Juniper, Nokia Siemens JV to address carrier Ethernet market

BANGALORE, INDIA: Juniper Networks Inc. and Nokia Siemens Networks today announced that the two companies plan to form a joint venture to address the carrier Ethernet transport market.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, the joint venture will be dedicated to managing and executing the carrier Ethernet portfolio roadmap, and extends the previously announced partnership enhancement designed to deliver to service provider customers a fully interoperable carrier Ethernet solution for mobile backhaul, business services and residential broadband networks.

The planned solution will enable customers to monetize their networks through a faster time-to-market for new revenue-generating services and by improving network efficiency, which in turn will drive down transport costs.

This planned structure will allow both companies to contribute the necessary products and support to enable meeting the end-to-end portfolio needs of some 200 joint service provider customers worldwide. The solution consists of Juniper Networks MX Series Ethernet Services Routers, Nokia Siemens Networks A-series Carrier Ethernet Switches as well as Nokia Siemens’ end-to-end “point-and-click” network management system.

“The combination of the Carrier Ethernet portfolios of Juniper and Nokia Siemens Networks creates a very compelling solution set,” said Randy Nicklas, CTO of XO Communications, a leading provider of advanced communications services and solutions for businesses, enterprises, government, carriers and service providers.

“Our infrastructure depends on scalability and enhanced functionality to accommodate the rapidly growing demand for Ethernet-based services and bandwidth exhibited by our customers. In addition, we require the reliability, manageability, and connection-oriented approach of current SONET-based transport in our Ethernet networks, all at breakthrough costs. Juniper and Nokia Siemens Networks understand our Carrier Ethernet needs and share our Ethernet-centric vision of delivering telecommunications services.”

Planned solution details
The plans call for the new carrier Ethernet solution to be sold by both companies. The targeted introduction date is the fourth calendar quarter of 2009, subject to fulfillment of customary closing conditions, such as obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.

“Our planned joint solution has been well-received by our mutual customers. Through the combination of the metro aggregation and metro access and network management strengths of each company, this planned partnership enables both Juniper and Nokia Siemens Networks to bring our joint vision of an extremely efficient, easy to manage unified Carrier Ethernet solution supporting all services on a single network to life,” said Bernd Schumacher, head of Broadband Connectivity Solutions business unit, Nokia Siemens Networks.

Juniper Networks MX Series is a family of high-performance Ethernet Services Routers with powerful switching features that deliver unmatched flexibility and reliability to support advanced services and applications. Consisting of the MX960, MX480 and MX240, the MX Series Ethernet Services Routers provide high port-density routing and switching in a range of highly efficient, high-performance hardware platforms, enabling service providers to reduce power, space and cooling costs by as much as 50 percent. The MX Series leverages JUNOS Software, a single source operating system integrating routing, switching, security and network services from Juniper Networks.

"With this solution we are expanding the breadth and depth of our relationship with Nokia Siemens Networks," said Manoj Leelanivas, senior vice president and general manager, Juniper Networks. "The combination of Nokia Siemens Networks' leadership in metro access and network management and Juniper's strength in Carrier Ethernet metro aggregation applications will enable our customers to more effectively monetize the network with new revenue-generating services and lower transport costs."

The Nokia Siemens Networks A-series is an industry-leading carrier Ethernet switching portfolio providing an effective evolution path from the existing TDM networks towards the next-generation carrier Ethernet transport networks.

The A-series provides the SDH carrier-class characteristics over a modern, cost effective Carrier Ethernet network. Additionally, it enables further cost efficiencies by carrying both voice and data traffic with higher traffic volumes at lower costs. The A-series can serve as an access solution located at the customer premise or as a "last mile" aggregation unit that gathers traffic from various customer sites.

A major operational cost factor for operators is the administration efforts in the network. Nokia Siemens Networks’ network management system offers unparalleled features which simplifies network management, eliminating the need to configure individual nodes and perform laborious traffic engineering. Instead, end-to-end connections are set up in a point-and-click fashion. OPEX savings of up to 80 percent becomes clear when considering that operators have to do thousands of manual reconfigurations a month.

Juniper and Nokia Siemens Networks have a long-standing partnership that encompasses IP aggregation, edge and core products and have deployed solutions in more than 200 service provider networks around the world. This joint venture further enhances the partnerships position in the Carrier Ethernet segment, one of the fastest growing network applications for wireline and mobile service providers.