Ericsson breaks with Juniper for LTE core network

Source: Rethink Wireless
The packet core network is looking increasingly bleak as a battleground for Juniper as it fights to narrow the gap with Cisco. The company reportedly lost out to its larger arch-rival in the acquisition of core networking specialist Starent, and now it will lose its key core partnership, with Ericsson, at the LTE stage.

This is hardly a surprise, given that the Swedish giant acquired Redback three years to bolster its own IP networking expertise, but it still reduces Juniper's influence outside its important venture with Nokia Siemens (mainly for Carrier Ethernet and backhaul, but capable of extending further). Ericsson will maintain its existing partnership with Juniper for 2G and 3G core systems, but will build its LTE product on the Redback Smart Edge platform.