In December 2007, Juniper Networks introduced a secure environment for external application development based on our best-in-class JUNOS operating system. In this month’s Technical Insider, we take a look at how service providers worldwide are using the PSDP to differentiate their services, introduce emerging technologies to their networks before the standards are finalized, and conduct groundbreaking experiments that may change the direction of the networking industry.
Technical Insider: Juniper’s Partner Solution Development Platform Equips You to Take the Industry by Storm
In December 2007, Juniper Networks introduced a secure environment for external application development based on our best-in-class JUNOS operating system. The product, known as the Partner Solution Development Platform (PSDP), provides a powerful set of tools and resources; including a software development kit (SDK) with intelligent and secure interfaces to JUNOS routing and services functions. Juniper provides access to the PSDP technology, as well as technical and business support to customers and partners, through its Open IP Solution Development Program.
The PSDP enables our service provider and enterprise customers and our business partners to build custom applications that are intimately linked with JUNOS, and then run those applications as resident features on any supported JUNOS-operated Juniper platform in their own network. The PSDP offers customers and business partners the option to extend JUNOS within a controlled environment to better meet their evolving networking needs.
Fine-Tune Your Services, Introduce New Technologies, or Conduct Groundbreaking Experiments
Participating customers and business partners worldwide are already successfully using the PSDP to tailor aspects of the JUNOS platform to their individual requirements. Some companies, like NTT, are using the program to apply emerging technologies such as Path Computation Element (PCE) to the Juniper devices in their network before the relevant industry standards are finalized. Others, like NEC, are using the program to further differentiate their IPTV and other multiplay services. Still others are using the PSDP to accelerate the introduction of specific features critical to their business plans, such as enhanced network performance monitoring in a managed service environment or custom intrusion detection and inspection capabilities. Finally, academic or research groups can use this ready-made platform to rapidly prototype and experiment with new technologies and protocols in ways that were too expensive, cumbersome, and slow before. All of this is possible because the PSDP offers robust and secure access to both the control plane and data plane functionality of JUNOS devices—and it is generating a cycle of innovation unique in the networking industry.
Juniper PSDP is Open, not Open Source
Juniper is offering the PSDP to provide our customers with more options and to help accelerate innovation in the marketplace. By providing open interfaces with the PSDP, Juniper is offering many of the benefits of open source, allowing customers and partners to build highly differentiated solutions aligned to their specific needs, and to leverage, at their discretion and in a secure and robust manner, third party technology in their solutions. As we continue to evaluate the needs of our customers in an evolving marketplace, we are satisfied that the current PSDP model of open, not open source, will continue to accelerate industry innovation, while maintaining the protections and safeguards so critical to our customers.
Designed for Security from the Ground Up
Juniper built the PSDP with security in mind from the start. The PSDP offers several layers of protection to ensure that every customer retains complete control over the applications running on their routers. First and foremost, no PSDP applications can run on a Juniper router unless an administrator configures the router to run PSDP applications, loads the application into the router, and then runs the application. Furthermore, PSDP applications can only load if they are signed with a unique digital certificate provided by Juniper to authorized customers and partners. As an additional safeguard, administrators must configure the router itself to accept applications with this signature before the PSDP applications will load. Finally, all PSDP applications run as non-root software and in protected memory, providing further safeguards to the system.
Single Source Code and Linear Release Train
Customers can use the PSDP to unlock additional value from their networks because Juniper has painstakingly maintained single source code with a predictable linear release train for JUNOS for more than ten years. As a result, we are able to securely open up access to specific areas of JUNOS to foster innovation without compromising the security or reliability of the operating system for our customers. Just as importantly, once a feature has been introduced, service providers know it will show up in subsequent releases, so that applications and other custom functionality that rely on that feature will behave in a predictable fashion across all JUNOS devices from one upgrade to the next. It’s a level of reliability that equipment vendors with complex release trains simply cannot provide—and it’s a level of reliability that makes service provider investments in customer applications valuable for use across all JUNOS products in their networks.
A Word about Choice
Although the PSDP works on many JUNOS platforms and can be leveraged by many different types of customers and partners, participating in the program is purely optional. For customers looking to build competitive differentiators or otherwise customize their networks, the PSDP can be a superb option. Customers that don’t currently need this capability can continue to use JUNOS as they have always done—activating only those features needed to support the services in their networks. Customers can also use PSDP-enabled applications written by Juniper partners, while retaining complete over which PSDP applications run on their boxes as the PSDP platform is deactivated in JUNOS by default.
By the same token, customers who choose to participate in the OSDP program to obtain the PSDP, do not need to purchase or deploy a special version of JUNOS. Rather, they simply work with their account team to get the support needed to apply to the OSDP, obtain access to the PSDP, and build custom applications that meet their business goals.
Want to Know More?
For more information about the Juniper Partner Solution Development Platform, visit http://www.juniper.net/partners/osdp.html or contact your account team. To learn more about NTT’s use of the PSDP to deploy PCE on their network, see http://www.juniper.net/company/presscenter/pr/2008/pr_2008_06_17-0_38.html
To read about the latest Open IP Partners, IBM, Kasenna, NEC, and Polycom, see http://www.juniper.net/company/presscenter/pr/2008/pr_2008_06_17-0_34.html
For IDC’s take on the impact the PSDP will have on accelerating innovation in the networking industry, read the IDC Event Flash at http://www.juniper.net/company/presscenter/presscoverage/idc_psdp_eventflash_209828.pdf.
For more on Accelerating the Pace of Innovation in the High-Performance Network, read our Executive Essays on Innovation and the Partner Solution Development Platform.
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