Juniper Networks Partners with Affirmed Networks and Netronome to Deliver a Scalable Cloud Solution for Mobile Subscriber Services

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - February 27, 2017) - Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, today announced the availability of a carrier-grade cloud solution that allows the rapid implementation of mobile subscriber service virtual networks functions (VNFs) with the performance, reliability and scale that customers expect. The solution combines Affirmed Networks® Mobile Content Cloud™ virtualized evolved packet core solution (vEPC) with Juniper Networks® Contrail Networking and Netronome® Agilio® SmartNICs to significantly improve performance and efficiency compared to software-only virtual routing solutions.

The growth in mobile data, 5G and IoT has caused mobile operators to be under pressure to enable the benefits of cloud services in their infrastructure, with Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) at the forefront of this architectural shift to the cloud. "Service providers looking to deploy cloud-based mobile subscriber solutions recognize the benefits offered by Network Functions Virtualization, including capital and operational savings, agility and reduced time to launch new services. It is also imperative that carrier-grade performance and reliability is maintained," said Cliff Grossner, Senior Research Director and Advisor, Cloud & Data Center Research Practice at IHS Markit. "In a recent IHS Markit report, 44% of service provider respondents indicated they would deploy NFV for improved real-time network optimization and 63% said carrier-grade performance was an important barrier that had to be overcome. Operators are signaling that integrated and highly scalable solutions that can scale with demand will get their attention."¹

Unfortunately, in pursuit of realizing the benefits associated with leveraging NFV, many organizations have been challenged by the limitations of commodity hardware running software not optimized for cloud-scale virtualized environments, resulting in limited throughput and scalability. To address these challenges, Juniper Networks, Affirmed Networks and Netronome together deliver a carrier-grade, highly scalable solution that enables hardware acceleration of cloud-based VNFs for mobile operators. This approach enables the benefits of both SDN and NFV while offering up to six times cost per unit core savings compared to software-only virtual routing solutions. The solution also enables the best of both worlds by combining the flexibility and agility of a software-based solution with the performance of a hardware platform.