Juniper Networks’ SD-WAN appliances and software can now be fully managed from Juniper’s Mist Cloud. It’s part of Juniper’s larger goal to Mist-ify its LAN and WAN portfolio.
Juniper’s SD-WAN product is based on the Session Smart Routers (SSRs) from Juniper’s acquisition of 128 Technology. Customers can now use Mist Cloud to onboard SSR hardware, download configuration templates, and set up application and security policies and user experience controls. Mist Cloud will also be the management console for ongoing SSR operation and management.
Juniper had previously incorporated SSRs into its WAN Assurance offering, in which SSRs or SRX gateways send telemetry into the Mist Cloud for analysis of device and link health. This week’s announcement goes beyond monitoring to full configuration and management. Prior to this announcement, SSRs were managed by the 128T Conductor, a centralized orchestration device. Customers can continue to use the 128T Conductor or switch to Mist Cloud, but they have to chose one or the other.
Juniper also announced new security features for the SSRs, which includes IDS/IPS and URL filtering. The IPS/IDS capability comes from Juniper’s existing threat management portfolio. The URL filtering comes from Websense. The new security add-ons require a separate license.
Last but not least, Juniper is offering new SSR hardware options: the SSR120 and SSR 130 target SMBs and support multiple WAN links. A larger SSR1000 line is available for data center and cloud deployments. Juniper provides full support on its branded appliances, and will continue to let customers run SSR software on third-party CPE, as well as on Juniper NFX hardware.
One Cloud To Rule Them All
The Mist Cloud serves as a wedge for Juniper to get more of its products into customer hands. In particular, Juniper can now tout a unified branch and remote office management strategy, where IT can use Mist Cloud to manage wireless APs, access switches, SRX gateways, and SD-WAN appliances (all from Juniper, of course) from the same console. This “full stack” approach is meant to simplify operations. Other vendors are also touting unified branch strategies, including Aruba Networks and Cisco.
And because the Mist Cloud is collecting and analyzing telemetry across all the branch networking gear, administrators and engineers should, in theory, get better visibility into performance issues and be able to more quickly identify and isolate the source of a problem or event. Juniper trumpets the AI and ML capabilities of its Mist Cloud, promising more useful insights faster troubleshooting, and even predictive analytics as the cloud gathers, correlates, and analyzes the data it collects.
I’m still suspicious of every vendor’s AI claims, but even without AI magic there are benefits to a unified branch strategy—as long as you’re willing to go all-in on that vendor’s portfolio.
Juniper says customers can start soup-to-nuts deployment and management of SSRs via Mist Cloud right now. The new SSR appliances from Juniper are expected to ship in the first half of 2022.
