JN0-363 book - Service Provider Routing and Switching, Specialist (JNCIS-SP) Updated: 2024

Is a Hurricane ready to blow through the channel?

With Juniper Networks Inc. poised to launch its first-ever enterprise Ethernet switch line—code-named Hurricane to go along with the vendor's custom-made ASIC moniker—VARs pondering whether to get on board face some big hurdles. One will be getting customers to go with a new player in the switching game, a commoditized arena in which established players like Cisco Systems Inc., Foundry Networks Inc. and ProCurve Networking by Hewlett-Packard Co. have a stronghold. VARs must set out to convince their customers to rely on unproven technology and assure them Juniper is ready to take a strong position in the market.

Another hurdle will be convincing a large enterprise to rip out its Cisco switching gear to try something new—not only a costly endeavor, but an argument many VARs said they're not sure they can win.

For Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper, not only will its offerings have to be technologically sound, but it will face the challenge of enticing companies and partners to provide its gear a try.

All this has left VARs wondering if Juniper is too little too late and if it has the mettle to compete with the incumbent powerhouses. Can Juniper pull it off?

"It's not going to be an easy sell," said Pat Grillo, president and CEO of Atrion Communications Resources, a Branchburg, N.J.-based solution provider. "We have to look and see, and decide if we're going to make the commitment. It needs a commitment."

Grillo said Juniper must have an aggressive plan to convince VARs to offer its switching line to customers that already have millions of dollars' worth of another vendor's gear installed, many of which won't pull out their existing infrastructure on a whim. For VARs, the revenue opportunity with a Juniper switch is in midsize accounts or in companies building out new data centers, Grillo added, not in established customers that have their switching infrastructures already in place. Juniper partners that have brought success to their customers with other Juniper offerings may be able to get them on board for a switch.

"Those kinds of guys, you might have a shot at getting them to change," Grillo said.

Jeff Hiebert, CEO of ROI Networks, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based solution provider, said he's excited by the prospect of a Juniper Ethernet switch, but added that whatever Juniper releases has to make a huge splash if it wants to shake up the established market and spark competition against its rivals.

"When you choose to enter a market like this, you better make maximum impact and sustain that impact," Hiebert said.

Next: The Three M's

The Three M's
The key challenges for Juniper, Hiebert said, lie with the three M's: money, marketing and mind-share. While it's unclear how the vendor plans to address them, Hiebert said he's confident that if it does, success shouldn't be too far off.

"It's going to take a lot of investment, successful marketing and education of the channel on how to position it," he said. "Juniper wants to own the core and attack Cisco and compete where no one else has been able to."

Hiebert is quick to admit that there are a host of "Cisco bigots" out there who couldn't care less what Juniper offers, but said Juniper stands a solid chance of becoming a strong No. 2 to Cisco's No. 1 if it plays the game right. But going up against a behemoth like Cisco, which reported $34.9 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2007 compared with Juniper's projections of between $2.7 billion and $2.8 billion in full-year revenue for 2007 (the most recent numbers available at press time), is no easy feat. Cisco also has a much larger channel, with more than 40,000 registered channel partners worldwide vs. Juniper's 10,000-plus.

"People are demanding a Coke and a Pepsi in this market," Hiebert said. "This is not a 'me too' play, this is the next generation of Ethernet switching."

Juniper would not confirm or deny whether an enterprise Ethernet switch is on the horizon, despite the flood of speculation that Hurricane is ready for unveiling sometime this year, possibly as early as the Juniper Networks Global Enterprise Event in New York on Jan. 29.

Several VARs and industry analysts contacted for this story also would not comment, some noting that they'd agreed not to disclose any of Juniper's plans.

"They've kept this product under pretty tight wraps, to the point where they're denying its existence," said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president at research firm Yankee Group Inc. Nonetheless, Kerravala said an enterprise Ethernet switch is something Juniper has needed for quite a long time. "Their portfolio has been lacking this for years," he said.

Can You Be More Specific?
Sources said Juniper's switching line will likely be based on its JUNOS operating system, which the vendor said is now opened to third-party developers. The switches are likely to run on Marvell chips, the same used by Foundry, and hit price points similar to Foundry and Cisco.

