Juniper Networks says the LAN switching business will soon be a two-horse race now that it finally has entered the market with its EX series systems.

Not so fast, current combatants say. Juniper has the steepest grade to climb.

"Enterprise data is a two horse race -- Nortel and Cisco are it -- Juniper is late out of the gate," a Nortel spokesman writes in an e-mailed reaction to the EX series launch. "Juniper has still to prove itself as a viable enterprise network communications infrastructure provider -- their recent entry intro into the enterprise router market has fallen flat, which lowers the expectation that their Ethernet switching entry would do any better," the spokesman writes. "Juniper doesn't have the channels or sales force to pull this entry off."

The Nortel spokesman goes on to note that Nortel offers a "complete unified communications solution" and that Juniper "is not a serious enterprise solutions player due to a total lack of voice capabilities."

Juniper did announce a partnership with Microsoft this week to endorse the EX series for Microsoft applications, such as Windows Vista identity enforcement and assessment; Windows Server Active Directory; Exchange Server 2007 for calendaring and e-mail; and Office Communications Server 2007 for presence, instant messaging and conferencing. Some of this activity appears to overlap with Nortel's 18-month-old Innovative Communications Alliance with Microsoft for unified communications.

Extreme Networks, meanwhile, says Juniper's EX line "misses the mark" in enterprise switching. "By focusing on fixed-configuration switches in the high-end, Gigabit-to-the-desktop market, Juniper is creating a high-profile message about performance that actually misses the mark when lined up against what enterprises really care about," an Extreme spokesman wrote in an e-mail to Network World.

"Juniper's switch products miss the largest trend happening, namely the proliferation of critical IP devices, including IP phones, wireless LAN access points, and cameras," the Extreme e-mail said. "These IP-connected devices challenge IT managers with specific operational, installation, and maintenance issues that demand a more thoughtful and comprehensive approach to the edge-networking portfolio. These devices don't benefit at all from the pricey, performance-centric approach that Juniper promotes. They require a pragmatic approach and intelligence to manage them efficiently."

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