Juniper Networks today announced FEDERICA, a major long-term project to implement an experimental network infrastructure to support future Internet research on new networking technologies in the university and research community, is using Juniper Networks to provide its Ethernet-based high-performance network infrastructure. FEDERICA selected the Juniper Networks MX Series Ethernet Services Routers and EX Series Ethernet Switches following a rigorous performance, functionality and total cost-of-ownership (TCO) evaluation.

“Demands on international research and education networks are very specific,” said Mauro Campanella, senior R&D Researcher at Consortium GARR, which manages the Italian research and education network, and the leader of the FEDERICA project. “The platform has to support virtualization, high-performance and security at scale, provide flexibility to enable continuous innovation and remain open to support large and diverse research challenges. Juniper Networks has expertise in this environment, and is known for providing an open, standards-based solution that encourages rather than inhibits innovation. This is the type of technology we needed to provide the flexible, customizable research network infrastructure that our project demands. The technology matches the FEDERICA network infrastructure provided by national research and education networks through the GÉANT2 high bandwidth backbone network very well. Juniper has been a participant in the FEDERICA project since it was proposed, and the high level of skills that Juniper is contributing is greatly valued by the project team.”

The FEDERICA project focuses on using virtualization techniques because, in a short time-frame, they enable research on key areas of interest on the same physical infrastructure – primarily driving down capital and operational expenses by optimizing network topologies and lowering power, space and cooling requirements while reducing staff training and deployment overheads. Through the virtualization capability in the MX and EX Series, Juniper simplifies network design by collapsing layers of data center equipment, multiplexing different use cases on the same hardware and reducing the number of interconnections required.

By leveraging JUNOS Software—a single source operating system running routing, switching and security platforms from Juniper Networks—across both the MX and EX Series, FEDERICA can reduce complexity while expanding network intelligence for new service delivery.

“Driving down costs while increasing return on investment and network functionality is extremely important for most organizations,” said Gert-Jan Schenk, senior vice president of operations, EMEA, Juniper Networks. “With a project like FEDERICA, where the network is critical to the success of the project, it is imperative to create a high-performance network that delivers applications and services for users without compromise. Juniper’s approach to networking aligns precisely with FEDERICA’s, focusing on simplicity and performance, total cost of ownership, sustainability and openness.”