EMC and Juniper: The Growth and Impact of SDNs

The strength of the relationship between Cisco and the storage giant, EMC, has been reiterated by the latter's CEO, Joe Tucci, who stated that there is no plan to acquire Juniper Networks or any other networking vendor.

Rumors of EMC's acquisition of Juniper have been floating around since July when the EMC-owned VMware bought Nicira (key to the software-defined network (SDN) space). In addition to stating that the Cisco-EMC alliance is not in jeopardy, Tucci downplayed reports that EMC was interested in purchasing Juniper, stating that EMC is not seeking to buy any network hardware maker.

Tucci said in a statement, "For the record, EMC and Cisco have benefited from a decade-long partnership. My close personal relationship with John Chambers goes back over 20 years, and we enjoy our friendship of trust and confidence in each other that is reflected in the way our teams work together."

Furthermore, VMwares's $1.26 billion purchase of Nicira, a move which made both EMC and VMware players in the SDN space, should be considered a strengthening to the relationship rather than one which threatens it.

Tucci added, "The reality is that software-defined networking complements the network infrastructure, and EMC has no plans to drive deeper into networking by acquiring a network hardware company. We believe continued innovation and network infrastructure by the partner ecosystem will enable higher-performance transmission of data in next-generation data centers. In short, we are committed to work closely and cooperatively with Cisco, our premier partner."

Cisco's Unified Computing System stands as an example of what has been achieved when Cisco and EMC have partnered together. The UC System is an amalgamation of Cisco's networking and server technology, EMC's storage products and VMware's virtualization solutions. VCE, another joint venture between these three companies, develops integrated, converged infrastructure solutions including server, storage and networking into a single solution.

By re-routing network intelligence from costly switches to a software-based controller, software-defined networks are more flexible and easily deployed and managed. As the use of SDNs and the virtualization of servers and storage rise, EMC and other tech vendor executives are more often commenting on software-defined data centers which address demands raised by cloud and mobile computing.

Tucci stated, "We have a software-defined data center strategy that dramatically extends the benefits of virtualization. I truly believe this software technology will spark a revolution in the data center market through the tight integration and automation of compute, storage, network and security infrastructure assets. This will help customers receive unmatched efficiency, control, choice and agility."

According to Tucci, EMC is planning to grow its investment in VCE (nearing a run rate of $1 billion and a customer deployment base of 500), which is a main priority for the company. "In short, we believe VCE represents the fastest and most cost-effective way for organizations to build out their cloud infrastructures, and we are committed to VCE's success," he said.

Benzinga, a financial news site, reported two weeks after news that Juniper was cutting around 500 jobs, that the company had hired JP Morgan to deal with potential deals from an interested buyer, which was named to be EMC. Other news sites picked up this report and ran the same story, fueling the rumor, despite warnings from analysts that caution should be maintained on the matter. The news site Barron's reported that the deal failed to make sense to a number of analysts.

Kevin Deannean, a Citi analyst, stated that Juniper was not in need of being purchased as it was not struggling, and Wells Fargo's Maynard Um said that Juniper would not be a desirable acquisition because: most of its business comes from the service provider segment; it had limited data center presence; its key data platform (Q fabric) has not gained much ground; VCE is unlikely to wind down; and EMC recently hired a new CTO with a networking background, making it unlikely for EMC to make a large acquisition like Juniper.

As the EMC-Juniper rumors draw to a close, one thing can certainly be noted: SDN is becoming key to network infrastructures and giving rise to more smaller vendors which are aiming themselves at the market. Dominant players like Cisco, Juniper and Hewlett-Packard have also revealed SDN strategies and solutions to meet this growing trend. (CY) Link