Juniper Expands Its Multivendor Data Center Automation Offering

Juniper Networks

The most recent addition to Juniper Network’s multivendor data center automation and assurance platform is called Apstra Freeform. Enterprise, service provider, and cloud provider clients of Juniper are now able to manage and automate their data center operations independent of the architecture and protocols being utilized.

Network operations are developing quickly. Organizations of all sizes and industries would be confronted with architectural issues that might influence how they construct their data centers, whether it be addressing the consequences of a global supply chain crisis or adjusting to changes in the workforce brought on by the pandemic.

Mike Bushong, Group VP of Data Center Product Management at Juniper Networks
“Apstra Freeform brings full control of the network design into the hands of data center operators, giving them complete flexibility and versatility,” said Mike Bushong, Group VP of Data Center Product Management at Juniper Networks.

The usage of multiple vendors will replace sole sourcing, configuration will be driven by intent, and root-cause analysis and correction will be automated. In order to handle this new age of operations, Juniper Apstra was designed from the ground up. As the single source of truth for data center setup, Apstra Freeform intends to standardize user interfaces across vendors and automate crucial data center activities.

“Apstra continues to emphasize the importance of reliable and consistent multivendor data center operations,” said Mike Bushong, Group Vice President of Data Center Product Management at Juniper Networks. “With the introduction of Freeform, we are expanding operational efficiency further into the market. Freeform brings full control of the network design into the hands of data center operators, giving them complete flexibility and versatility. Without topology constraints, we are truly democratizing intent-based networking and allowing everyone to benefit from the best operational practices in the cloud era.”

Extending Intent-Based Networking Capacity

For complete lifecycle data center management across a variety of data center topologies and suppliers, Freeform expands on Apstra’s intent-based networking capabilities. This would enable a reliable user experience that includes the following key features:

  • New reference design covering any topology – Apstra extends Juniper’s intent-based networking capacity to any protocol, any topology, and any network domain with this new software version, streamlining IT processes. Now, customers may take benefit of Apstra capabilities while selecting the architecture that best suits their business needs.
  • Reliable operations – Since Apstra is the only source of truth, data center designs may be used reliably and consistently. IT workers have dependable operations across diverse infrastructure thanks to closed-loop feedback.
  • Value now accessible to more customers – Juniper Networks is implementing a new Apstra license arrangement as part of this new version. Freeform would greatly expand Apstra’s capabilities and use cases. The three licensing options that are available to customers now

Juniper Apstra is made available through Juniper Networks Professional Services.

“Atos has enjoyed a partnership with Juniper for over ten years. As a global system integrator, we give our clients business plasticity to change, adapt and innovate with velocity, creating standard multi-partner, repeatable data center network architectures,” said Lee Wright, Vice President CTO Infrastructure at Atos. “Data center reference designs within Apstra allow us to deploy and operate partner agnostic data center network fabrics quickly, automatically, and seamlessly. Atos supports customers in many verticals and, occasionally, requirements dictate different network architectures. With Apstra Freeform, we’re able to automatically build different architectures and still operate them using Apstra. Flexible vendor agnostic network architectures with Apstra’s reliability, simplicity, telemetry, and intent networking are an excellent enhancement to the Apstra platform.”