In 2014, Sujai Hajela and I founded Mist Systems with two fundamental goals: to make networks easy to deploy and operate using the cloud and AIOps and to assure the best user experiences on those networks. Since then, and by becoming part of the Juniper Networks family in 2019, we’ve been able to extend an experience-first vision to a wide array of product areas, including wired access, wireless access and SD-WAN (all of which are now driven by Mist AI).
In the early days of Mist, we were the first to leverage the cloud and AIOps to make Wi-Fi networks more predictable, reliable and measurable, with self-driving operations that proactively identify and fix issues before users even know they exist. This is what has now enabled Juniper Mist to become one of the fastest growing vendors in the enterprise Wi-Fi space last year, with amazing customers and partners in almost every vertical segment. In addition, Juniper is a Leader in the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure for the second year in a row, furthest in both Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute. We believe it’s a huge accomplishment!
However, let’s not forget about another key aspect of the Mist journey – indoor location services. Retailers, healthcare providers and higher education institutions, as well as many carpeted enterprises require scalable and accurate location services for a variety of use cases – from wayfinding to asset location and facilities management. To that end, the first company patent at Mist was focused on virtual Bluetooth low energy (vBLE), a revolutionary technology that boosts location accuracy and eliminates the need for battery beacons. To this day, we remain maniacally focused on making indoor location services easy to use and scale so that they can become as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi.
By combining the same cloud and AIOps technology that made Mist a leader in Wi-Fi with our groundbreaking vBLE and location technologies from ecosystem partners (e.g., Ultra-Wideband, Lidar, and computer vision), we’ve delivered a scalable indoor location platform using open and interoperable standards. This has taken the industry by storm, delivering exceptional value to a wide array of customers, such as:
- A global bank that’s embarking on a digital workplace transformation and will leverage location services in its employee mobile app
- A Fortune 100 retail chain that’s using virtual BLE to help employees navigate its offices with turn-by-turn directions
- A global hotel super chain that’s leveraging location services to enable building access, wayfinding and visitor management with BLE badges to better plan real estate investments and configurations based on occupancy analytics
- A multinational technology company that leverages indoor location for push notifications and wayfinding within its new global headquarters building
- A major university who uses location services for student wayfinding on campus and within its IT team to track the location of university assets and better understand utilization to improve services and optimize its budget
- Several manufacturing customers that are using indoor location services for asset location and assuring Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) compliance
- Multiple healthcare facilities that are transforming healthcare outcomes with wayfinding through large, complex facilities, accelerating the location of medical assets to improve care, as well as integrating location with IoT devices such as controlling door access in care facilities
- And finally, we’re also using Mist location services at Juniper to assist the employee health and safety team as we return to the office. The solution minimizes risk to employees through contact tracing, excessive room occupancy alerts and by identifying areas of the building that have been occupied and require periodic sanitization.
A Leader in Indoor Location Services
As was the case with wired and wireless access, the Juniper Mist success with indoor location services is also being recognized by the top pundits. Today, we’re pleased to share that Juniper is now a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, furthest in Completeness of Vision. In addition, Juniper is the only vendor that is a Leader in both Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure and Indoor Location Services. To us, this is a huge achievement and honor.
IT departments are increasingly responsible for delivering simple, seamless and secure access coupled with value-add location services like asset tracking, user engagement, contact tracing, facilities management and analytics. Using a single vendor to deliver a fully integrated solution for both Wi-Fi and location not only lowers CAPEX and OPEX – it also delivers added value. For example, Juniper customers and partners can leverage vBLE for accurate Wi-Fi coverage hole detection and automated AP deployment verification, which saves considerable time and money while delivering the best user experiences. In addition, knowing that Juniper is a recognized leader in both areas delivers something even more important to customers – peace of mind.
Startups are the ultimate team sport. To the teams at Juniper and Mist who assisted in achieving this, as well as the customers, partners and analysts who continually put their trust in Mist AI – thank you. This truly is one of those sweet, “smell the roses moments” and a key milestone on our quest to making Wi-Fi and indoor location services ubiquitous elements for enterprises and end users alike.
Gartner Disclaimer
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure, Mike Toussaint, Christian Canales, Tim Zimmerman, 15 November 2021.
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, Tim Zimmerman, Annette Zimmermann, 23 February 2022.
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