Juniper’s “Green” Investment Pays Dividends as Its MX-series and T-series Gains Visibility

| Nov 6, 2008 | Carrier Infrastructure | Competitive Update

| Analyst: Glen Hunt

Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: Moderate
Market Impact: Moderate

Event Summary

November 4, 2008 -- Juniper highlighted the energy efficiency of its MX-series Ethernet Services Router and T-series IP Core router with two customer endorsements and high marks in recent performance-per-energy unit testing which was conducted by Ixia and LBNL using the new Energy Consumption Rating (ECR) methodology. Juniper announced that Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) has deployed its MX-series and NTT selected the T1600 due to its energy consumption, high performance and other factors.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on the announcements made by Juniper relating to the energy efficiency of its carrier routers, because they show that its investments and efforts to reduce the energy consumption of its products is beginning to pay off with industry visibility and in network wins. The Internet Initiative Japan, Inc. (IIJ) announced that it has deployed MX-series Ethernet Services Routers to enhance network performance, reliability and service versatility, and in addition, address power supply and space constraints. In a separate announcement, test equipment vendors Ixia, Juniper, and LNBL have taken initiatives to address one of the looming concerns of telecommunication operators and equipment vendors – how to accurately measure, in a consistent and predictable manner, the power consumption of gear installed in their networks. Juniper participated in the definition of the testing initiative and submitting its flagship T1600 IP core router, as the first product to undergo testing following the new test methodology developed by LBNL.

• Vendor Importance: Moderate to Juniper, since the two events show that its continued engineering investment to meet long range power consumption targets is putting the company’s products in a strong position relative to meeting the energy efficiency requirements of the telecommunications industry. With respect to the testing, the announcement is of high importance to Juniper, since it has unveiled the energy efficiency rating of its T1600. Having two of its key platforms linked to “green” telecoms could improve Juniper’s appeal to service providers in today’s environment.

• Market Impact: Moderate on all telecommunication equipment markets, because the events mark another industry step toward measuring the efficiency of telecommunications equipment when tested in a simulated operational mode. Perhaps even more significant is IIJ and NTT stating that power consumption played strongly in their equipment selection processes. Also of significance is the potential for the testing methodology to be incorporated into various equipment-buying and compliance benchmarks and standards (i.e., operator RFPs, NEBS, and others) in the future.

CLIENTS ONLY

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Carrier Infrastructure | More information

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Competitors should regularly perform a power consumption review of their equipment to determine what could be done to optimize the power consumed. Often, newer, lower power consuming silicon can be easily implemented through on-going engineering processes in place in many vendor organizations. Vendors should consider using the Ixia testing capabilities, or establish their own labs to perform performance-based calculations of energy consumption.

• All competitors need to highlight their overall “green initiatives” and be prepared to articulate them when pressed by operators. Competitors should note that an end to end solution is comprised of many variables. Although the power consumed by routers/switches is a significant component, issues such as truck rolls to reconfigure-repair-diagnose can often negate any savings achieved from a single device.

• Competitors should closely evaluate the methodology presented by LBNL’s ECR specification to determine how they can leverage the repeatability and consistency that can be achieved by having established performance/consumption guidelines. Although in its infancy, vendors should consider working with Ixia to perform tests on their equipment, especially if service providers begin to write performance-based energy consumption requirements into their RFPs.

• With green initiatives attracting a significant level of attention from service providers, competitors should consider all means possible to outline their true total cost of ownership. Vendors should highlight the remote management and troubleshooting capabilities and the self-healing ability of their equipment to minimize unscheduled maintenance procedures which will consume other forms of energy.

CLIENTS ONLY

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

| Client access - Full report in Carrier Infrastructure | More information

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