Juniper: Facing Cisco Partner Summit Head-On?

As Cisco Systems gears up for its April 2010 partner summit, The VAR Guy has noticed a rather interesting development: Rival Juniper Networks appears to have scheduled its J-Partner Summit for the exact same week. Was that a glaring error -- or a subtle sign that Juniper isn't afraid to face Cisco's Partner Summit head-on?

The VAR Guy

January 4, 2010

1 Min Read
Juniper: Facing Cisco Partner Summit Head-On?

Juniper J-Partner Summit

Juniper J-Partner Summit

As Cisco Systems gears up for its April 2010 partner summit, The VAR Guy has noticed a rather interesting development: Rival Juniper Networks appears to have scheduled its J-Partner Summit for the exact same week. Was that a glaring error — or a subtle sign that Juniper isn’t afraid to face Cisco’s Partner Summit head-on? Here’s some speculation from The VAR Guy.

In recent weeks The VAR Guy noticed the following conference dates:

  • Cisco Partner Summit (April 26-29, San Francisco)

  • Juniper J-Partner Summit (April 26-28, Arizona), according to a company spokeswoman

  • Interop (April 25-29, Las Vegas)

In previous years, Juniper typically held its J-Partner Summit in Las Vegas, right around Interop Las Vegas. The approach allowed many Juniper partners to attend two events for the price of one round-trip airfare. Smart.

But in 2010, Juniper appears ready to shake things up a bit. Channel Chief Frank Vitagliano sounded upbeat during a late December 2009 interview. Meanwhile, Juniper’s stock today (Jan. 4, 2010) is trading near a 52-week high as CEO Kevin Johnson continues to evangelize Juniper’s common software platform (JUNOS) for routing, switching and security.

Surely, Juniper will continue to bang the drum for JUNOS at its partner summit. That same week, you can bet Cisco Systems’ partner summit will promote the company’s unified computing system. The VAR Guy wonders: Will he be forced to choose sides or will there be time to attend both events? Hmmm…

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