In 2021, Juniper Networks introduced our vision for the Cloud Metro—a radical reimagining of metro networks to fuel sustainable business growth. Since then, the Cloud Metro revolution has continued to pick up steam in customer mindshare, new deployments and industry recognition. And today, we’re announcing two new additions to the Juniper Networks® ACX7000 family of Cloud Metro Routers: the ACX7332 and ACX7024X platforms.
Like the rest of our Cloud Metro portfolio, these new platforms combine the systems and experience-first operations and architectures that operators need to unlock sustainable business growth in evolving metro networks. They extend Juniper’s industry-leading routing capabilities—superior user experience, Zero Trust security, low total cost of ownership (TCO)—to new network segments and use cases.
With these additions to the Cloud Metro portfolio, customers now have even more flexibility to extend the right performance and service scale to the right network location. And they can do it while maintaining a consistent feature set and operational experience everywhere.
A Growing Metro Portfolio
The metro represents a uniquely challenging segment of the network. It can encompass a wide variety of locations and facilities, each operating under different environmental conditions with different requirements for capacity, scale and port configuration. To help address these disparate needs, Juniper continues to add new options across our ACX7000 family product lines.
- ACX7332: Like its I-Temp-rated counterpart, the ACX7348, announced last year, the ACX7332 is a fixed plus modular 3-U platform with 2.4T throughput. Where the ACX7348 is optimized for industrial or remote locations subject to more extreme environmental conditions, the new ACX7332 offers a higher-scale, E-Temp-rated alternative. The ACX7332 also adds an onboard external ternary content addressable memory (eTCAM) processor to support four times larger routing tables and ultra-low latency lookups. Designed to maximize scale at the service edge in commercial temperature environments, the platform supports business VPN, PON and other services for up to tens of thousands of subscribers.
- ACX7024X: Just as the ACX7332 offers a commercial temperature alternative to the I-Temp-rated ACX7348, the new ACX7024X provides a higher-scale, C-Temp-rated alternative to the ACX7024. This 1-U fixed platform delivers up to 360G throughput, with a high-performance processor and four times the RAM for higher services scale, supporting over a million addresses. Optimized for business VPN and mobile x-haul, the ACX7024X can serve as a high-scale access/aggregation platform in service provider networks or as an enterprise WAN CPE.
The Juniper Cloud Metro Solution Differentiation
With these new additions to the Cloud Metro portfolio, service providers and enterprises now have even more freedom and flexibility to modernize their metro network infrastructure.
- Use the right platform for the right location: Our ruggedized, environmentally-rated platforms can be deployed close to customers, including cell sites. In densely populated areas, service providers and enterprises now have a platform option that can manage large forwarding information base (FIB) tables positions operators to address growing and often unpredictable demand. In turn, higher-scale platforms can be used in temperature-controlled locations where more density and service scale is needed, such as central offices and metro points of presences locations.
- Simplify network-wide operations: Supporting disparate operating environments and use cases doesn’t have to mean adding complexity to your environment. With the expanded ACX7000 family portfolio, you can maintain a consistent feature set and operational experience from access through pre-agg and aggregation, and chain services across your metro network. Software updates are simpler and more consistent, and your entire metro footprint uses the same automation-ready platforms, with the same embedded Zero Trust security and active assurance.
- Protect your investments: Juniper’s future-ready Cloud Metro solution provides all the capabilities you need to support your customers today and in the future. You can support current Layer-2 services today and adopt advanced Layer-3/Segment Routing services whenever you’re ready, maintaining the same One Junos Experience, so you can evolve from traditional to next-gen services at your own pace without forklift overhauls.
Cloud Metro Momentum Continues Growing in New Markets
It’s not just service providers who want to keep pace with insatiable demand for capacity and performance in a secure, operationally efficient, cost-effective way. Organizations across multiple verticals—cloud providers, enterprises, governments and more—are recognizing that they can benefit from Cloud Metro capabilities, too.
The City of Las Vegas, for example, is using Cloud Metro solutions to support the largest private 5G network infrastructure in the U.S.. Juniper’s Cloud Metro solution supports the city government, public schools and tourism applications throughout Las Vegas’ downtown “Innovation District,” serving nearly 642,000 residents and 42 million visitors annually. From connecting local businesses and tourists, supporting public safety and social services, reducing traffic congestion and more, the Cloud Metro-enabled network is helping to turn Las Vegas into a model “smart city.”
Looking Ahead
Today’s new product announcement underscores Juniper’s commitment to advancing the Cloud Metro vision. With more platform choices and flexibility, we’re determined to help our customers choose the right scale for the right location and ease the migration from retro metro to Cloud Metro, achieving sustainable business growth. To learn about the power and value of a Cloud Metro, and the benefits of leveraging the ACX7000 Family of Cloud Metro Routers to create your IP service fabric, visit the Juniper Cloud Metro solution page.
