Juniper says that 25 carriers have bought the J20 GGSN since it was launched one year ago

February 19, 2003

2 Min Read
Juniper's J20 Is Jumping

CANNES, France -- 3GSM Congress -- Juniper Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) says it now has over 25 customers for its J20 GPRS gateway service node (GGSN) product, which was jointly developed with Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERICY) and is being marketed and sold by the Swedish vendor (see Juniper Unveils ‘Wireless Router’).

The J20, which was launched at last year's Cannes bash, is being used by Cingular Wireless, Hutchison (Australia) Limited, and Telstra Corp., among others, according to Neik van Bemmel, director of corporate communications, EMEA. "It's actually a good mix of Asia, Europe, and the U.S.," he told Unstrung.

Juniper is not keen to talk about the sort of revenues that it sees from sales of the J20. However, last time we spoke to analysts about this they agreed that the wireless router is probably a nice little earner – albeit with the emphasis on little – making $5 million and counting per quarter (see Juniper's GGSN Gamble?).

Bemmel also brushed away suggestions that the Juniper Ericsson venture is under threat because of Juniper's acquisition of Unisphere Networks Inc. Unisphere's original parent company, Siemens Information and Communications Networks Inc. has a 10 percent stake in Juniper and is working with Juniper to jointly develop a GGSN that will compete with the J20 (see Juniper's Bizarre Love Triangle).

"The partnership with Ericsson for the J20 is going very well," says Bemmel.

Siemens also doesn't seem fazed by Juniper's split loyalties, or by speculation that it might also climb into bed with Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) (see Is a Lucent/Juniper Deal in the Works?). When asked about this at a recent press conference, Thomas Ganswindt, Siemens ICN group president, insisted he liked the idea: "Making Juniper stronger will put more competition on Cisco."

Perhaps the success of the J20 router helps to partly explain the renewed interest in IP networking displayed by Ericsson's main rival, Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) at the 3GSM Congress. Yesterday, the Finns unveiled plans for software that will make it easier for service providers to roll out new applications over their IP networks. Nokia calls the software its "Intelligent Edge" (see Nokia Claims Intelligence ).

Bemmel is unimpressed. "They've been trying to get into the IP space for quite some time," he says. "Good luck to them."

— Dan Jones, Senior Editor, UnstrungThe market for packet edge products is analyzed by the recent Wireless Oracle report, "Wireless Routers: A Market Waiting to Happen?" The report assesses the leading GGSN and PDSN products from the major, publicly-listed infrastructure vendors and a host of startup players. It includes exclusive market forecast data. To purchase this report, please visit: www.wireless-oracle.com.Editor’s note: Neither Light Reading nor Unstrung is affiliated with Oracle Corporation.

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