Juniper repositions into security market. Check it out:
(Microscope Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Cisco?s greatest router rival, Juniper, is looking to position itself as a network security leader as it rolls out an updated version of its secure service gateway portfolio.
Fresh off the back of last month?s strategic partnership signing with security software giant Symantec which will see both vendors integrate their security portfolio for enterprise customers ? particularly in the UTM space ? Juniper has updated its IP VPN and firewall range and is already shipping the new kit through distributors.
Anton Grashion, EMEA security strategist at Juniper, told MicroScope the expanded security portfolio resulted in a ?nice channel model?.
?If you are going to bring routing and security together you had better have a pretty good solution when it comes to management and maintenance ? our partners will have been selling routing [as well as security] anyway so they are used to bringing lots of different things together.?
The intention to expand Juniper?s security portfolio and market share comes from the cross-sell and the up-sell opportunities on Juniper?s installed router base ? a strategy Cisco has pursued strongly since the 2004 launch of the Integrated Service Router (ISR), which combined security, voice and video onto the same appliance.
Grashion said: ?These are security devices first and foremost. The Cisco ISR is a router with security added on.
?Routing is not a massively different problem: it is just the approach to how you do it and we did it differently. Security has much more of a predator/prey relationship. You have to make a more responsive network to be competitive,? he added.
Being competitive at Juniper also includes the Symantec tie-up ? whose CEO John Thompson said of the reasoning behind the partnership: ?Our customers are demanding a more comprehensive approach to security and management, with more attention being placed on expanding the ability to control networks.?
At a corporate level Juniper remains under investigation by the SEC for delays in its regulatory filings following a stock options scandal.
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information - UK. All Rights Reserved.
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