News

Juniper Launches Platform for AI-Native Networking, Security Management

• By John K. Waters
• 10/15/2024

Juniper Networks, a provider of high-performance networking infrastructure and AI-powered network management, has announced a new solution that integrates security and networking management under a unified cloud and artificial intelligence engine. The solution, Juniper Secure AI-Native Edge, was designed to simplify network and security operations, boost threat detection, and enhance user experience by merging Juniper's Mist AI capabilities with enterprise-grade security tools.

Juniper Secure AI-Native Edge "unifies AIOps networking and security under a single interface," the company explains on its website, "providing complete environment visibility, full security configuration context, and insight into the network implications of security actions—all accessible from the Mist console."

Mist AI, a core component of Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform, leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science to enhance user experiences and streamline operations across wireless and wired access, SD-WAN, WAN Edge, data center, and security domains.

According to industry analyst Mauricio Sanchez, Senior Research Director at Dell’Oro Group, Juniper's new offering addresses a key challenge faced by enterprises today: traditional security frameworks, often fragmented across multiple platforms, which are proving insufficient to counter increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. Juniper’s integrated solution consolidates networking and security tools into a single system, eliminating operational silos.

"With today’s rapid digital transformation, businesses need streamlined management tools that align network performance with robust security," Sanchez said in a statement. "Juniper’s Secure AI-Native Edge offers seamless integration, bringing network and security operations under one umbrella for superior control and visibility."

At the core of Juniper’s latest offering is the new Mist Security Assurance service, a cloud-based software solution designed to allow enterprises to configure, manage, and enforce security policies through a single dashboard. The platform provides real-time insights into user behavior and network activity, enabling administrators to manage authentication policies, application access, and traffic steering with ease.

"The right data, the right real-time responses and the right infrastructure have been the foundational principles of Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform," said Sujai Hajela, EVP and GM in Juniper's AI-Driven Enterprise group, in a statement. "Integrating cloud-based, intelligent and automated security management into the platform is a logical progression, enabling IT and security teams to make faster, data-driven security decisions and responses in lockstep with the network, devices, users and applications being protected. Time is the most precious currency in cybersecurity: faster time to detect, mitigate and time to resolve."

Juniper Secure AI-Native Edge also leverages Juniper’s SRX security portfolio, enhancing the platform’s ability to detect and respond to complex threats, including zero-day vulnerabilities, with minimal impact on performance, the company said.

Juniper's solution also applies its AI-powered analytics to behavior detection, allowing real-time identification of unknown threats. The platform’s convergence of wired, wireless, SD-WAN, and Network Access Control (NAC) tools within the Mist AI engine is meant to ensure unified operations across all domains, paving the way for Universal Zero Trust Network Access deployments.

Shishir Singh, SVP and GM of Core Technologies and Security at Juniper, said the need for modern security solutions that can keep pace with evolving cyber threats. "Businesses today face a dilemma: managing growing cyber risks while accelerating digital transformation," he said in a statement. "Traditional tools lack the intelligence and automation required to navigate this new landscape. Juniper’s Secure AI-Native Edge solution offers the flexibility and security essential for the modern enterprise."

The Mist AI-powered platform integrates with Juniper’s existing data center and networking solutions, providing a holistic view of security and network performance from a single interface. This end-to-end approach ensures faster threat detection, resolution, and enhanced operational efficiency.