Through interviews with several sources, CRN has learned of a few technical specifications: The switches will be 100-Gbit ready, meaning each slot in the modular form factor will be able to support bandwidth of up to 100 Gbps. The modular switches, the six-, nine- and 13-slot modules, eventually will support line cards with 10 10-Gbps Ethernet ports. That support will not be available in the initial launch. The high-end core switch will support up to 4.5 Tbps of capacity.

As for the release schedule, one source said Juniper will have stand-alone switches coming in the first quarter; virtual chassis-based stackable switches with a backplane architecture to link them together into one logical unit in the second or third quarters; and core switches in the fourth quarter.

That timeline could turn off Juniper's target market, which would expect the chassis-based switches to hit first. "The core switches are taking the most development because of the nature of the performance and some of the things they have to do, so that's why those are coming last," the source said.

Next: I've Got A Niche

I've Got A Niche
A Juniper Ethernet switch would throw the vendor into an arena comprising several well-established players where each fills a certain niche, joining the competition between Cisco, Foundry and ProCurve; and smaller players Extreme Networks Inc., 3Com Corp. and Enterasys Networks Inc. Cisco, San Jose, Calif., is the dominant switch choice for performance and reliability. Foundry, Santa Clara, Calif., has cornered the high-end, high-performance switching market. And ProCurve, Palo Alto, Calif., has established itself as a strong option among value-conscious customers, with its affordable price-per-port offerings and lifetime warranties.

"I don't really know why the world needs a switch from Juniper," Kerravala said. "What problem is Juniper solving that someone else isn't? I don't understand. Two, three or four years ago there was a question of who would be a strong No. 2 to Cisco, but that's all been established. Switching has become a commodity."

Said Atrion's Grillo: "Unfortunately for Juniper and others, Cisco hasn't done anything wrong that opens the door. Cisco has been pretty solid the last several years. If the market demanded something new with all of the convergence and VoIP coming on and Cisco didn't have it, Juniper may have a chance."

But, Grillo said, unless such a hole appears in Cisco's product line that Juniper can exploit, there will have to be some compelling reason for VARs to present a Juniper switch to their customers and, in turn, make those customers comfortable with that decision. "People don't get fired for making a Cisco decision," he said. "But people can get fired if you bring in a 'Brand X' switch and it doesn't perform."

Grillo said he talked to Juniper four or five years ago about adding an Ethernet switch to its enterprise networking lineup, but little came from those discussions. At the time, Cisco's widely popular Catalyst switching line was still fresh. Had Juniper struck then, Cisco may not have the dominant position it holds today.

Even Juniper CEO and Chairman Scott Kriens, in interviews with CRN last year, downplayed the possibility of Juniper adding enterprise switching.

"The strategy we see is the opportunity to secure and manage the ports regardless of who manufactures them," Kriens said last year. "As long as we see the opportunity to do that, then the company who provides, essentially, the commodity called the Ethernet port itself becomes less important to the user, and their control over it becomes what's strategic. Therefore, we can solve a strategic problem with less of an issue of having to become one of the commodity suppliers."

Uphill Battle
Bad timing and stiff competition aside, Yankee Group's Kerravala said Juniper's record also won't play in its favor. It's been marginally successful on the security side with the NetScreen acquisition of four years ago, and the J-Series routers it has developed organically have been slow to gain acceptance. On top of that, Juniper has no true wireless or VoIP offerings.

"There are a lot of holes in Juniper's portfolio," Kerravala said.

Grillo disagreed, saying that Juniper's high-performance routers and its SSL VPN are the best on the market and Juniper's success with those products may help it get into new accounts with its switching lineup.

"The one thing they have going for them is a solid track record," Grillo said. For current switching options, and other pieces the vendor lacks, such as WLAN and VoIP components, Juniper typically pushes VARs toward its technology partners, including Avaya Inc., Extreme and Meru Networks.

Stuart Brainerd, president of Chicago-based Synapse Networking, said an enterprise switching portfolio would indeed be an uphill battle for Juniper, but it has become a necessary component. Still, he said he's "cautiously optimistic" about the tough road ahead.

"If they do want to be a competitor to Cisco, they don't have a choice," Brainerd said. "They'll never get anywhere close to Cisco without that segment. Juniper has done a very good, professional job building their name and building their channel. If they really do come out with a switch, we'll get some business with it."

Where Juniper will struggle is battling Cisco and its Catalyst switches.

"If Juniper ever really wants to take on Cisco, they have to address that core switching piece," Brainerd said.

