Juniper Rents Networks in the Cloud

Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced the availability of Junosphere Lab, a new virtual environment that lets companies "rent" networks for as little as $50 per day. The lab lets network operators create and run networks on-demand, enabling network modeling, testing and planning at a large scale. Operators can create and model virtual networks running the Junos operating system as a substitute for or supplement to physical test labs, eliminating significant power, cooling and space requirements.

"Junosphere Lab allows us to test new prototypes in a virtual environment and enable modeling at a level of scale that is often impossible in the physical world, while significantly reducing risk and costs," said David Roy, network engineer, France Telecom / Orange.

The pricing approach follows a similar announcement from Brocade, which last month began offering subscription plans for network equipment, allowing customers to shift hardware costs from up-front capital expenditures to the operating budget.

Junosphere Connector

Juniper also introduced Junosphere Connector, an optional application that enables users to connect its Junosphere networks to physical networks or lab environments. "Because the Junosphere virtual environment is hosted in the cloud and generates no demand for power, space or cooling resources, it is capable of testing a full scale network without any capital expenditures and in less time than a physical test lab," said Michael Kennedy, principal analyst, ACG Research. "The full scale network test has greater power, enabling it to discover the actual behavior of the operational network and reduce the number of risks and unknowns because no compromises are made in the test scale. All of these factors make Junosphere Lab a very compelling offer."

Cariden's MATE available for Junosphere Lab

Cariden Technologies announced availability of a special version of its Cariden MATE software for users of the new Junosphere Lab service. Through the joint solution service providers and other network operators can plan, model, and test changes to their networks and understand the full impact those changes will have before implementing them. MATE software running inside a virtual machine within the lab can allow a user to import an IGP database from an operational network.  The model can then be used to plan changes to topology, deployed protocols, capacity, and the routing of traffic flow.  The completed design can be used for simulation to qualify the Junos operating system and validate operational procedures.

Junosphere also includes and interoperates with applications and products from partners like Mu Dynamics, Packet Design, Spirent Communications and WANDL.  The new lab service is available immediately and starts at $5 per virtual machine image per day.