SUNNYVALE, Calif., November 20, 2006 - Juniper
Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:JNPR) and NEC Corporation of Japan (NASDAQ:
NIPNY), global provider of IT/Network solutions, today announced
their plans to expand their existing relationship to include
development of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based Fixed
Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions for the service provider
market. This expanded relationship enables Juniper Networks
and NEC to collaborate on providing comprehensive best-in-class
IMS-FMC solutions for wired and wireless service providers. This
best-in-class approach is intended to enable service providers to
offer cost-effective, reliable and secure IMS-FMC services.
"By working to combine NEC's advanced products
and solutions for fixed and mobile networks with Juniper Networks
carrier-class IP routers, Broadband Remote Access Server and
security products, we expect to come one step closer to merging the
Internet with the cellular world," said Botaro Hirosaki, Ph.D.,
executive vice president of NEC.
"FMC is a partnership between application and
service layer resources that must be tuned to the combined needs of
wireless and wireline, and market-tuned infrastructure that
conforms the overall market and regulatory framework of each
geography served," said Tom Nolle, president and CEO, CIMI
Corporation. "Juniper and NEC are making a smart decision in
partnering to serve this kind of symbiotic need in the optimum
way. Together they offer an on-the-point solution set to
address what might well be the most important issue in the
telecommunications infrastructure space today."
"This initiative reinforces our commitment to
partnering with industry leaders, such as NEC, to deliver open,
agile and customizable solutions to enhance the value of
next-generation networks," said Kim Perdikou, executive vice
president, Infrastructure Products Group and general manager,
Service Provider Business Team, Juniper Networks. "Together,
Juniper Networks and NEC are working to make it easer and more
cost-effective for service providers to offer services such as
VoIP, gaming, videoconferencing, messaging and other content
sharing applications over a common IP network infrastructure."
The open, access-independent architecture and
common IP transport network used in IMS-FMC represents a
fundamental departure from the one service, one network approach of
prior network expansions. Once the common IP backbone is in place,
operators can rapidly deploy new services by adding new products to
their IMS-FMC network to support that service-incurring only small
incremental capital expense and minimal operating expenses in the
process. Because the IMS-FMC framework defines the infrastructure
used to support services, but not the services themselves, service
providers have the flexibility to utilize their market expertise,
creativity, and existing network assets to deploy new converged
communications services.
Together, NEC and Juniper Networks plan to
enable mobile carriers, fixed carriers and emerging wireless
Internet service providers to offer converged services over a
single IP network by combining NEC's advanced products and
solutions for fixed and mobile networks with Juniper Networks
carrier-class IP core and edge routers and security products. Both
companies agreed to use and enhance existing standards based
interfaces and conform to architectural standards defined by the
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Telecoms &
Internet Converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks
(TISPAN) standardization bodies.
The relationship between NEC and Juniper
Networks originated in Japan in 2001. In late 2005, NEC and
Juniper Networks announced joint development of secure Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions for the Japan market based on
NEC's VoIP solutions and Juniper Networks network security
platforms. In March of 2006, NEC and Juniper Networks
announced plans to jointly develop next-generation networking (NGN)
solutions. Today's announcement builds upon this ongoing
relationship between Juniper Networks and NEC with a specific focus
on IMS-FMC solutions for wired and mobile operators for
next-generation networks.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) is one of the
world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and
enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized
needs of its diverse and global base of customers. NEC delivers
tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and
electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and
Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through
NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than
150,000 people worldwide. For additional information, please visit
the NEC home page at: www.nec.com.
* Newsroom: www.nec.co.jp/press/en/
About Juniper Networks,
Inc.
Juniper Networks develops purpose-built, high
performance IP platforms that enable customers to support many
different services and applications at scale. Service
providers, enterprises, governments and research and education
institutions rely on Juniper to deliver a portfolio of proven
networking, security and application acceleration solutions that
solve highly complex, fast-changing problems in the world's most
demanding networks. Additional information can be found at
www.juniper.net.
Juniper Networks, the Juniper Networks logo
and NetScreen are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc.
in the United States and other countries. JUNOS is a trademark of
Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks,
registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property
of their respective owners.
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