SCIENCE

Juniper Networks announced the availability of Junosphere Lab, a new virtual environment that revolutionizes the way service providers and enterprises design, test and operate networks. Junosphere is a first-of-its-kind cloud offering that allows network operators to create and run networks on-demand, enabling network modeling, testing and planning at a scale that is practically impossible to achieve with physical equipment. Using Junosphere Lab, companies can "rent" networks for as little as $50 per day, enabling them to speed modeling projects by over 30 percent and lower total cost of ownership by as much as 90 percent when compared to the alternative of building a physical lab.

Junosphere Lab overcomes traditional challenges associated with network modeling and design by harnessing the power of virtualization to reduce reliance on overburdened physical network labs and dramatically improving time efficiency by transforming how organizations approach network modeling. It can be used to speed service introduction, plan more effectively and reduce the risk of network changes. Using Junosphere Lab, network personnel can create and model virtual networks running the Junos operating system as a substitute for or supplement to physical test labs, eliminating significant power, cooling and space requirements. It also provides a simple, cost effective tool for training and maintaining the skills of technicians and NOC personnel.

Network Innovation Extending Value for Some of the World's Largest Service Providers

"Junosphere appears to be a powerful tool to test new architectures and evaluate new ways to enhance our network operations, security and convergence capabilities for both current and future needs," said David Roy, network engineer, France Telecom / Orange. "Junosphere Lab allows us to test new prototypes in a virtual environment and enable modeling at a level of scale that is often impossible in the physical world, while significantly reducing risk and costs."

"Energy efficiency and environmental responsibility is very important to us at NTT Communications, and we highly value technologies that can help us reduce power demand by delivering a highly scalable, realistic environment at less cost," said Dr. Shin Miyakawa, director, Network System and Technologies, Innovative IP Architecture Center at NTT Communications. "We are excited about Junosphere Lab because it could enable us to perform many testing and modeling exercises in the cloud, rather than with physical test labs, which in turn could significantly reduce the amount of power, space and cooling our labs require."

On-Demand Approach to Network Modeling a Groundbreaking Shift in Industry

Junosphere Lab extends the capabilities of the Junosphere environment first announced with Junosphere Classroom in May 2011 and further demonstrates Juniper's commitment to helping customers leverage the power of the cloud in innovative new ways. Today, Juniper also introduced Junosphere Connector, an optional application that enables users to connect their Junosphere networks to physical networks or lab environments. Junosphere is an all-Juniper data center network design, built with Juniper Networks high-reliability, high-performance products, and optimized to meet the secure networking demands of a cloud-based environment.

"Service providers and large enterprises struggle to implement lab environments that emulate their operational networks. Reproducing the scale of the network is simply not feasible in a lab," said Michael Kennedy, principal analyst, ACG Research. "Because the Junosphere virtual environment is hosted in the cloud and generates no demand for power, space or cooling resources, it is capable of testing a full scale network without any capital expenditures and in less time than a physical test lab. The full scale network test has greater power, enabling it to discover the actual behavior of the operational network and reduce the number of risks and unknowns because no compromises are made in the test scale. All of these factors make Junosphere Lab a very compelling offer."

"Junosphere Lab leverages the power of cloud networking to help customers plan and operate their networks more efficiently," said Manoj Leelanivas, executive vice president, Junos Application Software Business Group, Juniper Networks. "The economic and operational benefits of cloud-based network modeling are astounding, and the innovation of Junosphere Lab brings these benefits to our customers so they can shape and scale their next generation networks with agility."