Juniper picking up Netscreen is a brilliant move, simply from the point
that now Juniper can say "we can sell you this ginormous router, AND the
security solution to go with it, AND the design/install services for
both, AND we can guarantee that it will work, because we make both of
them". It's the same reason there are so many Cisco shops - when you
have one vendor, and there's a problem, it's a lot easier to call up
that vendor for a response, and a lot harder for them to point the blame
for the problem elsewhere ("Oh, well, we can't be sure that the switch
isn't causing the problem, etc"). Also, I could see Juniper buying up
Extreme to try and compete with Cisco in the SMB/Enterprise market, but
why? Juniper's forte until now has been the carrier-grade market;
Netscreen's chassis firewall/IDP products dovetail *perfectly* with
Juniper's market segment. Plus, NS just bought Neoteris, which allows
Juniscreen to make a big play in the high-density VPN market that
appears to be coming (VPN via SSL tunnel). Whatever happens, I'd
strongly suggest some diversity in the experience arena, as I'm pretty
sure the market is about to get a *lot* more interesting.
Additionally, I could possibly see Juniper trying to pick up Extreme in
the mid-term future (<1 year) but not likely. Cisco wouldn't pick up
Extreme, for the simple fact that Cisco has an established switching
product line, and it would be seen as a dilution of their product strength.
(Also, incidentally, Sam Halabi of Internet Routing Architecture fame
now works at Extreme. Just another tidbit of trivia.)
Robbie
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=84165&t=84092
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