Another hurdle for Juniper is its lackluster channel into the enterprise, Kerravala said. Juniper's future success and the success of an Ethernet switch play will hinge on the channel and how Juniper makes inroads to enterprise customers.

Grillo said his Juniper business is thriving, but about 98 percent of that comes from the security side. "Juniper's a great company," he said. "They have great products and a good program. Can they do it? Maybe. I don't have a crystal ball. But I've seen stranger things happen."

Kerravala, however, said Juniper may miss the target on timing alone. "There will be an initial interest around it," he said. "The impact will be hype-driven, not customer-driven. I think in the end it will be another one of the carcasses that Cisco sucked the blood out of and left behind."

Ethernet switch

A switch offering couldn't come at a more opportune time for Juniper, which Thursday reported its highest quarterly revenue in the company's history, with net revenues of $809.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, a 36 percent jump over revenue of $595.8 million in same quarter of 2006.

The switch line, code-named Hurricane because of Juniper's custom-made ASIC, will launch Juniper into a crowded market and provide VARs a competing player to pit against well-established switch vendors like Cisco Systems, Foundry Networks and ProCurve Networking by HP. Still, some VARs are left wondering if it's too late for Juniper to enter a crowded and commoditized market.

Juniper has remained tightlipped about the prospect of its upcoming switch line and would neither confirm nor deny that an announcement is coming, despite massive amounts of rumors and speculation that Hurricane is ready to be unveiled as early as Tuesday.

"We understand that there has been some industry speculation in this area," a Juniper spokesperson said, declining to comment further.

Sources have said that Juniper's switching line will be based on its JUNOS operating system, which the vendor recently announced is open to third-party developers. The switches are expected to run on Marvell chips, the same Foundry uses, and hit price points similar to both Foundry and Cisco.

Through several interviews, CRN has learned that the switches will be 100-Gig ready, meaning each slot in the modular form factor will be able to support bandwidth of up to 100 Gbps. The modular switches, the six-, nine- and 13-solt models, will eventually support line cards with 10 10-Gbps Ethernet ports, though that support is likely not to be available in the initial launch. Lastly, the high-end core switch is expected to support up to 4.5 Tbps of capacity.

The release schedule for Juniper's enterprise Ethernet switches, one source said, will start with stand-alone switches coming in the first quarter of 2008; followed by virtual chassis-based stackable switches with a backplane architecture to link them together into one logical unit in the second or third quarter. Lastly, the core switch is expected to follow in the fourth quarter.

"The core switches are taking the most development because of the nature of the performance and some of the things they have to do, so that's why those are coming last," the source said.

With Cisco holding 71 percent of the market share in the enterprise Ethernet switch market, according to figures from the Yankee Group, and ProCurve at a distant second with 10 percent, VARs wonder if Juniper will be able to hold its own in the switch market and become a viable No. 2 contender.

Stuart Brainerd, president of Chicago-based Synapse Networking, said an enterprise switching portfolio will be an uphill battle for Juniper, but it has become a necessary component among Juniper's current product offerings. Brainerd noted, however, that he's "cautiously optimistic" about the road ahead.

"If they do want to be a competitor to Cisco, they don't have a choice," he said. "They'll never get anywhere close to Cisco without that segment. Juniper has done a very good, professional job building their name and building their channel. If they really do come out with a switch, we'll get some business with it."

But Juniper's entrance into the enterprise Ethernet switching market will pit it directly against Cisco, a tough challenge Juniper will face.

"If Juniper ever really wants to take on Cisco, they have to address that core switching piece," he said. "When they launch it, if they do launch a switch, I think it'll be hard for Juniper. Juniper has the problem of going up against Cisco. They're not going to touch the Catalyst switches. The driving force for Cisco starts at the Catalyst and grows out from there and Juniper wants to be an alternate to that."

Jeff Hiebert, CEO of ROI Networks, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based solution provider, said key challenges for Juniper as it enters the switch market lie with money, marketing and mind share. Hiebert said Juniper needs to make a big splash to build itself up as a worthy foe for Cisco switching.

"It's going to take a lot of investment, successful marketing and education of the channel on how to position it," he said. "Juniper wants to own the core and attack Cisco and compete where no one else has been able to."

Hiebert said if Juniper takes the right steps, it stands a good change of becoming a strong No. 2 to Cisco's No. 1.

"People are demanding a Coke and a Pepsi in this market," he said. "This is not a 'me too' play, this is the next generation of Ethernet switching."

