Network simplicity key to solving security, efficiency issues

By Khoo Boo Leong | Nov 18, 2008

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In an economic slump, simplifying the network can help IT organizations do more with limited resources. “We want to get to the point where the network just works,” said Spencer Greene, senior vice-president of Customer Advocacy at Juniper Networks Inc. “Today, networks can be complex and very difficult to operate and manage.”

“The principal sources of network security breaches and downtime are human errors,” added Greene. “Reducing network complexity is the way to reduce human errors. By reducing the complexity, you can make the network more effective, easier to operate and harder to make mistakes leading to fewer failures and security breaches.”

Greene believes that if the auto industry works the same way as the networking industry, then car owners will have to test their cars for compatibility with roads, bridges, gas stations and toll booths before using them. “It’s a big step from where we are to a network that just works and a further step beyond that to a network that anyone can operate.”

One step in that direction is Juniper’s JUNOS strategy of one operating system, one release and one network architecture which are aimed at achieving higher network availability and security simply and at a lower cost. So, despite the economic situation, “nothing has changed for us. Customers [still want to achieve that].”

Nonetheless, an added advantage is that “customers do not have to change everything [immediately] to get the benefits [of simplicity and efficiency],” Greene pointed out. “As you have new needs or a network that needs to be replaced, every incremental step you take gives incremental benefits along the way.”

Regarding benefits, one key customer consideration is energy efficiency. A recent test on Juniper’s T1600 core router using the new Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) Initiative methodology yielded a performance-per-energy unit rating of 9.1 watts per Gbps.

ECR is a framework for measuring the energy efficiency of network and telecom devices. It is collaboration between Juniper Networks, Ixia and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. The open initiative welcomes participants and users from network equipment manufacturers, government agencies, carriers and enterprises.

“Energy efficiency is an increasingly important factor in customers’ decision and evaluation process, but there has been no reliable, standardized method for testing the efficiency of networking equipment,” said Matt Kolon, Asia Pacific CTO for Juniper Networks.

“Juniper’s T1600 core router enabled us to cut power consumption by as much as 20 percent while doubling the network capacity without any increase in datacenter space requirements,” said Kazuhiro Gomi, CTO of NTT America and vice president of the NTT Com Global IP Network.

The ECR’s vendor-neutral energy efficiency metric creates a common energy denominator between different network and telecom systems. Its methodology defines the procedures and conditions for measurements and calculations, and can be readily implemented with industry-standard test equipment.

Such initiatives underline Juniper’s commitment to energy efficiency and carbon reduction both in its products and its internal operations, as well as to listening to its customers.

“We created a customer advocacy role a few months back and it is really about asking our customers more open-ended questions such as what do they like or not like about their networks or Juniper’s products and how they compare Juniper with its competitors and feeding information back to the organization,” said Greene.

Apart from formal research such as surveys and independent studies, Greene relishes the one-on-one conversations with customers to find out about their issues and requirements.

While he talks to customers wherever he travels around the globe, many of Juniper’s customers visit its head offices in California and have in-depth discussions with product managers and engineers over a period of one to three days.

As the effects of the US financial industry crisis spreads around the globe, Greene – who typically engaged with customers on multi-year projects such as transforming networks, IT organization or business – sees industry consolidation, particularly in the banking sector, affecting the company in the medium-term. In this scenario, corporate IT organizations have to plan for mergers and acquisitions.

“Traditionally, that has been difficult – getting two networks to merge into one is a challenging task. One of the biggest focus of JUNOS, [Juniper’s single-source operating system], is interoperability with other JUNOS and non-JUNOS networks,” said Greene. “Companies that built their networks in a closed and proprietary way in the past will find it much more difficult to [deal with these situations].”

On another front, as enterprises reach the limits of what VLANs can achieve, the technologies in the carrier networks have become very important in enabling virtualization of data centers. Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), for example, offers the capabilities to develop a large virtual network that spans multiple devices, allowing organizations to reduce the number of data center facilities they have to manage. “You can serve applications from greater distances and still get acceptable performance,” said Greene.

For enterprises that have very specialized application and network requirements, a development kit is available for development of applications on the JUNOS platform. First adopters of the kit have been some of Juniper’s large customers. The company is now looking at partnering independent software vendors who will develop and resell JUNOS-based products.

The features and functions that are common to most users and have wide applicability will continue to be made available in JUNOS itself.

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