Juniper updates target datacentre networking

Juniper claims the enhacements will help to reduce datacentre networking cost and complexity

Juniper Networks has unveiled new products and software updates which it claims will help enterprise IT departments reduce the cost and complexity of datacentre networking and offer better application and business performance.

The company's "3-2-1" datacentre network architecture will allow customers to simplify legacy networks by reducing switching layers from three to two, and eventually to one, via Juniper's Project Stratus fabric, the firm said.

Juniper also announced a series of updates to its switching portfolio, adding its first fixed Junos switch for 10GbE networks, the EX4500.

The switch, due for launch in the second half of the year, will support up to 48 10GbE interfaces and use 44 per cent less power, according to Juniper. It will also add support for Converged Enhanced Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet services.

Juniper also announced a new "dynamic security model" that offers improved network security for the datacentre to help IT adapt to user behaviour and changing data flows resulting from virtualisation and cloud services, the firm said.

The new model includes AppTrack software to provide application-level visibility and control for Juniper Networks' SRX Series Services Gateways, and AppSecure that provides distributed denial-of-service prevention for the SRX Series.

Andy Jolliffe, business development executive at Juniper, claimed that the updates can improve datacentre performance while introducing cost efficiencies by simplifying the network.

"The biggest change we are seeing is that firms want to introduce new technologies like virtualisation. But to do this effectively they need to scale their network to incorporate these services," he said.

"Current network architectures do not have these capabilities but we are helping to provide the next step, in terms of software and hardware, for simplifying the datacentre in order to increase its potential."

Juniper has partnered with FireEye to use the security firm's Malware Protection System to counter data breaches, targeted attacks and recurring malware intrusions.

Mark Bauhaus, executive vice president for Juniper's service layer technology business group, suggested that this new software will give users confidence in the protection of their networks as services hosted in the cloud continue to grow.

"Juniper's security solutions build confidence in the network, improve the user experience regardless of device, location or identity, and provide a critical foundation for cloud services," he said.