Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) recently announced that it will be joining hands with one of the business units of technology company General Electric Co. (GE), to jointly develop a series of highly scalable and secured networking and routing gadgets. These products would communicate data within the military or aerospace verticals with utmost security, in severe environments.
In this regard, the company has already announced a router –– RTR8GE –– at the premier international conference for military communications (MILCOM 2011). As a point of reference, MILCOM gives the defense industry the opportunity to promote communication technologies and services to commanders across all branches of the armed forces, the Department of Defense, the federal government and the heads of multi-national forces around the world.
The custom-made router will feature Juniper’s flagship operating system Junos, which is regaining importance with customers. RTR8GE will also incorporate firewall, intrusion prevention and detection capabilities, and will include anti-tamper protection and information-assurance technologies, bearing in mind the sensitive nature of the data it is designed to transport.
The product will facilitate the task of secure direct data communication by military and aerospace personnel from any rugged environment such as a battle field.
The end product will be marketed and sold by GE Intelligent Platforms, which is a business unit of GE Home & Business Solutions. The unit designs, manufactures and supplies hardware and software products for industrial control and automation.
Earlier, Juniper’s products have served the defense sector many times. But this time, the opportunity to combine with the ace tech solutions provider GE will enable Juniper to enrich its exposure in the military vertical.
We believe that with its growing experience as a service provider, Juniper will be competent to snap up a good number of defense deals, going forward.
Despite Juniper’s strong product line-up, we are a bit cautious about its third quarter results, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Moreover, stiff competition from industry stalwarts such as Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), as well as Juniper’s European exposure could weigh on the stock.
Juniper has a Zacks #4 Rank, implying a short-term Sell rating.
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