Juniper EX Series Gain Momentum – Thanks to You!

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It’s been an eventful 2010 for the EX Series Ethernet Switches—and we’re just over halfway through.

In February, we began shipping the EX2200, a compact, fixed-configuration switch designed for access-layer deployments in branch offices and campus networks.

In May, we announced the EX4500, a scalable, high-performance platform for supporting high-density 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) networks in data center, campus and service provider deployments.

And this month, we started shipping the EX8200-40XS, a new line card for our modular EX8200 line of switches.  Offering 40 oversubscribed 10GbE ports for data center end-of-row and middle-of-row server access, as well as for data center blade switch and top-of-rack or campus uplink aggregation deployments, the EX8200-40XS is optimized for data center networks migrating from GbE to 10GbE interfaces.

These new offerings complement the existing EX Series switch lines, including the EX4200 with Virtual Chassis fabric technology and the EX8200 modular chassis, which, in just over two years since initial shipments began, have secured a firm position among the top switch vendors in the industry.  In fact, according to the latest market numbers from Dell’Oro Group, Juniper is now #4 in Ethernet switch market share, right behind the remnants of Foundry Networks.  And demand for the EX Series switches has remained strong, evidenced by the fact that Juniper’s presence in enterprise and service provider accounts has continued to grow, quarter after quarter.

Needless to say, we owe it all to our customers—the sharp-eyed and forward-thinking users who recognize Juniper quality and want to make it part of their network.  Many of our EX Series accounts were existing Juniper customers who were already familiar with Junos® software and understand the value of running a single, consistent operating system across their switching, routing and security infrastructure.  Other EX Series customers had grown weary of the same old expensive, multi-layered solutions from their incumbent switch vendors and embraced the innovation, lower TCO and operational efficiencies provided by the Juniper offerings.

Thanks to these customers, the EX Series switches made their first appearance in the Gartner Enterprise LAN Switching Magic Quadrant* earlier this year—quite an accomplishment given that, last year, we lacked the requisite market share needed to qualify for inclusion.  Now, 12 short months later, we were placed in the “Challengers” quadrant.  Not bad for a first appearance.

So to our customers, thank you for your business—and your loyalty—over the past two years.  We couldn’t have done it without you, and it’s been our pleasure to deliver truly innovative switching solutions that have helped advance the economics of your networks.

Keep watching this space in the months to come, because more is on the way.  We can’t wait to show you!

*Gartner Inc, Magic Quadrant for Enterprise LAN (Global), Mark Fabbi, Tim Zimmerman, June 10, 2010.

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.