Juniper Routers Holding Strong in a Declining Market

Although the overall provider router market experienced sharp declines in the second quarter of 2012 (April through June), the major providers enjoyed an unchanging grasp on their market share. Among these leading router service providers was Juniper Networks, which continued to hold on to its number two ranking. These are the findings of a new market report issued by Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the networking and telecommunications industries.

Juniper routers along with the other top four finishers accounted for "more than 90 percent combined market share in the second quarter of 2012." What is behind this market dominance and Juniper's ability to maintain its second-place stranglehold among the competition? For starters, the company prides itself on producing high-speed, reliable switching routers. And the Juniper routers that are available on the market satisfy every Internet service provider's level of performance.

Software defined networking (SDN) is what's posing a threat to the router competition, but a Juniper spokesperson recently told the information technology news site CIOL that "SDN makes things easier to deal with applications, but it does not negate the need for physical switches and routers to do complex things." And because Juniper routers have earned a reputation for getting those complex information technology things done, they have remained virtually untouched by the explosion of software defined technology.

Why is Juniper Networks so unconcerned with the SDN threat? Because the company knows that the software defined networking concept can't, try as it might, result in the commoditization of its networking portfolio. "Our business model is not 'predicated on the 40-year-old status quo approach to networking,'" Juniper's spokesperson recently explained to CIOL. He went on to point out that although the threat of Ethernet switches and routers becoming a commodity has always existed, that threat has never actually materialized at Juniper Networks.

In fact, he sees what's happening at Juniper Networks in terms of its routers and switches as the opposite of commoditization. He feels that when it comes to complexity, physical switches and routers like those Juniper Networks manufactures will always have a much needed place in the networking market.

That is why he believes that the vendors of high-quality networking routers, like Juniper Networks, will continue to stay in demand. In other words, because Juniper Networks abstracts that complexity, the need for its networking services will continue to exist. "In fact putting more power into the hands of application developers will only drive the demand for more powerful underlying networks," Juniper's spokesperson speculates.

It is just such a theory that allows Juniper Networks to hang on strong to its router networking market share in spite of an overall decline in the industry. It may also explain why Juniper was cited as one of August's most active stocks by InsiderLab.com.

In the wake of those sentiments, The Motley Fool recently examined whether Juniper Networks might be the perfect stock. Stipulating that perfection does not exist, the site gives significant points to Juniper's "big presence in the network protection niche." Juniper's routers have specifically contributed to this sizeable presence.

Concord Technology Group is a reseller of Juniper Routers as well as a Fortinet Reseller.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=C._Meyman
http://EzineArticles.com/?Juniper-Routers-Holding-Strong-in-a-Declining-Market&id=7304274