Highlights:

  • Juniper claims its recently released Marvis Minis tool can detect network configuration automatically.
  • Marvis VNA for Data Center, a second new AI feature, is being released concurrently with Marvis Minis.

Marvis Minis, a new artificial intelligence tool from Juniper Networks Inc., can mimic the effects of a network changes to see if they can cause technical problems.

The company is releasing the software as a part of a redesigned product portfolio that includes updated hardware. Juniper unveiled new data center switches and routers with 800GE connectivity—that is, ports with the capacity to process up to 800 gigabits of data per second—per port. The company’s Express 5 chip powers the new routers, while Broadcom Inc. started mass-producing a five-nanometer CPU for the switch in March.

Juniper’s Marvis platform, which employs AI to assist managers in identifying the underlying cause of network issues, is now rolling out Marvis Minis. The program produces troubleshooting recommendations on its own. Moreover, it offers an interactive interface that administrators can utilize to request guidance on tasks like configuring a network.

Juniper claims its recently released Marvis Minis tool can detect network configuration automatically. Next, it mimics connections from users, their devices, and the applications operating on those devices. Using simulated traffic, network problems that would often only become apparent to administrators after posing a technical risk to employees can be identified.

The tool forwards the incident data it gathers to Marvis Actions, another feature, once it detects a network problem. The latter feature makes troubleshooting suggestions automatic for every issue. It can also solve various technological constraints without the need for human intervention.

An advantage for Juniper is that Marvis Minis is integrated into the Marvis network automation platform. The company claims this connection eliminates the need to add external software components to a network to gather troubleshooting data. It can be easier for administrators to execute their daily tasks if there are fewer software tools to learn and maintain.

Marvis VNA for Data Center, a second new AI feature, is being released concurrently with Marvis Minis. Administrators will find it simpler to obtain knowledge about the cabling, setup, and other technical aspects of a data center network, said Juniper. According to the business, this feature is compatible with competitors’ gear and its network equipment.

Rami Rahim, Chief Executive at Juniper, said, “AI is the biggest technology inflection point since the internet itself, and its ongoing impact on networking cannot be understated. By extending AIOps from the end user all the way to the application, and across every network domain in between, we are taking a big step toward making network outages, trouble tickets and application downtime things of the past.”

Juniper updated its AI Data Center offering and described the software improvements. It’s a product package that comes with the company’s PTX routers, QFX switches, Apstra network management software, and Marvis. The product is intended to make the process of creating networks that are optimized for AI applications easier.

The spine-leaf architecture is used in the AI Data Center. This kind of network architecture aids in lowering the number of network devices that a packet must transit through to go between two servers, a process known as “hops.” Reducing the number of hops that traffic needs to make can improve connection speeds, improving the performance of AI tasks.

The Apstra network management platform is the first part of the AI Data Center for which Juniper released an update. The company claims the software can now handle traffic from AI applications that are speeding over Ethernet infrastructure more quickly. Juniper also promises increased productivity.

Additionally, an update is being made to the PTX router range, which drives the AI Data Centre offering. Based on the 2021 internally built network processor Express 5, Juniper is launching new routers and line cards. The device can handle up to 28.8 terabits of traffic per second and is manufactured using a seven-nanometer technology.

In response, Juniper is growing its QFX switch family by introducing a new product that uses Broadcom’s Tomahawk 5 technology. A five-nanometer chip series with a 51.2 terabit per second network traffic processing capability went into mass production last year. Broadcom outfits the Tomahawk 5 with a package of performance optimization capabilities called Cognitive Routing, which can enhance connection speeds by rerouting traffic around crowded network links.