Juniper (Finally) Enters the Switching Market and Enterasys Says...

Monday, 11 February 2008 18:15 Written by Peter Brockmann

This is no way to start a market consolidation!

3Com is going private.

Juniper introduces new EX-series LAN switches that work with its router operating system JUNOS. Carrier-class. Stackable, 'virtual' and modular offerings. Interesting that the website speaks of the EX 3200, the EX 4200 and the EX 8200 (must be the modular one) but only offers literature and specifications on the EX 3200 and EX 4200 models. This is a yawner announcement.

Now Enterasys (which has been private and generates ~ $250 million in switching and NAC systems) says they plan to buy revenue sources to get them to $1 billion in revenue. Is this a mouse that roared?

Lots of vendors are getting jazzed about the recognition that switching products purchased in 1999 are old, and need to be upgraded to support the latest applications - VoIP, IP Video which will place demands for PoE and other great innovations like QoS prioritization.

Why wouldn't a customer choose Cisco?

That's the question that these competitors will have to think about. The LAN switching market really is all about Cisco and the seven dwarfs... Someone needs to put together a valid business plan backed with big money to dry up this market capacity and collapse some of the legacy brands into a rollup. Is that Nortel's? or 3Com's plan? Enterasys says they want to, but plan to focus on security... which isn't the same as plain old switching.