Juniper and IBM tighten relationship with OEM deal

IBM continues to edge its way farther into the telecom services world, and its latest announcement to expand its relationship with Juniper Network by signing an OEM agreement with the routing vendor is a testament to that trend. Through this OEM relationship, IBM plans to incorporate Juniper's Ethernet networking products and support within IBM's data center product portfolio. Under the terms of the agreement, IBM System and Technology Group will brand, label and sell both Juniper's EX Series Ethernet switches and MX Series Ethernet Services routers.

Establishing partnerships in the telecom world is nothing new for IBM. In 2007, IBM and Juniper signed a pan-IBM agreement with IBM's Global Technology Services (GTS) group that enabled GTS to resell Juniper's product suite as an element of GTS's Service Product Line (SPL) solutions, which includes routing, switching and security technologies. Another notable partnership for IBM is a recent managed services pact it reached with Qwest Communications for mid-sized businesses. Such a strategy is a slight change in direction for IBM as their main managed service constituency has been large enterprise customers.

For more:
- here's the official release

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