Juniper Networks aims to simplify AI in networking with partners

Juniper Networks’ growth from an enterprise perspective represents 50% of their business these days, with partners core to the success.

Earlier this year, HPE announced that it will be acquiring Juniper Networks for about US$14 billion. While the acquisition has yet to close, Juniper Networks will become the latest company to join HPE’s increasing list of acquisitions, and this has left the industry keeping a close eye on HPE as it looks to build its dominance in networking.

For Juniper Networks, as the acquisition process is still ongoing, it’s still business as normal for them. The network security and technology company recently unveiled its Juniper Secure AI-Native Edge solution which combines AI-native and cloud-native network operations with the industry’s leading efficacy security solution.

The Juniper Secure AI-Native Edge provides secure, reliable access to network resources and applications through the Mist Security Assurance software subscription. Security Assurance is deployed in the same UI, and uses the same Mist AI engine, as Juniper wired, wireless, NAC and SD-WAN solutions.

The Mist AI engine is a key part of Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform. It uses a combination of AI, machine learning, and data science techniques to optimize user experiences and simplify operations. Juniper's AI-Native Networking Platform is built from the ground up to leverage AI to deliver the best and most secure user experiences from the edge to the data center and cloud.

According to Dean Cunningham, Senior Director Partner Sales for Asia Pacific at Juniper Networks, security has always been part of the DNA within the organization. While there are standalone security vendors, one of the conversations Cunningham mentioned they’re consistently having with customers is how do they weave security though Juniper’s solution.

“From our perspective, it's not networking plus security. Security is part of networking because you can't have one without the other or you can't have them successfully without each other,” said Cunningham.

This is where Juniper’s partner network plays the crucial journey is helping businesses get the best solutions for their network.

The partner network

Cunningham, who also heads up the company’s Partner, Channel and Alliances organization across APAC, highlighted that Juniper’s growth from an enterprise perspective has been very positive. In fact, he mentioned that enterprise growth represents 50% of their business these days.

“It's growing positively for us. And that's driven off the back of the partner organization. 95% of the transactions that happen in APAC are through a partner. We've got very few direct relationships, and it's more on the service provider side. But on the enterprise side, partners play a key part in helping us drive that,” said Cunningham.

Interestingly, Cunningham also mentioned that Juniper has a breakaway plan which is part of their global strategy to recognize partners for what they contribute.

“It's vendor generated versus partner generated. The breakaway plan is a five-year aspirational plan that looks at how we can grow the partner involvement and the engagement as well as recognize that through the backend rebates, through things like Juniper Partner Advantage (JPA) and Juniper Distributor Advantage (JDA). We leverage the whole value of the channel. This is also where we're finding things like partner-initiated dealer edge in the enterprise section,” explained Cunningham.

Cunningham also pointed out that it’s a co-existence with their partners. Juniper has account managers working closely with partners and also partners that they have built years of partnership where they can leverage some new partners as well.

“Juniper is sort of ‘30 years young’. When you look at the amount of partner-initiated business that we see, the focus will be on how to scale them, which is also the fundamental reason for running a channel,” added Cunningham.

Juniper’s traditional partner program, from Elite Plus to Elite to Select to Registered, are available across each of the various regions in APAC. Cunningham mentioned that this is because partners have different criteria based on the economic situation.

“If I look at where we've come from in the last couple of years, specific to enterprise, we've got a lot more partners that are more vertically focused than they were four years ago. For example, we have a partner in Australia who basically sat down with us, developed a co-investment strategy, natively integrated into our software, and has gone on and multiplied the business by over 500% in the last year and a half. And that was because they saw where they wanted to get to, they knew very clearly the customers they wanted to play with and the verticals they wanted to play in,” explained Cunningham.

Cunningham added that the partner had also already had their own systems built. The partner just needed to natively integrate and drive the efficiency conversation and proactive piece. He also mentioned that there are similar programs that Juniper runs with partners across ASEAN, China, Japan and India.

Another interesting point Cunningham pointed out was that these processes don’t happen overnight with enterprises. Partners would need to play the longer game because the average gestation period for deals is a minimum of six to nine months. So, with the co-investment piece, Juniper is also now running AI native briefing sessions, for the simplification of its training processes.

“We shortened our whole learning process pre-emptively look at what certification was with the other vendor, compared it to our own, did the work and decided that instead of having someone going off and doing five weeks’ worth of training and investing in that, we can actually do that in a couple of hours based on video. You sit through the video, you sit the exam, you pass the exam,” he added.

Initiatives like these make it easier for the partner to work with Juniper and allows them to focus on generating revenue, which Cunningham believes is why partners generate businesses for them as well.

Building AI into the network

Moving to the network itself, Cunningham stated the network today has changed substantially. Gone are the days whereby organizations were having networks go through a box and sticking it in a physical location to wait and see what happens as well as have someone manage it.

Today, with AI and enterprise networking, customers have high demands. For Cunningham, from a customer, partner and a vendor's perspective, it's about how to minimize risk for starters for everyone in that process.

“AI and enterprise networking is about how you maximize the investment for that customer in that enterprise space so that it matches their strategic goals? Before we even get into the AI conversation, we need to get into OPEX versus CAPEX, and then get into how to control budgets. Everyone's in different economic situations. You can't apply one flavor to every economy in APAC, nor can you do that for the world. So, I think there's been a lot of change in the approach to networks,” said Cunningham.

For CTOs and CIOs, Cunningham believes that they are looking for someone at a vendor level and a partner level that can help them navigate that process.

“AI from a networking perspective is around being proactive versus reactive. It’s about how does a CIO or CTO does not get a phone call at two o'clock in the morning because their network capacity is about to come up. Once you've covered that off, then what's your vehicle to drive that scale? Is it cloud orientated? Can you use a public cloud provider to provide that infrastructure for you so that you can actually manage your financials for that business? And then how do you go through a big growth spurt within your business? Instead of having to buy huge amounts of infrastructure, how do you use the current infrastructure effectively to be able to deliver against those business needs?” commented Cunningham.

At the same time, Cunningham also mentioned that AI is not just money related, or investment related. It relates to risk and security as well.

“You can have the best network, but if someone infiltrates that network and causes grief from an enterprise perspective, no matter what vertical you play in, that takes you away from what you do on a day-to-day basis. So, AI in networking is around how do you keep your customers safe. It’s about how do you keep your organization itself safe. There's a lot going on, but it's about how do you simplify a lot of that. And I think that's the end goal when it comes to AI and modern-day networking,” said Cunningham.

As such, for AI in networking, Cunningham believes that is about how businesses simplify complex issues in the most streamlined fashion possible. To sum it up, Cunningham believes AI networking is basically about having the right visibility and monitoring and managing capabilities of the network.