Juniper MINTs New Service-Centric Strategy

Juniper Networks Inc. is trying to climb up the value chain. The router vendor today announced its strategy to enable service providers to bring new services to data networks with minimal investment.

MINT, or Model for Integrated Network Transformation, includes policy and control; packet processing; resource allocation; and bit transport and connectivity. Policy and control, says Karen Livoli, the company’s senior manager of portfolio marketing, is really the glue that holds the MINT model together. Policies allow service providers to increase operational efficiencies and give end users more control over the services they’re buying, she says. Packet processing, which was the motivation behind Juniper’s acquisition of Unisphere Networks, under MINT allows providers to add services without degrading network performance, Livoli says. MINT’s resource allocation employs technologies like MPLS to carve up the network based on customer needs rather than technology types. And Juniper is already well established in the area of bit transport and connectivity, notes Livoli.

According to Livoli, the key to success for carriers is to build networks that can be segmented into managed groups of users vs. managed individuals. That will allow the telcos to better target small and medium businesses – a $7- to $8-billion opportunity – without running into operational problems in areas such as provisioning, maintenance and call center support, she says.

Specific new offerings under the MINT banner include an ATM2 physical interface card (PIC), which Livoli says gives Juniper the highest density of any ATM router in the industry. Options include one- and two-port OC12 versions and a two-port OC3.

Other features of the ATM2 PIC, which will be available the first quarter of 2003, include rich ATM functionality; consolidation capabilities; the ability to map to Layer 2 VPN overlays; support for Kompella and Martini protocols; shaping and rate limiting; queuing, classification and QOS; weighted round robin; backbone prioritization via MPLS; and more.

Juniper has also added Ipv6 to its ERX (Unisphere) product, which can now run Ipv6 and Ipv4 concurrently.

A new series of cards called Q PIC, to be available in the first quarter of 2003, will support queuing, channelization and granular accounting statistics. Products available under Q PIC will include a one-port channelized OC12 option; a 10-port channelized E1 version; a four- port channelized DS3 cards; and later, support for gigabit Ethernet and per DLCI and VLAN class of service.

In the second half of next year Juniper also expected to offer a portal that talks to its routers and can give service providers and IP managers new visibility into their networks.

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