Juniper Unveils New Policy and Control Appliances, Software Modules

Juniper Networks is expanding on its policy and control strategy with the introduction of two appliances that can run new application-specific software modules and interface with third-party solutions. The effort is all about enabling service providers to allocate network resources as users and applications require.

“Policy and control layer ties [together] the subscriber and the application with the network infrastructure,” said Tom DiMicelli, Juniper’s product marketing manager. “It’s a critical piece in getting the most value out of your network resource investment and allows you to mine the network layer intelligence to understand resource availability in real time.

“The ability to offer identity- and application-based policy and the ability to automate that adds value to our solutions is a big trend in next-generation networking,” he added.

The company began pushing its policy and control message at about this time last year. That included some enhancements to Juniper’s SDX-300 service deployment platform.

But the solution announced Monday includes “decomposed SDX software into discrete software applications designed around specific policy and control applications,” said Scott Heinlein, senior manager of service provider marketing and partnerships.

That software, which Juniper refers to as SRC (session and resource control) modules, includes the SRC Policy Engine, which monitors and allocates network resources; the SRC Diameter Gateway, for end-to-end control of IMS applications over the network; and the SRC SOAP Gateway, for seamless integration with a variety of Juniper and third-party developed applications.

The new C-series appliances, meanwhile, host the SRC Policy Engine software module and enable service providers to cost effectively scale the solution in granular increments.

Offering prepackaged applications software and purpose-built appliances for that software to run on makes it easier and more affordable for service providers to integrate policy and control into their networks, according to DiMicelli. “In the past, this part of our solution was software based, but that made it harder to integrate because it might require the service provider to buy new hardware and integrate the software into their existing software upgrade cycles,” he said.

The new appliances include the C2000 and the C4000. The C2000 is a 1RU box aimed at enterprise and small service provider deployments serving up to 200,000 concurrent subscribers. The C4000 is a 2RU solution for providers serving as many as 500,000 subscribers concurrently. The boxes and software modules for them are slated for availability in mid-April. Installations for the C2000 start at $30,000 to $40,000.

In addition to its own applications, Juniper offers an API to allow its policy and control solution to support third-party applications.

The company already has a handful of third-party suppliers involved in its Open IP Service Creation Program, a vendor ecosystem built around its SRC effort. With today’s news, Juniper announced that session border controller vendor Acme Packet and VoD solution provider BitBand Technologies have joined the club.

While Juniper’s policy and control solutions to date have focused on IPTV and VoD applications, the relationship with Acme Packet brings VoIP applications into the fold.

“This is the first vendor for VoIP specifically and the first vendor to leverage the DIAMETER interface” which Juniper is offering as one of its SRC modules, Heinlein said. DIAMETER is an application-related interface defined within IMS.

Acme Packet www.acmepacket.com  

BitBand www.bitband.com  

Juniper Networks Inc. www.juniper.net

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