OREANDA-NEWS. Juniper Networks(NYSE: JNPR), the industry leader in network innovation, today at its NXTWORK 2015 Customer Summit announced an expansion of its Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) portfolio that enables service providers to create and automatically deploy new services faster than ever before at industry-leading scale. Juniper’s new Cloud CPE, a fully automated, end-to-end network functions virtualization solution, builds on the proven ability of Juniper Networks® Contrail Networking to scale across all models – whether on-premises or in the cloud – to make service delivery from an end user’s perspective as easy as downloading a new app.

Customers now expect networks to be on-demand, personalized, and to deliver services in near real-time. Today’s rigid, hardware-centric network infrastructures, however, make this impossible; it can be months before a customer receives an ordered service. As such, global service providers are looking to software-defined networking (SDN) and NFV to automate cumbersome manual tasks and increase agility in rolling out virtually managed services at the touch of a button, resulting in greater revenue-generating opportunities, lower costs and enhanced customer satisfaction.

To make this a reality, Juniper today is expanding its NFV portfolio with Cloud CPE. This solution includes Contrail Service Orchestration, a comprehensive management and orchestration platform that delivers and manages virtualized network services such as virtual security, and the NFX250, the first in a series of network services platforms that can operate as secure, on-premises devices running multiple virtual network functions, from Juniper and third parties, simultaneously.

Built with an eye toward open standards for which Juniper is known, Contrail Service Orchestration is designed to operate in multi-vendor network environments and can orchestrate the entire service lifecycle – from service design to activation – to dramatically improve the user experience and enable new service revenue.

The NFX250, when used as part of Juniper’s Cloud CPE solution, eliminates the operational complexities associated with deploying multiple boxes at the customer site. Capable of running myriad virtual functions on a single software-driven device, the NFX250 significantly reduces costs and gives service providers the ability to update network functions without having to purchase new hardware.

Juniper’s expanded technology portfolio builds upon other recently announced solutions, including Contrail Networking, Juniper Networks vSRX Virtual Firewalland the Juniper Networks NorthStar Controller, all unveiled in 2013, as well as the Juniper Networks vMX virtual router and Contrail Cloud Platform both announced in 2014. With these developments, Juniper is delivering the industry’s most comprehensive virtualization portfolio, enabling service scale and agility in the most open way possible.

News Highlights

To help customers transition to software-centric networks that can create new services in minutes versus months, Juniper is announcing the following products:

  • Contrail Service Orchestration is an integrated set of design, automation and orchestration software solutions built on an open framework, which is designed to enable third-party virtual network functions (VNFs) to be easily supported and integrated with no disruption to existing applications. As part of Juniper’s complete NFV solution, which includes Contrail Networking, the Contrail Cloud Platform and VNFs such as vMX, this software enables service providers to easily roll out new, customized services to customers. Contrail Service Orchestration is expected to be available in December.
  • NFX Series Network Services Platforms operate as secure, software-driven, on-premisesdevices, delivering the same high-performance functionality as other physical CPE devices with added automation and the flexibility to run multiple virtual services to enable dynamic service creation in an open environment. The 1 RU NFX250, which runs both Juniper and third-party virtual network functions is expected to be available during the first half of 2016.
  • To help customers evaluate and implement Juniper’s new Cloud CPE solution, the company is introducing a lineup of new professional services offerings. Cloud CPE Assessment Service, NFV OSS Assessment Service and NFV Lifecycle Service help customers and partners evaluate technology choices and develop a plan to integrate them within existing network infrastructures. When leveraged as an integral part of the Cloud CPE solution, the deep experience of Juniper’s industry-leading service and support experts can help minimize risk and speed time to deployment.

At NXTWORK 2015, Juniper today also introduced a disaggregated version of the Junos software to provide customers with the ability to deploy third-party network services or applications directly on Juniper platforms, as well as the option to program directly to Juniper systems using the Open Compute Project-defined software model. Additionally, Juniper announced new QFX5200 access switches as well as rapid implementation of its Juniper Networks MetaFabric™ architecture and Juniper Networks Contrail SDN technologies across leading converged and hyper converged stack solutions.

Supporting Quotes

"The success of cloud is being driven by how quickly developers can build and deploy services and applications that have a meaningful impact on the market. Importantly, companies must be able to deploy these apps and services across multiple cloud environments with minimal configuration. Combining IBM's strong cloud and systems integration capabilities with Juniper's new offerings, service providers now have access to quick deployment and scalability to meet the growing demands of the industry."
- Scott Stainken, general manager of Global Telecommunications Industry at IBM

“Enterprises and service providers alike are hamstrung by today’s rigid tools that prevent them from bringing new services to market quickly and efficiently. They tie up valuable resources in manual configuration and onsite engineering, which makes installing new network services difficult. From a solution provider’s standpoint, Juniper’s new Cloud CPE solution has the potential to provide a truly automated NFV solution that will enable SPs and enterprise customers to deploy and manage virtual services in minutes.”
-Fiona Squire, chief operating officer at Quonubes Group

“Juniper is taking a very holistic approach with the enhancements to its NFV portfolio by offering end-to-end network service delivery and orchestration. They are making it easier for service providers to offer customized services both on the customer premise and in the cloud, which will not only be advantageous to them, but also to their enterprise customers.”
-Nav Chander, research manager, Enterprise Telecom at IDC

“As more and more of our service provider customers look to realize real business value from SDN and NFV, the need to have flexible solutions that effectively scale is critical. With the innovations we’re announcing today, service providers will be able to harness the power of scale-out services to improve their service delivery economics. For us at Juniper, it’s all about infusing automation into our customers’ networks to reduce time to market and speed time to revenue.”
-Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager, Juniper Development and Innovation at Juniper Networks

Additional Resources

  • Blog: Agility and Choice Demand an Open Software Business by Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager, Juniper Development and Innovation

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) delivers innovation across routing, switching and security. Juniper Networks’ innovations in software, silicon and systems transform the experience and economics of networking.