Juniper Networks Partners with GE for Developing Rugged and Secure Network Appliances for Military and Aerospace Deployment

Juniper Networks (News - Alert), provider of networking technology solutions, announced that it will be partnering with GE Intelligent Platforms (News - Alert), provider of software, hardware, services, and expertise in automation and embedded computing solutions, for jointly developing rugged and secure routing and network appliances for military and aerospace deployment.

The company in its announcement which was made at MILCOM 2011 said that the new family of network appliances will be designed for deployment in harsh environments where data security is critical. GE Intelligent Platforms will sales for the new line of products.

Military forces across the globe are increasingly adopting a network-centric approach to handling battlefield operations and systems design. Routers are critical to a robust IP network carrying data, voice, and video. This is one of the major reasons behind the development of a rugged and secure router with enhanced security features specific to combat environments.

The Junos OS from Juniper Networks has been designed with a series of robust capabilities that support intrusion prevention and detection in addition to firewalls, access control and authentication as well as packet inspection.

The RTR8GE rugged and battle-ready network router is the first product to be announced. The router has been designed with the Junos operating system which actively supports firewall, intrusion prevention, and detection among other service capabilities allowing IPv4/IPv6 connectivity for military and aircraft deployment. 

The RTR8GE router which supports radio-aware router protocols for effective monitoring of network efficiency, current availability of bandwidth and regulation of traffic flow, has eight Gigabit Ethernet ports incorporating SWaP-optimized enclosure specific to address the challenges of military/aerospace applications. Additionally, the RTR8GE router has been fitted with anti-tamper protection and technologies for securing information keeping in mind the importance of data security.

In a release, George F. Holland, vice president of Federal Strategy and Business Development at Juniper Networks, said that, “The collective power of the infrastructure, security expertise and technology portfolio of our two global brands will provide the military with a unique and compelling offering. Today many of the world's largest and most demanding networks run on Juniper products and platforms.”

He continued, “This agreement with GE enables us to extend our rich heritage in the defense space and bring those same capabilities and benefits to customers -- such as military prime contractors -- who require advanced networks in highly dynamic environments and need the superior security capabilities for which Juniper Networks is renowned.”

In other news, Juniper Networks recently announced that Wi-Manx, one of the Isle of Man's leading communications and IT solutions providers, serving customers with a wide range of internet, voice and data solutions, has chosen Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches and MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers as the backbone for its new state-of-the-art data center and IPv6 network.