Juniper Attacks the Enterprise

Juniper Networks Inc.'s (Nasdaq: JNPR) first product resulting from its $4 billion acquisition of NetScreen Technologies Inc. is aiming to provide a security boost for enterprise customers (see Juniper/NetScreen Merger OK'd).

The NetScreen 5GT ADSL security appliance is aimed at the remote office and retail outlet market. Security features on the six-port device include IPSec VPN, firewall, denial-of-servce protection, and antivirus. According to Juniper executives, the 5GT removes the need for an external ADSL modem.

Michael Kennedy, managing partner of Network Strategy Partners LLC, says the product is good news for remote enterprise sites. "The branch market in particular has been poorly served -- the level of security that users get in the branch office is not great...

The main benefit is that it makes DSL a more secure place for enterprises to do business. DSL, up until recently, has just been Internet access, and it was no more secure than the public Internet.".

The deep packet inspection offered by the 5GT’s firewall enables secure business communications that would have only previously been possible using Frame Relay circuits, according to Kennedy.Juniper also unveiled three new enterprise routers tied to the launch of the 5GT. The J2300 is a two-port fixed platform with an 8-Mbit/s uplink, whereas the J4300 has six ports and can support a 16-Mbit/s uplink. At the high end, the J6300 also has six ports, although it has a redundant power supply option supporting a 90-Mbit/s uplink.

The announcements are evidence of Juniper’s intention to make inroads in the enterprise space. The company has traditionally been regarded as stronger in the service provider market.

However, these products will come up against the low-end routers offered by Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), which is the dominant player in the space. Cisco already offers a number of ADSL routers in its 800 series range.

Juniper has chosen an opportune moment to go after the enterprise market: Employees are increasingly working remotely, and companies face the constant menace of viruses, worms, and hackers. A recent study from Infonetics Research Inc. found that security spending is on a major upswing at the moment (see Security Spending Shoots Up).

Kennedy of Network Strategy Partners believes that Juniper will use its foundations in the service provider market to make inroads into the enterprise space. He says, “They are doing this in an incremental way, by extending from their base as a strong provider of edge routers for service providers.”Because it’s a network-based ADSL solution, this is a product that a service provider could sell on to their customers."

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum