About this blog

This blog is intended to keep customer's of Quantix up to date with the latest technical and product news on Juniper products.

Thursday 31 July 2008

University of Exeter Deploy Juniper EX Switches












Juniper Networks have announced their first real publishable major UK switch win at the University of Exeter....

The University of Exeter, one of the U.K.'s leading research universities, has deployed a comprehensive network infrastructure solution from Juniper Networks. As a key element of its campus-wide infrastructure upgrade, the University deployed the EX-series Ethernet Switches as well as the Juniper Networks MX-series Ethernet Services Routers, Integrated Security Gateway (ISG) firewall/VPN/intrusion prevention platforms and Secure Access SSL VPN platforms. The University is building its new high-performance network to provide additional services to users, and as part of its strategic goal to move from 13th in the UK to the top ten universities.

"Our goal is to sustain leading-edge research capabilities, provide excellent networking facilities for our 14,000 students and create a future-proof, cost-effective platform for growth. To achieve this, Exeter needed a single network infrastructure to deliver a wide range of bandwidth-rich applications without compromise," said Roger Snelling, Head of Networks at The University of Exeter. "The proven technology of Juniper's JUNOS software, a single-source network operating system, combined with the EX-series virtual chassis capability and its ease of integration with other technologies will enable Exeter to deliver high-performance networking to its users."

The University of Exeter needs to support bandwidth-intensive, quality-dependent video and audio conferencing applications as well as the ability to access and move large volumes of data across its network. Prioritizing these applications over less demanding traffic, such as email and Internet surfing, helps to maintain service quality over a single converged network. The network infrastructure created by the Juniper Networks MX-series and the EX-series running on JUNOS software, simplifies management and minimizes operational cost, enabling Exeter to provide gigabit-per-second links to the edge of its network.

The University also needs to balance the performance of converged, mixed-priority services with a large, frequently changing user population who access the network using a diverse range of unmanaged devices. The Juniper Networks ISG platform was selected to protect the network's core from network- and application-level attacks while maintaining high-performance throughput for legitimate data. Ideally suited for securing bandwidth-rich and latency-sensitive applications, ISG can be equipped with full intrusion detection and prevention capability with the optional IDP security modules. The Juniper Networks Secure Access SSL VPN platform enables remote users to gain secure access to the network, with Web browser-based functionality to enable immediate roll-out for new users. The Secure Access SSL VPN also checks user identity and security status of device (e.g. antivirus, personal firewall) before network access is granted, and dynamically during each session.

"Since they began shipping globally in March 2008, the EX-series Ethernet Switches are being selected by high-performance organizations such as The University of Exeter, to enable a new networking paradigm," said Gert-Jan Schenk, senior vice president of operations, EMEA, Juniper Networks. "It is also a great example of how the EX-series complements Juniper's existing portfolio, leveraging the openness and simplicity of a single network operating system, to create a fast, reliable, secure solution at scale."

Higher Education have always been good adopters for technology advancements, so the momentum will undoubtedly continue.

Quantix has a very wide range of Juniper products and has helped many public sector organisations with their networking solutions. If you would like more information or discuss how Quantix can help your organisation, please do not hesitate to contact us on: 0115 983 6200 or please visit our website.

Friday 25 July 2008

Release of Juniper ScreenOS 6.0.0r6

TitleScreenOS 6.0.0r6 Software Release Notification
Products AffectedSSG5, SSG20, SSG140, SSG320M, SSG350M, SSG520/SSG520M, SSG550/SSG550M, ISG1000, ISG1000IDP, ISG2000, ISG2000-IDP, NS5000-MGT2 w/SPM2(8G2, 2XGE)
Platforms Affected
  • SSG Series
  • ScreenOS 6.x
  • ScreenOS 6.x with IDP
  • NetScreen Firewall/VPN
  • Revision Number1

    SRN Description : This bulletin announces the release of ScreenOS 6.0.0r6.

    Solution: ScreenOS 6.0.0r6 is a maintenance release for the Juniper Firewall/IPSec VPN devices. Please refer to the Release Notes for details.

    EOL Notice:
    Please note that the release of this software version may trigger the End of Life of an older version. Please check the Juniper web page to see if the software version that you are running is affected.

    Quantix Launch Government Connect Initiative with Juniper Networks

    Having many Public Sector clients all looking to connect to the GovConnect network has left us peppered with requests for information and pricing around IDP and new firewalls.

    As a result of the demand, we have approached Juniper Networks as market leaders in this area to put together several discounted offers and bundles which will fit the requirements for the range of GCSx connections. These offers are available only to organisations connecting to the GovConnect network and are only available through Quantix, due to our part funding.

    Products covered under this offer include;

    Bundle 1: IDP 75 & SSG 320

    Bundle 2 : IDP 250 & SSG 550

    IDP 75, IDP 250, IDP 800, SSG 20, SSG 140, SSG 320, SSG 350, SSG 520 & SSG 550

    Quantix are a tier one select partner with Juniper Networks. Junipers EAL4 certified firewalls, along with their Intrusion Detection and Prevention solutions can help to meet the standards required.

    If you require assistance with IDP solutions, please do not hesitate to contact us: 0115 983 6200 or please visit the Quantix website.

    Thanks,


    Andy

    Tuesday 15 July 2008

    Juniper EX 4200 Switch Aces Network World Test


    Extracts from Network World Article, 14/7/08; by David Newman



    "Cisco take note: Juniper's new EX 4200 switch not only fills a hole in a leading competitor's product line, but also represents a credible alternative for enterprise access switching.

    In Network World's exclusive Clear Choice test, we subjected the EX 4200-48T switch to the same rigorous battery of benchmarks we used to assess seven other vendors' 10G Ethernet access switches earlier this year.

    The verdict: This is one fast box. The EX 4200 delivered line-rate throughput in every case, the only switch we've tested this year to do so. What's more, 10G Ethernet latency is the lowest we've ever measured. We also were impressed by the EX 4200's feature set and powerful JUNOS command-line interface (CLI).

    Other highlights of the report include:

    With Juniper's EX 4200, there's no need to say "nearly". Even under the heaviest loads our Spirent TestCenter traffic generator threw at it, the switch delivered line-rate throughput in every single unicast and multicast test, both in layer-2 and layer-3 configurations. No other switch did that.

    Latency – often a more important metric than throughput, especially for time-sensitive voice and video traffic – was low and consistent across all tests. Measured at line rate, the Juniper switch delayed 64-byte frames across 10G Ethernet links for an average of 1.96 microsec and a maximum of 2.01 microsec.

    Those are the lowest latencies we've ever recorded in an Ethernet switch. In fact, even the maximum latency of the EX 4200 is less than the lowest average result we measured in the previous round of tests."

    You can find the full testing report on the Network World Website.

    To see a full range of Juniper products please visit Juniper Technology.




    Tuesday 8 July 2008

    Juniper Netscreen 5GT End of Life Announcement


    The Juniper Netscreen 5GT is now EOL. The EOL announcement for these products is effective 30-June-2008 with a last order date of 31-December- 2008. Effective 1-January-2009, the above products will be removed from the price list and will no longer be orderable.

    The 5GT will continue to be supported until 31/12/2013, however I would encourage customers to make sure any unsupported units are fully under maintenance, as Juniper will not allow any reinstatements after 31/12/09.

    The natural replacement for this product is the Juniper SSG 5 & 20 appliances. Please contact your account manager on 0870 240 6565 if you have any questions.

    Andy

    Thursday 3 July 2008

    July Product Releases





    Just a quick post to update you on the new Juniper product releases for July.

    IDP 800 £17,258 RRP (1 Gbps throughput, 500,000 sessions)

    Infranet Controller 4500 £5,076 RRP
    Infranet Controller 6500 £7,614 RRP

    WXC 1800 with 512k licence £2,530 RRP!!
    WXC 1800 with 2 Mb licence £5,418 RRP

    Thanks,

    Andy