You may be familiar with that old battle cry from Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW): "The network is the computer!" That vision has crept up from the server clusters Sun envisioned long ago, and into the networking infrastructure itself. Value-added services in the routers and switches, such as security functions, media recoding, selective data caching, and advanced traffic reporting, are offloading work from the servers.
These smart devices are driving the growth at Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR). The company is rolling out new and improved product lines left and right, all with some subset of the advanced features I just listed. It's playing well with overseas customers -- Juniper just landed new or expanded deals in markets including China, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, Denmark, and Saudi Arabia.
I think that an international focus is a good move for the smallish router designer. Much larger rivals like Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT) are already deeply entrenched in more developed markets like North America and Western Europe. The Danish contract shows that Juniper still can break into some of those Cisco strongholds, but it's still probably smarter to go for customers that haven't locked in on hardware from one of the majors yet.
You could also say that Juniper is riding the coattails of mighty Cisco to some degree, as the latter is pushing the smart-network concept harder than anyone. Some of that sector marketing is rubbing off on smaller providers like this one.
Last quarter, I said that Juniper looked rested and poised for some serious action. It now looks like the company has kicked off its sandals and gone to town, looking to do some business. Armed with positive earnings and a bright-eyed future outlook, Juniper looks good to go.
Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and Foolish disclosure always makes you look good.
