#networkworld

What’s in store for tech in 2017, by @annbednarz - https://t.co/zzq490ioxo

The weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2016 , by @nwwlayer8 - https://t.co/iNrFno8gvi

Secure Island’s IQProtector Mobile was reviewed in Network World magazine’s new products of the week section. Check it out here: http://www.networkworld.com/article/2993325/data-center/new-products-of-the-week-10-19-2015.html#slide18

Xena Networks on Network World Products of the Week 03.10.14

Juniper unveiled a new set of hardware and software products that run on the MX Series 3D Universal Edge router. By deploying the MX 3D, service providers can offer a number of revenue-generating, value-added services, such as load balancing, firewalls, content management, security services and content streaming right from the edge of the network. After a closer look, the range of services Juniper is offering is broader than what was available in the IP Service Switches of 10 years ago, but the concept is the same.

The MX 3D enables both consumer and business features including content streaming, security features and application network, as well as some operational tools in completely isolated, virtual instances as line cards within the router. So this raises a question: if so many companies failed at doing this before, why will Juniper be successful now?

I think the answer to this is that the industry is better aligned to network or cloud-based services. A decade ago, almost all enterprise IT infrastructure, and home infrastructure for that matter, was located on premise, so the concept of buying something like a firewall as a service was way outside the comfort level of corporate IT. Today that’s not the case. Cloud services are commonplace, and they are exactly what give network-based security and application delivery services a purpose. Also, when the concept of edge services was hot before, the value proposition was that a telco could tie these additional revenue-generating services to the other products it sells. What other products? An Internet pipe? That’s hardly game changing. Today if an enterprise is going to push a server into the cloud then it stands to reason that everything that surrounds the server should also be made available in the cloud. That’s the new telco opportunity. The shift to cloud computing opens the door for telcos to sell a wide range of other cloud services. The MX 3D is a much more cost-effective, scalable way of offering these servicescompared to deploying individual appliances on a one-off basis.

The one big challenge that I see here is the pricing model. Thinking back, the pricing model for something like a network-based firewall ranged from free to several hundred per month. Any work Juniper can do here to help its telco customers come up with pricing models will be well received, as I’m not convinced the service providers fully understand what to charge for these types of services.

I recently posted an entry on how I see the separate and distinct classes of wireless-LAN systems on the market today, with an open question as to the degree of functional overlap we'll likely see among them. The midmarket sector is today of particular interest, motivated by a recent announcement from Cisco of new APs (the 1600 and 2600) aimed just at that opportunity. Coupled with a new release of the Cisco Prime unified (wired and wireless) management console and an increasing emphasis on virtualizing key components (very important to midmarket firms trying to minimize costs), and the midmarket opportunity suddenly looks like anything but a niche.

We've identified the key requirements that define this segment. These include ease-of-use for operations staffs, because midmarket firms don't have the large IT departments of their enterprise counterparts. Staff productivity, always a key to lowering operational expense (OpEx), is thus especially critical here. The other major issue is scalability, as in non-disruptive, cost-effective, and easily managed, because midmarket firms often see higher growth rates than larger firms.