Juniper Adds NorthStar Controller and Fusion Software to its SDN Portfolio

Juniper Networks introduced new SDN software and hardware products for Service Providers.  Some highlights:

Junos Fusion -- software that can control thousands of independent network elements -- either from Juniper or a third-party -- from a single management plane.  The idea is to reduce network complexity and operational costs by collapsing underlying transport elements, including core routers, edge routers and access equipment, into a single point of control from the Juniper Networks MX Series or PTX Series routing platforms. Junos Fusion is fully interoperable with third-party solutions and is extensible to SDN control, including the Juniper Networks Contrail controller and Junos Space network management software provides. Junos Fusion will be available Q2 2014.

NorthStar Controller, a new traffic-engineering controller leveraging open, industry-standard protocols built to optimize service providers' transport networks. NorthStar, which will leverage technology acquired from WANDL, will automatically identify and program the optimal path within a multi-vendor network, based on operator-defined performance and cost requirements. Juniper said this will allow service providers to increase utilization, create service-oriented network paths and dynamically adjust to changing network conditions. NorthStar is expected to be available in the second half of 2014.

CSE2000 Carrier Services Engine, a purpose-built, NEBS-compliant server platform for the service provider environment. This provides customers with the flexibility to virtualize network functions on the router, in a carrier-grade central office (CO) or on a standard x86 server in the data center, providing the ability to optimize service location based on performance and cost requirements. The CSE2000 is available now.

Juniper is also introducing its 1 TB line cards adding further scale to the PTX Series router. Available in Q2 2014, the new line cards double the PTX router's per-slot capacity.

http://www.juniper.net

Earlier this year, Juniper Networks acquired WANDL, a supplier of software solutions for advanced planning, management, design and optimization of next-generation multi-layer networks, for approximately $60 million. WANDL, which is based in Piscataway, NJ, developed a solutions for advanced network analysis, simulation, optimization, capacity planning and management of IP and MPLS networks as well as network solutions for ATM, PNNI/HPNNI, Frame Relay, TDM, Optical Transport, and Voice networks.  Its IP/MPLSView is a multi-vendor, multi-protocol, and multi-layer Traffic Management and Traffic Engineering solution for IP and/or MPLS networks.