check-in and baggage tracking.

British Airways sought to upgrade its data center and needed a cost-effective, reliable and scalable platform that could service its needs. Following a rigorous competitive process, the airline selected the MetaFabric™ Architecture from Juniper Networks, a simplified, open and secure data center architecture that accelerates deployment of new services and applications at scale. The fast response and agility of Juniper’s cloud technology and its emphasis on business continuity are some of the features that attracted British Airways. The upgraded network core will link British Airways’ data centers and other operational sites around the U.K. to help ensure fast, reliable connectivity and digital communications.

News Highlights

  • The private cloud is an underlying component of British Airways’ new Flight Management and Customer Management systems being introduced this year.
  • To help protect its investment and enable greater agility and long-term business capacity planning, British Airways selected the MetaFabric Architecture, comprising Juniper Networks® QFabric System and EX Series Ethernet Switches, to create a data center infrastructure that can easily grow with the airline’s business demands.
  • The QFabric System, a fully integrated and automated set of components working together as a single logical switch, delivers high-performance, any-to-any connectivity at scale and simplified management across the data center.
  • To create a resilient, flexible, high-performance core backbone for its nationwide network infrastructure, British Airways selected Juniper Networks MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers and EX Series Ethernet Switches. MX480 routers will create the core, and EX9200 switches will create a carrier-grade ‘provider edge’ to support service insertion.
  • The MX Series and EX Series-based core is designed to provide British Airways with capacity head-room and agility for future data traffic growth and business expansion.
  • The new core and data center infrastructure is underpinned by Junos® OS, Juniper’s single operating system. This enables British Airways to simplify its network management operations, and also supports a straightforward upgrade path for future development of the infrastructure.
  • Juniper Networks Professional Services team was involved in the project throughout the plan, build and operate phases, ensuring British Airways had expert guidance to realize its core and data center network requirements and ideas in a risk-free environment.

Supporting Quote

“British Airways is an iconic global brand synonymous with quality and customer service. Its ongoing expectations of online capacity growth and dependence on critical applications to drive the business require an intelligent network that delivers automated, secure, agile networks. The company is a vivid example of how fundamentally important the data center has become for today’s innovative enterprises that are building clouds.”

-Gerard Allison, senior vice president EMEA, Juniper Networks