Juniper Networks has unveiled three new products designed to boost business agility and simplify network management.

It said a massive spike in BYOD, mobile users and new enterprise application deployments has created network congestion and complexity. Compounded with the challenge of contracting IT budgets, these trends have severely restricted IT’s ability to quickly respond and maintain network reliability.

Many enterprises use single purpose legacy infrastructures, built in silos and defined by their location in the enterprise, that can’t keep pace with rapid changes in compute, storage and application requirements and often inhibit service delivery. In order to maximize delivery and availability of next-generation cloud services, server virtualization and rich media applications, Juniper has introduced a new agile, ‘programmable’ network.

Juniper said this will enable network operators to respond to business changes and monitor and react to how the network meets application service level agreement (SLA) requirements in a matter of seconds, not days or weeks.

Juniper Networks said it has addressed these challenges with a series of new products for enterprise campus and data center infrastructures. The new Juniper Networks® EX9200 Programmable Switch enables accelerated response to changing business needs, while its built-in ability to support a virtual WLAN controller, the Juniper Networks JunosV Wireless LAN Controller, will deliver high levels of reliability and flexibility across the enterprise to lower capital expense.

The Junos Space Network Director provides a single-pane-of-glass network management solution for wired and wireless LANs and data centers, consolidating multiple management tools to simplify network operations and deliver a comprehensive advanced platform that prepares enterprises for tomorrow’s applications, services and workload demands.

News Highlights

Programmability – Juniper said the EX9200 provides the industry’s highest level of programmability required for emerging applications and environments. Built upon the Juniper One Programmable ASIC, the EX9200 prepares enterprises for emerging software-defined networking (SDN) protocols, allowing for network automation and interoperability without the need for additional hardware. Juniper said this eliminates cost, complexity and time delays from line card upgrades or new infrastructure deployments, empowering enterprises to be more nimble and efficient.

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  The EX9200 will ship with 1/10/40GbE interfaces and it is scheduled to deliver 100GbE performance this year.
  
  Wireless LAN controller as a service for the enterprise – Addressing the need to support the growing trend of BYOD and seamless integration between wired and wireless networks, Juniper Networks is delivering a flexible virtual WLAN controller designed to run on any combination of physical appliances, on a virtual machine (VM), or directly on Juniper Networks switches (future). Juniper has made wireless controller functionality a service on the network while offering capabilities such as controller clustering, in-service software upgrades, self-organizing adds, moves and changes, and local switching across the portfolio.

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  Juniper said none of these implementations is tied to a specific location within the enterprise. This simplifies network deployments, increases flexibility, reduces costs with a pay-as-you-grow model and delivers high reliability for wired and wireless networks.
  
  “Enterprises don’t need to have multiple islands of networks within their infrastructure and can instead have a common, unified end-to-end network for user access -- whether it’s wired or wireless.”
  
  Managing the network from a single pane – Increasing network complexity makes network behavior unpredictable and difficult to forecast the effects of network changes, Juniper said. Junos Space Network Director, a single campus-to-data center management tool, provides a holistic view into the enterprise network. By administering the wired and wireless infrastructure, users, applications, and services from a central location, Junos Space Network Director accelerates application deployment time and reduces complexity and operational expenditures. What has previously been delivered as three to four different management tools can now be consolidated into a single application.