Juniper plans channel push
Firm to challenge Cisco in corporate space using products developed with NetScreen
Juniper Networks intends to use the channel as a key weapon in its assault on Cisco's dominance of the enterprise market.
Juniper, which earlier this year acquired security vendor NetScreen, is looking to develop combined products to further its push into the corporate space.
Gert-Jan Schenk, EMEA vice-president of partner management at Juniper, told CRN that the firm started shipping its new J-Series products last month. "We will be very aggressive," he said. "We believe we have the channel and the product and that customers are looking for a second vendor in their network."
Schenk added that Juniper is working with its channel to get its training and accreditation right. The firm has 280 UK resellers and three distributors: InTechnology, Sphinx and equIP.
Juniper is not looking to expand its channel but is looking at how to "invest in specialisations to give better understanding of the products", Schenk added.
He said there will be more new products, building on technology by Juniper and NetScreen. "You will see a combination of products. The main investment will be in the enterprise and corporate market," Schenk said.
Bob Tarzey, service director at analyst Quocirca, said: "Increasingly, security is being embedded in the network. There's been a lot of consolidation, with networking firms adding firewalls to their portfolios, so Juniper clearly had to do something."
But Tarzey said any changes will take a while to filter down to the channel, and that there may be more of an opportunity for networking vendors than for security resellers as a result of the NetScreen deal.
Neil Ledger, managing director of distributor equIP, agreed. But he added that Juniper's acquisition of NetScreen had been "surprisingly painless", and that the firm had a good strategy of not over-distributing new products.
"The real push is happening now with the J-Series. Juniper has a better chance because it is going down the chain [from the high end] rather than coming up. The feedback we've had is that people want choice," he said.