Juniper Networks adds an edge to its router
The enhancements to Juniper’s MX series 3D Universal Edge routers are aimed at improving the port density and operational efficiency of the systems as businesses and consumers demand HD video, cloud services and network-based collaboration from their service providers. Larger enterprises building hybrid cloud networks and placing more emphasis on IT as a competitive differentiator are also targets for the upgraded routers.
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Juniper first introduced the MX series routers in 2006. Since then, Juniper says it has sold an MX every hour, including to more than 90% of the 50 largest telecom companies in the world.
In the first quarter of 2015, Juniper, Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei combined accounted for 92% of the worldwide edge router market, according to Dell’Oro Group. Juniper had 18% of the $7.3 billion market in 2014.
New hardware for the MX includes line cards based on Juniper’s Trio silicon. The MPC9 line card, which Juniper says is 400G Ethernet “ready,” provides 1.6Tbps of throughput, enabling a single MX2020 router to scale to 32Tbps of throughput.
The MPC7 line card doubles the performance and density of the MX240, MX480 and MX960 routers, Juniper says.
Software enhancements include the Juniper Extension Toolkit (JET) and Junos Telemetry Interface. JET is designed to improve automation through a programmatic interface to develop customized third-party applications for provisioning and self-healing capabilities.
JET also includes support for OpenConfig, a standardized, vendor-independent configuration and management capability with customizable YANG data models, Juniper says.
The Junos Telemetry Interface is intended to optimize network performance and fault management. The interface synchronizes and exports MX operational states to external SDN/NFV controllers, and facilitates real-time reporting through analytics and data correlation, Juniper says.
The new line cards, JET and Junos Telemetry Interface are slated for first half 2016 availability.