Juniper delivers virtualised SDN products, targets mobile network operators

Juniper Networks has unveiled new products that deliver on its vision for software defined networking (SDN) in datacentres, in the form of a centralised controller and virtualised appliances for network services.

Announced on Thursday, the Junos Space Services Activation Director is designed to meet the controller function for SDN, centralising network management, configuration and analytics into one master unit for all network devices.

Built on the Junos Space Platform, an open framework for building applications on Juniper's Junos operating system, the Services Activation Director lowers cost through simplified deployment and management, according to the firm.

The firm appears to be primarily targeting service providers with Services Activation Director, claiming that it enables provisioning of thousands of network services, including multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and carrier Ethernet for backhaul.

Juniper detailed its SDN strategy at its Global Partner Conference last month, outlining the steps customers would need to take in order to implement an SDN-enabled network.

Centralising network management is the first step, followed by virtualising of networking and security services, which the firm is also addressing with the announcement of its Mobile Control Gateway (MCG) running as a virtualised function on the JunosV App Engine.

This MCG provides signalling and control functions for LTE, 3G and 2G radio access networks, which will give mobile operators the ability to scale capacity up and down to meet changes in demand, Juniper said.

The JunosV App Engine is the platform upon which virtualised network functions such as the MCG operate, It powers Juniper's VSE Series of network appliances, purpose built to meet the needs of a broad range of network applications.

Bob Muglia, executive vice president for Juniper's Software Solutions Division, claimed the firm is leading the industry in delivering the next generation of SDN services.

"Mobile networks are perfectly suited to benefit from Juniper Network's SDN approach. Exponential mobile data usage coupled with an increasingly wide array of multi-media smartphones and tablets put enormous demands on high-performance networking," he said.