Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s headlines from the network industry:
GE and Juniper develop rugged network appliances. GE Intelligent Platforms (GE) and Juniper Networks (JNPR) announced that the two companies will work together to develop a family of rugged, highly secure routing and network security appliances designed for military/aerospace deployment in harsh environments where security of data is paramount. To address the need for a network-centric approach to battlefield operations and cybersecurity, the purpose-built rugged routers will have advanced security capabilities on top of the Junos operating system. The new RTR8GE will be a security-focused network router that is rugged and will have firewall, intrusion prevention and detection, and extensive quality of service features with eight Gigabit Ethernet ports. "Net-centricity is not only changing the way warfare is conducted, but how weapons systems and military platforms such as vehicles are designed," said Al DiLibero, President, Military & Aerospace Embedded Computing, GE Intelligent Platforms. "Initiatives such as the U.S. Army's 'VICTORY' Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/electronic warfare interoperability specification are indicative of a trend that pushes networks to the battlefield edge, driving the need for mobile, secure network devices. Our relationship with Juniper Networks allows us to take advantage of the Junos operating system and Juniper Networks' industry leading secure networking technologies in the development of purpose-built, rugged battlefield networking solutions."
Brocade launches campus networking products. Brocade (BRCD) announced the introduction of new enterprise networking solutions that help organizations adapt to demanding new applications and business requirements. The new Brocade ICS 6610 Switch is a high-performance Ethernet access switch with 8x10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports - the highest aggregation bandwidth in its class. Also introduced were new high-density 8×10 GbE blades and significant performance and scalability enhancements for the Brocade FastIron SX Series of chassis-based aggregation and core switches. "In a time where many network offerings are either over-engineered, complex and expensive, or just can't meet the current needs of the campus environment, customers should consider alternative vendors that offer the right level of functionality for today at a fair price -- with seamless, non-disruptive upgrade paths for the future to extend the useful life of your investment," said Mark Fabbi, vice president and distinguished analyst for Gartner. The Brocade ICX 6610 and modules for the Brocade FastIron SX Series will be available this month.
Ciena selected by UC Health. Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced that they have been selected by UC Health, a leading healthcare institution in Ohio, to optimize patient care through high-performance network connectivity across its hospital and data center facilities in Ohio. Using the Ciena 4200 Advanced Services Platform UC Health will connect four hospital buildings and benefit from the rapid delivery of mission-critical LAN, voice and video traffic and real-time access to vital applications. The service flexibility and innovative optical transport network (OTN) features of Ciena’s 4200 will also allow UC Health to mix and match services, virtually on demand, and open the door to both existing and emerging applications, like a leading electronic health records (EHR) system. Ciena will also provide services for detailed network design, site engineering, installation and service provisioning. “To support the delivery of advanced healthcare applications like medical imaging and EHR, we need a network that is highly reliable, scalable and robust. Ciena’s optical transport solutions allow us to improve patient care, staff productivity and service by increasing our network capacity so that we can deliver critical medical data and files such as high-resolution medical images and patient data," said Mike Kincaid, Manager of Network Services at UC Health.
