Watch Out Cisco, Check Point: Juniper Launches Slew Of Security Products

Juniper Networks is taking security down to the switch level with the launch of several new solutions including firewalls and a policy enforcer to help its channel go after more market share.

’Juniper is showing here they are serious about security,’ said Mark Miller, principal partner at M&S Technologies, a Dallas-based top Juniper partner (No. 355 in the 2016 CRN Solution Provider 500). ’We have many customers who own Juniper switches and routers, but don’t own any Juniper security products. … [Juniper] has the opportunity to take share from others like Cisco and Check Point [Software Technologies] based on performance.’

At Juniper’s NXTWORK 2016 customer conference today in Santa Clara, Calif., the company unveiled a new a policy enforcer that automates the enforcement of security policies across the network and quarantines infected endpoints to prevent threats across firewalls and switches through its network security management solution Junos Space Security Director.

[Related: Juniper Networks Restructures Its Top Channel Tier: 5 Changes Partners Need To Know]

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper also launched a new line of mid-range firewalls, the SRX4000, which are optimized for hybrid cloud and enterprise campus environments. Additionally, Juniper’s Sky Advanced Threat Prevention is now available on the vSRX Virtual Firewall as well as across its SRX Series Services Gateways – allowing the partners to extend their malware protection across virtual and physical firewalls.

Miller expects the new firewalls will help boost security sales in the mid-market.

’We already sell quite a few of the [SRX] 5000 series, so having a powerful solution like the 4000 series at a better price point will help us with our mid-sized customers who don’t quite need the size of the 5000, and the lower price point will help too,’ said Miller. ’It shows that Juniper is still innovating when it comes to security, and our customers need to know that Juniper is not stagnant. The GUI will put them on par with other security manufacturers.’

The new SRX4100 and SRX4200 are compact firewalls that include advanced threat prevention from the cloud with the ability to detect malicious malware through Juniper’s Sky ATP as well as integration with vSRX for public cloud and hybrid environment. The firewalls also provide content security, Juniper’s application security suite AppSecure and united threat management (UTM) that is all managed with Junos Space Security Director.

Partners have the option to provide their own professional services alongside the new security solutions or can resell Juniper Networks Professional Services.

Denise Shiffman, senior vice president for Juniper Development and Innovation, said the solutions give partners the firepower to help customers rapidly react to threats across the network by enabling capabilities that leverage simple user intent-based threat policies and integrated threat prevention that detects attacks while updating enforcement at multiple points throughout the network infrastructure.

’These security solutions enable policy, detection and enforcement, which are crucial to delivering a secure network,’ Shiffman said.

Miller said within the last 12 months, his company has seen an uptick in both sales and interest around Juniper security. The new policy enforcer, which is integrated with Juniper’s Sky ATP, and firewalls will boost security sales.

’The new SRX’s are great for campus environments -- where we’re selling the most -- and for cloud environments,’ said Miller.