Dell and Juniper Networks have signed a technology collaboration network that will develop products for virtualized data centers.
On Tuesday, the companies announced they will work together in aligning data center virtualized based on open standards. Collborate also on products based on enhanced converged Ethernet (CEE) and iSCSI, both technologies are intended to make networks more profitable to run.
As part of the agreement, Dell will sell network equipment, Juniper Networks, following a similar agreement with Brocade, which was extended in September. It plans to rename Juniper routers, switches and gateways PowerConnect services under its J-Series products, while selling Brocade storage and network equipment under the brand PowerConnect B-Series.
The agreement is designed to allow companies to build its data center and network infrastructure – including offices, remote workers, customers and business partners – with the team from a single provider, the companies said.
“This agreement will help solve many of our most serious challenges, including the dramatic increase in security issues, once again dispersed workforce and challenges caused by the arrival of the virtualized data center,” said Dell senior vice president, Brad Anderson , in a statement.
Dell will sell, service and support of Juniper products – including the MX-series routers, EX-series switches and Ethernet services SRX Series gateways, they all JUNOS software running on the FreeBSD derivative. The products will be available through Dell’s direct and channel PartnerDirect.
Several companies are looking for technologies such as Ethernet and convergence in the use of virtualized servers to simplify deployment and maintenance of data centers. For example, Cisco networking company earlier this year introduced its first blade and rack server products on an initiative calling for Unified Computing (UC), a move that analysts say has been responsible for company such as IBM and Dell hardware to work more closely with networking companies such as Brocade and Juniper. IBM announced an agreement to OEM Brocade in April.
The company has a relatively new market for Juniper, which made its name with routers used by telecommunications companies. The company launched its Ethernet switch portfolio last year and has sold switches to the likes of NYSE Euronext, which is used to build data centers in New York and London.
Juniper is competing with Cisco UC and HP BladeSystem Matrix with a project called Stratus, intended to simplify and accelerate the networks. Stratus-based products will not arrive until 2010 or 2011, but at least in theory, Juniper plans to go further than any of Cisco and HP, according to Datamonitor analyst Rik Turner.
“Neither the supplier [Cisco or] HP proposes something as radical as the architecture of a single layer of Stratus,” Turner said in a July report, published at the time of trying to Juniper with NYSE Euronext. “The fact that the giant global stock markets, whose tolerance is obviously minimal latency, has been with Juniper is a strong endorsement of the vendor’s road map.”