Agreement enables IBM System & Technology Group at the mark, label and sell Juniper EX 4200 switches and 8200 series Ethernet routers and MX series Ethernet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This agreement reflects the expansion of long-term relationship, standing between Juniper and IBM. In 2007, the Department of IBM Global Services Group has agreed to sell a technology product portfolio of Juniper, including routing, switching and platform security. This partnership agreement will continue, the company said.
During the past year, Juniper and IBM are working together on a project of Stratus, Juniper initiative to create a single converged fabric for data center environments and virtual data centers. The companies have collaborated to expand technology demonstrations clouds Private Datacenter; partner for customers in 10 laboratories, IBM Global Cloud, and calculate the load on the movement of private and public companies to manage cloud environments . The clouds and joint research computing security models to determine how customers can mitigate attacks on corporate data and computer systems.
IBM also provides managed services in the portfolio of Juniper. Juniper and IBM are also working on a technology solutions provider joint standards development, network management and management of security services.
IBM has signed an OEM agreement with Brocade earlier this year to resell Brocade’s Foundry switches. Although there appeared to overlap with the case Juniper, Juniper says Brocade switches are targeted for the IBM campus and the working environment while Juniper products will be sent directly to the data center.
IBM spokesman said that there is no overlap or conflict with much of Brocade, as the initiative of the company data center to offer the best in technology class network with leading suppliers plan. ”
OEM arrangement is deeper than just a commitment to resell the products, says Rob Whiteley, an analyst at Forrester Research.
“With the sale of IBM-branded products on the worksheet will be easier for IBM to work in his decision to sell. In addition, IBM is working to position itself as a market leader in cloud computing, it should be able to resolve the network infrastructure within the public and private cloud architectures.
Whiteley said that the agreement is in conflict with the OEM IBM Brocade / Foundry Agreement for switches and routers. But this proposal on the selection, “he said.
“It is not unusual for IBM to provide several options for networking,” says Whitely. “Their goal is to offer a choice and when customers are demanding greater integration and partnership, they’ll recover. I see this as a step forward for IBM to diversify its portfolio of networks.
The Brocade case was regarded as retaliation for IBM Data Capture Cisco blade server market centers, long a stronghold of the partners IBM and HP. However, IBM recently announced its OEM Cisco Nexus 5000 Data Center Switch, which indicates that the relationship between them may not be as bad as suggested.
But analysts recognize that both sources for OEM switches could mislead customers. But they show that IBM is increasingly integrating products that meet the interests of their clients – and himself – with the gradual development of their eggs in other baskets, but Cisco.
“My reading of what is happening is that IBM returned to become a true integrator and want to come out more actively in the best interests of their clients and their own interests,” said Mark Fabbi Gartner. “After a few alternatives to help in this. This will lead to a redistribution of their past thinking, which is a virtual network of Cisco. In this case IBM, when they are in control of the account – for example, a large data center consolidation project – you will choose what they consider to be the best solution for the customer and their own financial situation and it will not always be Cisco.
Fabbi said, IBM will continue to deal with Cisco – it is too big to fly – but will gradually restructure their business, where Cisco is not in fact the only option for networking.
And the extension of the current mechanism for the sale of Juniper Into OEM deal with IBM will demonstrate their commitment to the network – and can lead to a better field, Fabbi said.
“This is a closer relationship between the two companies,” he said. “For IBM, the difference is likely to lead to increased funding mechanism to be able to assist their growth capacity. There could therefore have reciprocal obligations, which are interesting for Juniper.