Juniper sells SSL-VPN - what a sad day

[Antioch_]

For us this is most certainly troubling news, we intend to sit out the maintenance contract and, depending on how the direction support takes, decide what to do then. If the pace of updates continues unabated, and support continues to do a good job, chances are we will stick with the product.

[rswinter_]

We are also taking a wait and see approach, but we are slated to re-evaluate our VPN capabilities next year anyway. 

We have nothing else with Juniper, so they will be loosing us as a customer once the sale is final.

If the support and updates improve, then theres a good chance we will stick with the devices...

[muttbarker_]

I had the opportunity to attend the Juniper Sales Engineering Summit last week. During that event I was able to pick up some news that I can share. Most was NDA but I can at least share the name of the "NEWCO" - it is Pulse Secure and the current website (which says nothing) is pulsesecure.net 

One comment that I feel ok about making in a public forum is that for users of the Pulse product I think that the long term impact will be nothing but positive. As a reseller of Pulse I am excited about the future.

As a Juniper reseller I stand by my earlier post and I am sad and see nothing good when it comes to my Juniper business.

One of my SE's was also at the Summit and talked with someone from the Pulse team. He posted in a private forum but I am cutting and pasting his comments below:

<<<<<<<<< 

I had the chance to talk to a member of the Pulse team on Twitter the other day. It was quite shocking to hear their perspective on the whole thing. Apparently the Pulse team is VERY happy now, since they no longer have the weight of a huge networking company (who was not interested in the product) to have to deal with. Much more freedom, much less red tape. No more depenancies on other teams within Juniper.

He basically said it felt like a startup but with a shipping product and tens of thousands of customers. He was very excited, saying they "were finally FREE!" Honestly from the sounds of it we may actually be better off on this, because from the way he was explaining things I think we're going to see a lot more (and a lot quicker) effort invested into the product, regardless of who owns it. >>>>>>>>> Cut from a post by Chris Jones from the Juniper Ambassador team

So, if you a Pulse user (I say this as a user and a reseller) then I think that this will be a good move in the long run. I think the product, support and sales effort will improve.

My understanding also is that the main reasson that SSL was never developed for the SRX was due to the fact that it would cut into SSL-VPN sales. So, maybe Juniper will now reconsider and at least put it on the road map for a delivery some year down the road (hope springs eternal).

[lyndidon_]

It may not be good karma or good business practice to now put it in the SRX after selling that piece. That said, what about the classes. Who will now be sellig and pridg training for the product?

[muttbarker_]

The NEWCO (PulseSecure) will consist of key management members from Juniper who are migrating over along with the coders, TAC folks, etc. The field elements (sales teams, etc) will have to be built out and will occur as the transition moves forward (information received from a briefing).

[NateK_]

Wanted to say thanks for the info as I have been watching this thread. Had heard the rumblings for some time but can't say I was stoked to hear the announcement.

The new company moving forward sounds like a net positive and much better than having to look around to find something to replace the IVE/SecureAccess/MAG (we've been using it for awhile) much less implement it.

[lyndidon_]

Elliott Management.

Maybe I am paranoid and not thoo optimistic. Where is the founder of Juniper? I look at this compay like BAIN Capital. Some fail sme succeed. Elliott Management have been involved with cmpanies like MCI, ENRON, Novell just to list a few. Well we haope for the best. There is something fundamentally flawed with Juniper management and marketing department. At this point the separation of the different technologies that have embodied Juniper seems to be a devastating turn of events. Security Routing and Switching have all become a unified part of the tiered approach to security. It is akin to purchasing an apartment complex and installing a Security System, AC and Solid Waste dispsal Systems. Then after you get all your tennants, you rip out the AC and the Security and say to your tennants, you are on your own. Find your own AC and your own Security. Simply because the management was incapable of running all three needed features to benefit the tennants.Heck maybe they could have sealed the doors and windows, installed LED lights and Solar panels to reduce utility cost but they failed and hence figure that the cost of utility was too high becasue the windows were broken, doors half way shut, the flood lights were too hot. Heck maybe dual lights. Use the hot lights in winter and LED in summer. But we continue to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

[zanyterp_]

+1 for this being a net positive. Will we (us as Pulse Secure & you as customers) have growing pains? Yes.
Will it be better for everyone involved (again, us as Pulse Secure & you as customers)? Absolutely.

[muttbarker_]

Are we going to see another namechange? I notice that PulseSecure.net now points back to Juniper. 

[muttbarker_]

The new, new temporary domain is: 

http://pulsesecure.thetempdomain.com