Juniper's single operating system approach across multiple platforms gives JUNOS a distinct advantage over Cisco's IOS. What distinct advantage does JUNOS offers customers which other don't?

When we went about the development of JUNOS, our vision was clear from the beginning. We didn't want to repeat the mistake of unveiling a new operating system for every product line introduced as our competitors did back then.

We developed and focused on a single operating system and a consistent architecture across platforms so that customers don't have to work around hundreds of operating systems across multiple platforms, thus saving time and improving productivity. This is reflected in the operational cost savings for the customer.

Juniper recently opened JUNOS OS. Why did Juniper go open, considering that JUNOS is basically proprietary OS in nature?
We are not going open source or are not opening the whole of JUNOS to developers.

We opened some part of the OS because of the modularity of its software, and the developers can have access to some of the modules only.

Coming to India, Juniper Networks has been ramping up an R&D center in Bangalore. Could you tell us about the contribution of Indian engineers in this space?
Today we have 900 engineers at our R&D centre in Bangalore. However, it is not the numbers but the transformation of role of Indian engineers at Juniper. The role has shifted from being primarily executioners, to now being the originators of planning. The platform has now moved to Bangalore.

The old model was that the idea originated in Sunnyvale or Israel and got executed in India. Whereas, in the new model ideas are increasingly originating from Bangalore and execution is taking place in Bangalore as well as other places.

Juniper bets really big on managed services. Why is there a need for telecom service providers to shift their focus on managed services?
Simply, because they are being pushed to focus on the other end of the spectrum. Bandwidth business is now not a business at all, and service providers need to look at managed services very seriously.

And, because of the networks they command and the customers they have in hand, carriers and service providers need to tap this exciting space in managed services, which is expected to be worth $66 bn by 2012.

Idhries Ahmad
vadmail@cybermedia.co.in