Juniper Takes Midrange Path With New Routers

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With all product lines, there needs to be entry-level, high- and mid-level
offerings.

Juniper Networks (Quote) already has introduced new
entry-level and high-end devices; today the networking vendor introduced a new series of mid-level
routers to round out its portfolio.

The SSG 320M, SSG 350M, J2320 and J2350 further flesh out Juniper’s Secure Services Gateway (SSG) product line.

All four devices share a common hardware platform and are differentiated by
their underlying operating system and functionality.

The SSG series devices are powered by Juniper’s ScreenOS operating system, which recently hit version 6.

The J series routers are powered by Juniper’s JUNOS networking operating system, which also powers
the company’s multi-terabit T1600 router for telecommunications carriers.

Michael Shorts, product manager at Juniper, said that ScreenOS is a
security first operating system, while JUNOS is a best-in-class routing
operating system. Shorts said that Juniper customers
may choose either operating systems for the new devices, and even convert from one to the other
if necessary.

“Moving forward, the platform for integration is JUNOS,” Shorts said, adding that no plans are in the works to have JUNOS available for the existing SSG family.

The SSG 320M and the SSG 350M are the latest in the SSG family of routers, which
Juniper began rolling out
out in February 2006 to provide unified threat management capabilities, including virtual private network (VPN),
intrusion prevention (IPS) and anti-virus (AV).

Juniper introduced its entry level SSGs in October; the new 320M and the 350M fit in the middle of the product lineup.

The 320M and the J2320 include four on-board 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports and encryption card. The company claims the machines offer more than 400 megabits per second (Mbps) of firewall
traffic and 175 Mbps of VPN performance.

The SSG 350M and J2350 improve
performance further by offering more than 500 Mbps of firewall traffic and
225 Mbps of VPN performance, according to Juniper’s specifications.

Though Juniper is well known in the marketplace for its SSL VPN technology,
Juniper has steadfastly refused to include it on the SSG lineup and is
instead using the IPsec (define) VPN approach.

According to Shorts, Juniper has no plans to integrate SSL VPN into its
secure router as they don’t see a demand for it in branch offices where the
SSGs are deployed. Shorts argued that there is no need for distributed SSL
VPNs at branch locations since an SSL VPN at the head office locations would
suffice.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.