“A lot has changed.” It’s been a year since the classroom shooting in which a 6-year-old shot his teacher, Abby Zwerner, at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. 10 On Your Side sat down with Zwerner in an interview to discuss the past year. https://trib.al/yXAOwLo

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

Chip Heath & Dan Heath

320 pages, Broadway Business, 2010

Buy the book »

In a world that is becoming increasingly complex, it was a welcome beacon to read the title of Chip and Dan Heath’s new book: Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. With great anticipation I turned to the introduction, where the authors promised to teach me how to change things at the individual, organizational, and societal level.

The book’s premise is straightforward—successful change occurs when people change their behavior. A person’s behavior is driven by three factors: his logic and rationality (what the authors call the “Rider”), his emotions (the “Elephant”), and his environment (the “Path”). The best way to create change, say the authors, is to “Direct the Rider,” “Motivate the Elephant,” and “Shape the Path.”

Most of the book is divided into three sections, each exploring one of these principles. Although the introduction provides the logic behind the principles, I sometimes found it difficult to bring them together into a coherent whole. For example, I found the second principle of change, Motivating the Elephant, insightful, but felt the need to return to the first section on the importance of Directing the Rider so that I could get a better perspective on the dynamic relationship between the two principles. Once I understood where the Rider was taking the willing Elephant, I found that unless I also focused on the barriers in the environment—the Path—neither the Rider nor the Elephant would see the change happen. Is it any wonder that most change efforts fail to deliver their full value?

After having gained an understanding of the three principles of change and seeing that there were only a few pages left in the book, I thought I was going to read a concluding chapter that would tie the thesis into a neat knot. Instead, I found myself reviewing 11 common problems people face when driving for change with advice on how to overcome them. Although this last chapter provides several insightful suggestions, I was disturbed that the authors chose not to bring together what is a very creative and insightful perspective on change.

So what can a reader take away from Switch? First, the book presents a number of interesting stories that clearly demonstrate that successful change requires us to look for new behaviors. In addition, we are shown that if change is to succeed, logic, emotion, and the environment need to be properly balanced in order to get stakeholders to exhibit the right behavior. This, as the authors point out in countless stories, is true regardless of whether the change occurs in the public, private, or educational sector. The final takeaway, which is shared throughout the book, is the dynamic nature of change.

There are a few things I would have liked to have seen more of in the book. First, although the “Clinics” (short case study exercises) in each of the three sections were a great idea, they lacked the depth and breadth needed to make them truly memorable. I would also have liked the authors to provide more direction on how to use several of the techniques (such as Solution-Focused Therapy) when working through a change project. Last, it would have been helpful if the authors had developed a few practical tools or templates that could be used when undertaking a change project.

Overall, the authors have done a good job of examining the well-trod subject of change from a new vantage point. Despite the book’s shortcomings, I recommend that Switch be on the studying list for anyone interested in learning more about change leadership.

Dan S. Cohen is a principal at Deloitte Consulting, where he focuses on large-scale organizational transformation. He is the coauthor (along with John P. Kotter) of the book The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations

Juniata College students and alumni members participated in the “Book Move” on Tuesday, a ceremonial recreation of the school’s historic “Book Switch” of 1963. Hundreds of books were transfered from storage to the new Statton Learning Commons. Mirror photo by Rachel Foor

HUNTINGDON — It was a day for the history books as dozens of Juniata College students, alumni, faculty and staff transported hundreds of books from storage to the new Statton Learning Commons in a ceremonial recreation of the big “Book Switch” of 1963.

The room was packed with Native American leaders from across the United States, all invited to Washington to hear from federal officials about President Joe Biden's accomplishments and new policy directives aimed at improving relationships and protecting sacred sites.

Arlan Melendez was not among them.

The longtime chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony convened his own meeting 4,023 kilometers away. He wanted to show his community would find another way to fight the U.S. government's approval of a massive lithium mine at the site where more than two dozen of their Paiute and Shoshone ancestors were massacred in 1865.

Opposed by government lawyers at every legal turn, Melendez said another arduous appeal would not save sacred sites from being desecrated.

"We're not giving up the fight, but we are changing our strategy," Melendez said.

That shift for the Nevada tribe comes as Biden and other top federal officials double down on their vows to do a better job of working with Native American leaders on everything from making federal funding more accessible to incorporating tribal voices into land preservation efforts and resource management planning.

