Tech giant Juniper Networks today announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is using Juniper’s switching, routing and security solutions.  Their aim is to develop a high performance network and data center infrastructure as a platform, for its e-Government program called Yesser. This will enable faster communication and transaction amongst government departments and with citizens. The e-Government program aims to increase the country’s network returns on investment (ROI).

“Our e-Government initiative is designed to raise the productivity and efficiency of the public sector in Saudi Arabia and further improve the quality of life and value we can deliver to our citizens,” said Ahmad Y. Alkhiary, assistant director general, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “By introducing services through electronic transactions, we can utilize information technology to its best advantage and also control costs. The Juniper Networks solution for MCIT will reduce the cost and complexity of our data center network, delivering a dynamic, flexible and automated solution without sacrificing performance.”

The specific Juniper technology to be used in structuring of the platform include the  Juniper Networks EX4200 Series Ethernet Switches, with virtual chassis fabric technology to maximize the MCIT’s hosting services at the data center and among its agencies.  The Juniper Networks J Series Services Routers will offer standardized delivery, stability and efficiency of agencies and the central site, while the Juniper Networks M Series Multiservice Edge Router is for advanced routing with carrier-class reliability.

Routing and switching platforms of Juniper run on its single-source operating system, the Junos Software. Moreoever, Juniper Networks has a local partner in this arrangement, Mobily, a specialized provider in mobile telecom services nationwide.  It’s part of a global expansion that has become a motif for major cloud players, with several developments and flourishing partnerships from Toshiba, Dell, HP, EMC and others.  As in the states, landing a high profile client such as the Ministry is an important achievement and point of leverage for Juniper Networks moving forward.

One of Juniper’s most recent product releases was the Core Router T4000 powered by Junos Software. They’ve also been focused on acquisitions this year, the most recent being Blackwave and Trapeze Networks.