Juniper Networks Unveils Cloud-Grade Networking to Accelerate Agility and Innovation in the Cloud Era

An industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, today announced new innovations that will give service providers and enterprises a radically simplified way to build cloud networks capable of deploying services faster. Juniper’s new Cloud-Grade Networking introduces a new set of principles for the way applications and services are architected, delivered and secured. This approach merges telemetry, automation and machine learning capabilities to ease the IT challenges of cloud transformation.

The ongoing digitization across industries and the rise of personalized cloud services has created both massive opportunities and challenges. Network traffic continues to grow exponentially while complexities increase in the storage, networking and compute layers. In parallel, companies face an uphill battle keeping up in a cost-effective and simplified way with end-user demand for new applications and services. If left unaddressed, these realities will prove unsustainable from a capability and cost standpoint.

“The demand for cloud-based services continues to create disruption, resulting in complexity for operators and enterprises that need to pivot quickly. In order to establish a foundation to innovate across IT layers, organizations need to rethink the network. This is the next wave of cloud transformation, and Juniper is delivering it with Cloud-Grade Networking. We have been on this journey for a number of years and we believe Cloud-Grade Networking encapsulates the key tenets that organizations need to follow in order to reimagine how networks ultimately enable them to drive business success. We are excited to offer a new approach that simplifies the IT burden of operating a network, helps our customers find new efficiencies for the cloud era and enables exciting new applications and services to be imagined.”

Juniper’s Cloud-Grade Networking comprises four principles: a platform-first approach, disaggregation, a Self-Driving Network™ and pervasive software-defined security. These tenets bring cloud agility and scale to network operators every where, accelerating innovation and streamlining operations. Through new orchestration and automation capabilities, this approach marries carrier-grade reach and reliability with enterprise-grade control and usability to deliver traditional and personalized services, while reducing costs and complexity in a secure manner.

The new Junos Node Slicing service model, part of Juniper’s platform-first approach to networking, enables operators to run multiple services or instances on the same router, each of which has a separate administrative domain. This vastly reduces the operational complexity of managing end users’ diverse application needs by as much as 60 percent. Additionally, Juniper’s new Universal Chassis furthers the company’s leadership in disaggregating the network so operators can standardize all routing and switching deployments across data center and the wide area network in a unified platform. This commitment to openness can reduce platform qualification by up to 50 percent through eliminating multiple platform certification cycles across the network.

Finally, two new Professional Services offerings and enhancements to the NorthStar Controller further Juniper’s vision of the Self-Driving Network™, which combines telemetry, workflow automation, DevOps, and machine learning to create an infrastructure that is responsive, adaptive, and ultimately predictive.

News Highlights:

• Junos Node Slicing: Adhering to the platform-first approach, Junos OS now supports the convergence of multiple concurrent network functions on the same physical routing infrastructure. This lets service providers and enterprises optimize their infrastructure while offering differentiated services with enhanced operational and administrative isolation within a single chassis. By decoupling the network software from the underlying infrastructure, Junos Node Slicing is designed to accelerate service deployment, reduce capital outlay and improve overall operational efficiency.
   
• Universal Chassis: This is the first modern cloud-grade chassis that will allow customers to standardize on a hardware platform across their data center, core and network edge. By decoupling line cards from the physical chassis, users can reduce the operational burden of sourcing, procuring and deploying disparate routing platforms across different use cases. Juniper’s Universal Chassis, which supports the new PTX10008, PTX10016, QFX10008, QFX10016, and the MX series line cards in the future, is designed to provide customers with a competitive advantage by adapting to ever-changing business requirements with a common hardware platform that supports a continuum of optimized routing use cases across their network.
   
• Professional Services: Juniper is introducing two new automation Professional Services (PS) engagements. One of the new PS offerings provides continuous network infrastructure integration to automate design, test, deployment and audit network environments to make it possible to evaluate new network changes within hours, as opposed to months. The other offering moves network automation from being human-driven to event-driven, enabling network workflows to seamlessly merge with the rest of IT workflows.
   
• NorthStar Controller Enhancements: Juniper’s wide-area network SDN extends support for Source Packet Routing in Networking (SPRING) capabilities for more precise traffic engineering control and programmability across the network. In addition, NorthStar Controller supports real-time stream telemetry via the Junos Telemetry Interface (JTI) and offer real-time traffic visualization, trending and optimizing at the click of a button.