ADAC selects Juniper for agressive expansion and transformation

Juniper Networks,  a network innovations provider, today announced that Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), owner and operator of five airports in Abu Dhabi with subsidiaries supplying ground handling, duty free, cargo, catering and aviation training services, has awarded Juniper Networks with a 10-year infrastructure frame contract to support an aggressive expansion program designed to transform Abu Dhabi Airports into world-class facilities.

In support of its expansion plans, ADAC, wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, has embarked on a large-scale transformation program, including upgrading its existing network infrastructure to build an MPLS network and “cloud-ready” data centres, while lowering capital and operating expenditure, the company said.

After a two year evaluation process, ADAC selected Juniper Networks EX Series Ethernet Switches and MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers from Juniper Networks’ Universal Edge portfolio, creating the infrastructure to underpin its innovative new services and facilities.

“Our overall goal was to enable the provisioning of world-class facilities by implementing a service provider-grade network while reducing cost of ownership and capital and operational expenditure,” said Michael Ibbitson, VP, information & communications systems, Abu Dhabi Airports Company. “Juniper Networks won the 10-year contract after successfully showing significant savings in acquiring and operating the Juniper Networks infrastructure and due to its availability, scalability, resilience and services-rich technical capabilities.”

The Juniper Networks wired infrastructure will provide a number of services to ADAC’s multitenant environment. Wireless networks, unified communications, multicast video streams and virtual private data will be converged on the Juniper Networks MLPS infrastructure, delivering Layer 2 and Layer 3 services to meet the need of any application running within the airport, representatives said.

“ADAC’s demanding multitenant environment requires unmatched flexibility and reliability to support advanced services and applications,” said Mike Marcellin, VP, product marketing and business strategy, Platform Systems Division, Juniper Networks. “By choosing Juniper Networks, ADAC can deploy a carrier-class network with the optimum combination of performance and low-footprint, low power-consumption and low heat-dissipation.”

Powered by Juniper’s single-source operating system, Junos, the MX Series provides a consistent operating environment that streamlines network operations and improves the availability, performance and security of all types of services supported at the Universal Edge, Juniper said.

The MX960 3D Universal Edge Router is a high density Layer 2 and Layer 3 Ethernet platform with a variety of compelling use cases, it was reported. The MX960 provides a range of Ethernet services, including VPLS services for multi-point connectivity, Juniper added.

According to ADAC, the company is also using EX4200 Ethernet switches with Virtual Chassis fabric technology, which enables up to 10 interconnected switches to operate as a single, logical device. Virtual Chassis fabric technology helps ADAC to reduce the number of managed devices in the network, lowering capital and operating expenses while providing the highest levels of availability for demanding converged data, voice and video environments, sources said.  The EX4200 with Virtual Chassis fabric technology also delivers the most reliable platform for unifying enterprise communications, ADAC said.