Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR) is looking good enough to make a martini out of those sweet berries. But will the networking specialist's good news extend to sector rival Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) next week, or are Juniper's gains the company's own?

The company reported $786 million in revenue and non-GAAP earnings of $0.19 per share. Both figures present gains from the previous quarter and reasonable declines from the 2008 period. The numbers only tell half the tale, though: There's something special brewing in those Juniper bushes.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) has long helped Juniper sell network equipment to go along with its own servers and storage systems. Now, Big Blue also sells IBM-branded routers and switches with Juniper innards -- an easier sell for IBM's sales force than having to explain why a Juniper box fits better into your IBM solution than another piece of equipment from, say, Cisco or Brocade (NASDAQ:BRCD). All three networking vendors I mentioned are part of IBM's new OEM program, but Juniper appears to have gotten the sweeter end of the deal.

And the good news doesn't stop there: The NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX) stock exchange has signed a contract for hundreds of high-speed switches. "Competitiveness in the global financial markets is measured in microseconds," said Juniper CEO Kevin Johnson, so this network is designed for internal network roundtrips as fast as 50 microseconds.

The IBM and NYSE deals each improve Juniper's selling position in different ways. IBM simply expanded Juniper's sales channel but without any branding benefits. The NYSE contract is a visibility stunt that could improve Juniper's brand recognition a good deal if the company can pull it off.

Johnson says that Juniper has plenty of customer projects on the table, but that nobody knows exactly when those clients will place their orders. Hence, market visibility is low, and Johnson kept guidance on the careful side. But with "more users consuming more bandwidth on the internet, those trends continue. And every customer is in a different situation and this is sort of just the flow of orders that we saw this quarter."

All of this adds up to a couple of unique positives for Juniper -- but none that made a difference to the just-reported second quarter. Ergo, I still believe that Cisco will come out roaring next week. Watch this space.

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