Zacks_Analysts' Blog : Juniper Wins Essar Deal - Analyst Blog

Networking major Juniper Networks (JNPR) recently won a deal from the India-based multinational conglomerate Essar Group, having diversified business interest in the Iron & Steel, oil, gas and shipping industries among others.

In the past, Juniper has provided secure, multi-platform remote network access solutions to the Essar Group. This deal includes the deployment of the Juniper Networks Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite and Juniper Networks SA Series SSL VPN Appliances.

This would enable Essar to provide remote and mobile employees, customers and partners with anytime, anywhere secure SSL Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to corporate network resources and applications from a wide range of mobile devices. This apart, the Juniper Networks Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite supports the adoption of a "bring your own device" policy for Essar employees.

This security system would be specially useful for Essar, as it would offer better protection to smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices running on most major mobile operating systems from viruses, malware, loss or theft, physical compromise and other exploits and threats. 

The company is winning mega deals at regular intervals. A month back, London Internet Exchange Ltd. (LINX) selected the company’s routing and switching solutions for an undisclosed amount. As per the terms of the agreement, Juniper will offer the much needed networking solution to LINX, facilitating its members to interconnect and share video through the cloud and other networks reliably, rapidly and cost effectively across fixed and mobile platforms.

Moreover, the company is expanding and developing new products through technology innovation and joint collaboration. The company recently entered into a strategic collaboration with General Electric Co. (GE), to jointly develop a series of highly scalable and secure networking and routing gadgets. These products would communicate data within the military or aerospace verticals with utmost security, even in harsh environments.

Considering the above deal wins, it can be well deduced that Juniper’s networking architecture, which runs on the Junos operating system (a high-performance network operating system for routing, switching and security) is in demand.

Despite its prospective deal momentum, we prefer to be on the sidelines based on the stiff competition from Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ), continuous R&D investments that weigh down on its operating margin, European exposure and federal budget cuts.

Currently, Juniper has a Zacks #4 Rank, implying a short-term Sell recommendation.