The administration also has touted more spending on infrastructure and health care across Indian Country.

Many tribes have benefited, including those who led campaigns to establish new national monuments in Utah and Arizona. In New Mexico, pueblos have succeeded in getting the Interior Department to ban new oil and natural gas development on hundreds of square miles of federal land for 20 years to protect culturally significant areas.

But the colony in Reno and others like the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona say promises of more cooperation ring hollow when it comes to high-stakes battles over multibillion-dollar "green energy" projects. Some tribal leaders have said consultation resulted in little more than listening sessions, with federal officials not incorporating tribal comments into the decision making.

Rather than pursue its claims in court that the federal government failed to engage in meaningful consultation regarding the lithium mine at Thacker Pass, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony will focus on organizing a broad coalition to build public support for sacred places.

Tribal members are concerned other culturally significant areas will end up in the path of a modern-day Gold Rush that has companies scouting for lithium and other materials needed to meet Biden's clean energy agenda.

Melendez was among those thrilled when Biden appointed Deb Haaland to lead the Interior Department. A member of Laguna Pueblo, Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary.

Melendez, a former member of the U.S. Human Rights Commission who has led his colony for 32 years, said he understands the difficulty of navigating the electoral landscape in a western swing state where the mining industry's political clout is second only to the power wielded by casinos.

Still, he was disappointed Haaland declined an invitation to visit the massacre site.

"The largest lithium project in the United States and they don't even have the time to come out here and meet with the tribal nations in the state of Nevada," he said.

The tribe's lawyer, Will Falk, urged other tribes to resist "tricking ourselves into believing that just because the first Native American secretary of Interior is in office that she actually cares about protecting sacred sites."

Interior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz didn't respond directly to that criticism but said in an email to The Associated Press that there has been "significant communications and partnership with tribes in Nevada."

The federal government in early December published new guidance for dealing with sacred sites. While Falk and others are skeptical, they acknowledged the document speaks to concerns tribes have raised for decades.

Among other things, the guidance says federal agencies should involve tribes as early as possible when planning projects to identify potential impacts to sacred sites and to determine whether mitigation measures can allay concerns. Agencies also should consult with tribes that attach significance to the project area, regardless of where they are located.

It also suggests Indigenous knowledge should be on equal footing with other sciences and incorporated into the federal decision-making process. That knowledge can consist of practices, cultural beliefs and oral and written histories that tribes have developed over many generations.

Justin C. Ahasteen, executive director of the Navajo Nation Washington (D.C.) Office, said the new guidance appears to have incorporated some of the recommendations made by tribal leaders but that it could have gone further.

"If this guidebook increases transparency in the consultation process, we will take it as a win," Ahasteen said. "But ultimately the thing we all seek is for the federal government to acknowledge the necessity of tribal consent before changing rules that affect tribes."

The problem, Falk said, is none of it is legally binding.

"These kinds of documents function more as pacifying propaganda," he said.

Western Shoshone Defense Project Director Fermina Stevens said the changes were "more 'lip service' for the government to deal with the 'Indian problem' in this new day and age of mineral extraction."

Morgan Rodman, executive director of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, disagrees. He said the guidance is intended to serve as a springboard to Strengthen engagement with tribes and that the administration will be aggressive with training to make sure employees have an understanding of what sacred sites are.

"While change certainly doesn't happen overnight, it's part of a continuum of important policy statements — part of the momentum we've been building the last three years," he said in an interview.

Rodman made clear he wasn't referencing Thacker Pass, but some directives he highlighted have been key points of contention in that case.

U.S. Judge Miranda Du in Reno twice ruled the tribe failed to prove the massacre occurred on the specific grounds of the mining project, or that far-flung tribes had a legal stake in the fight. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her earlier ruling in July.

The tribe says the government has ignored evidence that the land they consider sacred isn't limited to a specific site where the U.S. Calvary first attacked men, women and children as they slept.

They cited newspaper accounts, diaries and a government surveyor's report documenting human skulls discovered along a miles-long escape route crossing the mine site where troops killed and scalped those who tried to flee.

Tribal historic preservation officer Michon Eben said the whole stretch is an unmarked burial ground.

Melendez said he's pleased Biden has promised to enhance consultation.

But if federal agencies don't follow through, he said, "Well, it's just words that really don't mean anything to us."