Juniper versus Cisco...thoughts?

Cisco and Juniper are both great products. They are often used for medium to large enterprise companies. I have worked with those products before, but using Cisco would be your best bet. Why? Well, Cisco is the only company that is a true network company. Cisco considers the entire network infrastructure and how they will work together. For example, Cisco has Routing and Switching products, Firewall products, VoIP products, Wireless products, Remote access products, Network Management products, Data Center specific products and much more. Juniper has a router and firewall. And until very recently now a switch which is a new addition, but needs time to mature compared to Cisco which has longevity and stability. Cisco's flagship switch product, Cisco Catalyst 6500 is very robust solution in the market today providing high availability, performance, and security. The new Cisco Nexus 7000, more prone to HPC is another major accomplish of adding high performance switching to the data center. The one thing that Cisco has over Juniper as an example is SSL VPN support. SSL VPN and Firewall capabilities are both supported on Cisco ISR 800, 1800, 2800, 3800, and Cisco ASA models. Juniper's SSG or NetScreen firewall product is only a firewall and doesn't support the leading edge remote access protocol, SSL VPN. You have to purchase the Juniper SA product to get SSL VPN. Thus increasing your cost and TCO overall. For a small business that wouldn't be feasible. In terms of pricing, Juniper products tend to be more expensive overall unless you are a Juniper Elite Partner, but Cisco Partners can also get large discounts for products. Just some thoughts to consider between Cisco and Juniper. And yes Cisco does have a strong GUI Network Management for administration of routers, switches, and firewalls. CP