Spread the net wider

IN CONVERSATION

The acquisition of NetScreen, a vendor of firewalls and VPN (virtual private network) technology, catapulted Juniper Networks into the India market. Now, Adam Judd, vice president, APAC, Juniper Networks tells Priyanka Joshi that organic growth and wresting marketshare from its global competitors will head the company's strategy in India

Juniper's March 2007 financial results indicate a marked increase in its business across geo-graphies. What is the outlook for the next quarter?

The company's net revenues for the first quarter of 2007 were $626.9 million, compared to $566.7 million for the first quarter of 2006, an increase of 11 per cent.

Juniper's APAC revenues for first quarter 2007 totalled $125 million, up from $107 million in fourth quarter 2006, and here India was both fastest growing and strategic contributor. In India, specifically, we grew 100 per cent last year, with our service provider business growing 90 per cent and enterprise business, roughly 140 per cent.

We are going to invest around $70 million, along with building a new facility in Bangalore this year. We already have 700-odd people in India and our headcount should be 1,000 by year end.

Has Juniper managed to keep competition at bay in the APAC region?

We see ourselves as the challenger in this market place. To be successful, we must be very aligned, very clear about what we should be doing. We cannot do it all.

Just as with NetScreen, Juniper found a way to get into the enterprise segment. This year we will simply sharpen our approach. High performing businesses such as the BFSI, government, IT/ITES and defence should be our bull's eye.

Another promising vertical is the network replacement market for old public sector banks, with most having an average of 15 branches spread across the country. The deal sizes have swelled to $9 million.

Juniper's fixation with the enterprise segment seems to be paying dividends. What happens to your business as a service provider or within the SME sector in India?

Our service provider business comprises 70 per cent of our business here, the remaining coming from the enterprise segment. With our global enterprise business expanding 25 per cent in first quarter 2007 compared to the same period a year ago, we served over 20,000 enterprise customers worldwide. This trend will continue.

We are taking baby steps in the defence sector, rolling out highly automated networks and systems for the defence forces. Juniper has also won a major state-wide wireless access network deal in India, a market formerly dominated by a major competitor.

We increased our partners (those who sell and manage Juniper solutions for customers/enterprises directly) from 25 to 150 last year.