April marks the fifth anniversary of Juniper’s acquisition of Mist Systems, a milestone that’s especially worth celebrating given our team’s incredible achievements over the past year. At the top of the list is the launch of our AI-Native Networking Platform, a testament to how our integration of Mist Systems continues to transform enterprise networking. This pivotal development underscores Juniper’s commitment to revolutionizing networking through intelligent and automated solutions.
Our efforts have not gone unnoticed. For the fourth consecutive time, Gartner® recognized Juniper as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure.1 We’re especially proud to be furthest in Completeness of Vision and highest in Ability to Execute for the third consecutive time. And we received the highest scores in all five use cases in the Gartner Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure, with a tie for the highest score in a single use case.2 I believe this is a testament to our unwavering focus on pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in networking.
Overall, the past year has been one of rapid evolution and growth. We’ve introduced some powerful new features and capabilities to Mist AI and Marvis and continue to work with customers who are leaders in their industries, including Canadian Tire, ServiceNow, the University of Oxford, the University of Tokyo, and many more.
Looking ahead, there is a lot to be excited about. But before I touch on that, let’s take a closer look at the evolution of Mist and our biggest advancements over the past year.
Starting over with a fresh vision
Bob Friday and I founded Mist Systems in 2014 when we saw an opportunity for taking a “clean sheet of paper” to rethink how wireless networking was approached. With the rise of cloud computing and advancements in AI capabilities, Bob and I felt that the networking industry needed a shift in focus from simply maintaining uptime to catering to user experiences. In the early days, we called our approach AI for IT® and our tagline was “AI is in the Air®.” It quickly morphed into what the industry refers to today as AI for IT operations (AIOps).
Joining forces to accelerate progress
Once Juniper acquired Mist Systems on April 1, 2019, the teams quickly joined forces to plot a better path for networking. For example, we rapidly extended Mist AI to the Juniper Networks EX Series switching portfolio, introducing Wired Assurance and Marvis enhancements within the first year. After acquiring 128 Technology and WiteSand, our AI-Native and cloud-native vision was also applied to SD-WAN and NAC, respectively, bringing agility and simplicity to those domains.
To continually improve user experiences and extend assurance beyond the network to users and applications, we’ve even gone so far as to join data from third-party solutions, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and ServiceNow, with network data.
And in early 2024, we announced the integration of Marvis, the industry’s only AI-Native Virtual Network Assistant, with Juniper Apstra® to extend AIOps to the data center.
Of course, all along the way, we keep enhancing our overall wireless capabilities. For example, we were the first to add generative AI to our leading conversational interface. We have added self-driving capabilities around RRM. And we recently introduced Marvis Minis, the first and only AI-Native Networking Digital Experience twin, which allows for instant validation of network configurations and proactive problem detection and resolution before users are impacted. Minis also continuously provide data to the Mist AI engine for ongoing AIOps response optimization.
All these innovations have led to incredible benefits for our customers, including:
- Up to 90% fewer network trouble tickets
- Up to 85% fewer truck rolls
- Up to 9x faster deployments
Onward and upward
Five years into the acquisition, it’s noteworthy that the core Mist Systems executives—along with the majority of the team—are still in place at Juniper. Our Mist executive team, including Bob Friday, Tom Wilburn, Sudheer Matta, Jeff Aaron, Randy Frei, and Rakesh Bhatnagar, are still guiding Mist forward.
It’s hard to express how proud I am of what we’ve accomplished, and I can’t thank our teams enough for their incredible ideas, unwavering commitment to networking transformation, and relentless hard work. And, of course, I am eternally grateful to Rami Rahim and Manoj Leelanivas for the opportunities they engineered here at Juniper.
Looking ahead, I believe that the announced acquisition by HPE will further strengthen our ability to make every connection count. Based on my experiences here at Juniper, I am excited to continue building upon the accelerated innovation that arose when Mist Systems and Juniper Networks came together as a unified team to further redefine the art of the possible in networking.
Since AI-powered innovation is central to our mission, we remain hard at work on new features and capabilities. Stay tuned as we keep adding capabilities that are designed to optimize user and operator experiences from client to cloud.
Learn more
To experience for yourself how Mist AI delivers true visibility, automation, and assurance across enterprise networks, join our live monthly demo.
1 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure, Tim Zimmerman, Christian Canales, et al., 6 March 2024
2 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure, Christian Canales, Tim Zimmerman, Nauman Raja, Mike Leibovitz, 11 March 2024
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Juniper Networks.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Juniper Networks is recognized as Juniper in the 2024, 2022, and 2021 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure reports
Statement of Product Direction. Juniper Networks may disclose information related to development and plans for future products, features or enhancements, known as a Statement of Product Direction or Plan of Record (“POR”). These details provided are based on Juniper’s current development efforts and plans. These development efforts and plans are subject to change at Juniper’s sole discretion, without notice. Except as may be set forth in a definitive agreement, Juniper Networks provides no assurances and assumes no responsibility to introduce products, features or enhancements described in this website, presentation, meeting, or publication, nor is Juniper liable for any loss arising out of reliance on the POR. Purchasing decisions by third-parties should not be based on this POR, and no purchases are contingent upon Juniper Networks delivering any feature or functionality described in this website, presentation, meeting, or publication.
