On the back lawn of the Arizona Biltmore, Juniper Networks erected a string
of letters that signifies the theme for the company and the Americas Partner
Conference: “The New Network.”
CEO Kevin Johnson took the stage this
morning to open the conference by asserting the networking and security
company’s commitment to re-create the networking paradigm and create a flat
platform that makes networks and data centers more efficient, scalable and
cost-effective.
“There are growing sets of challenges and growing opportunities. We are at
an inflection point, and whenever there is an inflection point, decisions have
to be made,” Johnson told the several hundred partners gathered at the event.
The importance of partnership with resellers, carriers, distributors and
integrators was underscored by Johnson, who noted Juniper’s growth through its
channels. In 2009, branded services through partners grew more than 10 percent;
sales through distributors rose 11 percent; and enterprise sales jumped 20
percent. More significant is the growth in partner sales of complete systems
that span the Juniper portfolio. This historical and continuing growth is why
Juniper is looking to its partner community to adopt “The New Network”
strategy.
The central theme of “The New Network” is Juniper’s vision for disrupting
the three-tier architecture of conventional network design. Johnson and other
executives introduced the concept of Juniper’s operating system—Junos—and other
software packages—Junos Space (network management) and Junos Pulse (client
applications) creating the fabric of a network platform on which applications
are built and run better.
“Innovation is required, and we’re all-in,” Johnson told the crowd. “We
believe the bet you should make is with Juniper.”
With the exception of some product comparisons, Juniper executives steered
clear of invoking the competition—most notably Cisco and Hewlett-Packard.
Instead, they focused on collaboration, partnership and open systems. Johnson
and others returned to two common messages: the need for open, flat platforms
and how partners will deliver single-tier systems to their customers to improve
the data center and application usage experience.
The presentations delivered by Johnson, Junos Space chief Mike Harding and
Global Enterprise Sector Chief Peter Bolt sounded like a mix of technology
innovation and a call to arms for the next-generation networking systems.
Unlike the rhetoric delivered at the recent Cisco and HP partner conferences,
Juniper’s battle cry is more about making investments in the future.
“You have to make a decision to become part of the transforming of the
industry. We’ve made our decision, and we’re all-in. If you make the bet on
Juniper, we’re going to make the investment in you,” Johnson said to the
partners.
Computer Networking 
