Juniper Networks: AI empowers experience first

In the era of the Internet of Everything, with the access of more and more mobile smart devices, network traffic continues to surge. Traditional WiFi technology can no longer meet the current requirement of "experience first". Relying on artificial intelligence-driven operation and support to achieve IT transformation has become the only choice for many companies.

Cater to the trend and actively transform

Faced with the challenges brought by the inherent complexity of the network in the "cloud + 5G + artificial intelligence" era, a single hardware manufacturer can no longer meet the needs of users. Today's equipment manufacturers, in addition to hardware, must also have software, applications, R&D and other capabilities, and even have many ecological partners to achieve flexibility and localization.

Lin Xiaoping, vice president of Juniper Networks and general manager of China, also believes that pure hardware is no longer sufficient for customers in the market. While manufacturers are constantly expanding the capabilities of their equipment, they must also have AI support, drive artificial intelligence on the equipment, and have software and corresponding solutions.

Juniper Networks China CTO Jing Youhao said that because software has higher user stickiness and creates more value, software transformation is one of Juniper Networks' visions.

For Juniper Networks, the transformation from a network equipment company needs to be gradual. It needs to use hardware to support software functions and package applications. It is more about the operation and maintenance team. It saves a lot of manual links and can deploy services with just a few buttons. The value is also reflected through the software. In addition, Juniper Networks will also make different innovations for different customer groups to keep pace with them as a whole.

The word "openness" is explicitly mentioned in the recently released "14th Five-Year Plan", which is also the general trend of the entire industry in the future and accurately caters to the demand for extreme applications.

Jing Youhao said frankly that as the domestic macro situation is constantly changing, Juniper Networks' strategy must also be adjusted accordingly. First, the customer's choice must be focused, and the technology must be more open and integrated with other solution products. Only when the market is large enough, the product is flexible enough, and the scenario innovation is getting deeper and deeper, can new models be found and new opportunities be obtained.

Of course, Juniper Networks has been actively practicing and adhering to its commitment to "advocating change, innovation and higher standards in the industry". Even in a constantly changing environment, Juniper Networks still maintains an innovative approach, using Juniper Networks' automated architecture, AI-driven insights and the industry's best security solutions to provide customers with excellent products and services, and has been highly recognized by major global authorities such as Gartner and Forrester.

AI empowers experience first  

Although it has achieved impressive results and become an industry leader, Juniper Networks has never stopped exploring innovation.

In 2019, Juniper Networks acquired Mist Systems, a pioneer in cloud-based wireless networking driven by artificial intelligence. This enables Juniper Networks to extend cloud-based management and end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven visibility across the entire end-to-end enterprise network, provide industry-leading software-defined solutions, simplify business operations, reduce total cost of ownership, improve user experience, and enable it to occupy a place in the "AI-driven business in the multi-cloud era."

In 2021, Juniper Networks completed the acquisition of Apstra, a leader in intent-based networking and automated closed-loop assurance, and upgraded its intent-based networking to provide users with a simpler and more flexible way to connect additional systems.

Of course, this is not Juniper Networks’ ultimate goal. Relying on its continuous exploration and accumulation in artificial intelligence, in order to meet the high requirements of user experience, Juniper Networks recently proposed “AI-driven enterprise network”.

According to Jing Youhao, AI-driven enterprise networks can perform closed-loop processing based on user intent and data, thereby reducing the pressure of operation and maintenance and achieving user experience first. From a technical perspective, this means that the product is stable enough to avoid problems, and once a problem occurs, it can be traced back to the source in a timely manner and a good repair can be provided.

"Ultimately, after integrating AI, big data and cloud technologies, we hope to simplify the network at the user level. Improving user experience is the most important, but the underlying layer needs to be complex enough so that users can use it easily. Through software, hardware and application systems, users can basically not see it, just as the Taoist saying goes, 'the elephant is invisible.' AI is a technical route, cloud is a technical route, and we are moving in this direction," emphasized Jing Youhao, "For Juniper Networks, while making the solution simple and optimized enough, it also covers different application scenarios, so we are iterating while we are doing it."

Deeply cultivate the industry and specialize in the profession

As the saying goes, every profession has its own specialization. Although Juniper Networks' leading technology and service advantages have brought it a broad market space, Juniper Networks has not expanded widely, but instead focused on markets that are more suitable for its own capabilities.

According to Lin Xiaoping, more than 50% of Juniper Networks' business in China is from the OTT-related industry. This is because OTT has several unmatched advantages in the short term:

First, OTT is good at internationalization and is subject to fewer restrictions;

Second, OTT relies on technology development to survive, and technology development is at the forefront;

Third, decision-making is very fast. For example, Meituan can sign thousands of distributors in Beijing within a week, but traditional enterprises take a long time to approve.

"These three advantages have enabled its business to develop very quickly. For us, because we sell equipment and technology, if you have a user base that grows very quickly, you will have the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the industry. OTT companies are developing fast, their technology is updated quickly, and they are particularly good at internationalization. This is a good time for today's technology companies to cooperate with them," Lin Xiaoping emphasized.

Ye Yong, general manager of Juniper Networks' Enterprise Business Unit in China, said that the growth of the business actually comes from enterprises. The enterprises served by Juniper Networks mainly focus on international customers, digital transformation enterprises, Internet enterprises, IDC service providers and other categories. Focusing on the digital transformation, localization, internationalization and other needs of these enterprises, which match Juniper Networks' products and services, future performance will also have stable growth.

Ye Yong also emphasized that Juniper Networks has always focused on the construction of data centers, campus network intelligence and Internetization, and focused on more solution integration capabilities, keeping pace with the development of the industry ecosystem and empowering emerging industries.

Faced with the complex networks in the cloud era, Juniper Networks has always adhered to the vision of "experience first", using experience as the driving force, using artificial intelligence to drive insights and automation technologies in the enterprise field, and leading industry transformation.