Juniper buys enterprise SDN firm cloud for $176m

Juniper Networks is to shop for the enterprise-focused software-defined networking firm cloud Systems for $176m in money and stock, the kit-maker has proclaimed via a journal post and SEC filing.

The deal comes a mere period when rival networking firm Cisco bought Cariden, that additionally operates within the burgeoning software-defined networking (SDN) market, for $141m. VMware, that has already been terribly active in virtualising the datacentre, additionally bought SDN pioneer Nicira earlier this year.

Contrail was solely based this year. it’s most likely price noting that Contrail’s chief technology officer, multi-protocol label change (MPLS) specialist Kireeti Kompella, was at Juniper before defecting in September.

SDN effectively involves the virtualisation of networking devices, creating the network easier and in theory cheaper to manage. exploitation interfaces like OpenFlow that square measure supported open standards, SDN supersedes abundant of the practicality of the computer code embedded within the routers and switches that each Juniper and Cisco create.

“With this acquisition, Juniper gains SDN technology that augments our portfolio of merchandise and services,” Juniper code chief Bob Muglia same in a very post on weekday. “As a strategic capitalist earlier this year, we tend to recognised the inherent blessings of cloud Systems’ {architectural|discipline|subject|subject square measurea|subject field|field|field of study|study|bailiwick|branch of knowledge|fine arts|beaux arts} approach and that we are excited to require this next step to accumulate and mix cloud Systems into our team.”

Contrail has been operative in fairly surreptitious fashion, however last month Kompella told light-weight Reading that the firm was functioning on a compiler for the software-defined network. The aim is for enterprises to be ready to more-or-less simply input their constellation needs and leave it to the code to program the hardware.

Meanwhile, on Th the analyst firm egg cell free a report regarding the SDN market, speech the technology was on a run.

“With SDN the main target of networking has enraptured from the feeds and speeds of the info plane to the intelligence inherent within the management plane and connected network services,” principal analyst David Krozier same. “Instead of crafting applications to control inside the constraints of the network, with SDN the network can dynamically adapt to produce the property services that best serve the applying.”

However, Krozier additional that it had been “too early within the evolution of SDN to draw conclusions regarding that approach can win or the precise design of future networks as there’s an excessive amount of innovation however to happen, and vendors and their customers have however to achieve a typical agenda”.