Sin-Yaw @ Juniper

For the most part of my professional career, networking ends with a NIC card. The software stack on top includes a device driver, a chain of software, usually in kernel, that sends packets up and down, and a collection of daemons (programs that belong to no-one and never die) that do their things: ftp, ssh, nfs, etc. I am vaguely aware of one daemon, routed, that figure out which ways to send packets. I really do not care much, since I am more concerned with packets for or from myself. Routing deals with, mostly, packets for others.

When I came to Juniper, networking changed completely. The classic router architecture has three main components: forwarding, routing, and OS.

Forwarding shoves packets from one end to the other as quickly as possible. Juniper’s gears can handle a very impressive amount: probably the fastest in this industry. Huge amount of packets arrive at the interface, each one must be categorized, inspected, and possibly forwarded to the right destination. The machinery operates based on FIB (forwarding information base), a data-structure dynamically updated by the routing intelligence.

Routing is the art of figuring out what the net looks like by what the neighbors said. It generate RIB (routing information base, used to be called routing table) that is the foundation of FIB. When wrongly computed, the net melts down or critically disrupted. If done right, companies can deliver more services without spending more: a key competitive advantage for many enterprises these days.

The OS manages the machinery and all those sophisticated software. It provisions resources for payloads and provides a stable platform for innovations. In my book, it serves the most important function: allowing routing and forwarding to innovate independently.

Ostensibly, the box looks the same as a standard data-center server. There is power-supply, lots of fans blowing air around, a chasis that connects boards, called blades these days, that plug into it. Off the back of the box, many cables run off to a far-away corner. I walk into a networking lab thinking how similar it is to a data-center.

This is probably why an OS guy like me feels so at home in a networking company.

Inspired by Mike Bushong, who authored JUNOS for Dummies and also provided excellent sources for plagiarization.

How do you compete with Cisco? Alcatel-Lucent and Nortel are not doing so well. HuaWei chose to be the low-price leader: a strategy based on its inherent strength. Juniper Networks wins with its JUNOS operating systems.

Since almost all Juniper’s gears are based on the same architecture and work the same way, Juniper lowers the costs for customers. They would enjoy “train once, apply many times” efficiency. For Juniper’s internal operations, a single effort benefits all products. This gives Juniper a time-to-market edge: new product group focuses only on the differentiators and leverage from the same core functionalities.

It is easy to copy Cisco’s formula: create autonomous business units, give them free rein on hardware, software, marketing, and business infra-structure, hold the exec accountable, and sit back to enjoy the success. But this approach tries to beat Cisco in the game defined by Cisco. History shows this path littered with corpses of companies who tried. Juniper defined a different game: JUNOS vs. IOS. It does not try to fight against Cisco’s product portfolio, marketing army, R&D dollars, or acquisition spigot. It chose to fight on Cisco’s soft spot: software. In a battle against a giant, compete where size matter less seems like the right idea.

In this game, it is JUNOS against many smaller Ciscoes, each having an OS and a smaller OS development team. This is quite Sun-Tze: divide the larger enemy into smaller sub-units and attack with all strengths focused at a laser-sharp point. There will be no enemy too big and no battle not winnable.

As long as Juniper stays with this strategy.

First 5 days went in a blink. I remembered a couple of hours Monday afternoon browsing the company intranet. Then someone stopped at my office, “There are having a PR meeting. Maybe you should attend?” That marked the end of my new hire honey moon. Thursday was company’s quarterly big meeting. First time, David Yen presented his business strategy and plan. No doubt he came home with an Oscar that day. What a well-thought out plan and thorough strategy. No one in the room doubted that he will build the business group into a billion dollar operation in a few years.

I grokked about 75% of my real jobs here. Juniper Network is poised for an explosive growth for the next couple of years. I am to prepare the JUNOS (Juniper Operating System) foundation for that. The company’s strategy, in stark contrast with Cisco’s, is to leverage its JUNOS across all its product lines. While this strategy has paid off handsomely for the past few years, the next few present even greater challenges for engineers. The company is likely to double its product portfolio to capture even great share of the Internet market. Every parts of JUNOS must be prepared: the engineering environment, the development process, the OS technologies, etc.

I arrived at the dawn of great changes. Like soldiers readying for the attack at daybreak. The anticipation of the victory is boiling everyone’s blood. Of course, they also knew it will not be an easy walk. Competitors are strong and well resourced. Battles must be won with Herculean efforts and skills that are not quite honed. JUNOS is the weapon that will provide Juniper with the advantage, but engineers must execute to perfection.

And we will.