Networking company Juniper Networks Inc. is updating its Contrail Cloud platform today with new capabilities to help service providers build highly scalable cloud environments.

Juniper’s Contrail Cloud is an integrated cloud platform for telecommunications firms that enables them to run high-performance Network Functions Virtualization technologies, replacing dedicated network appliances such as routers and firewalls with software running on commercial off-the-shelf servers. Contrail Cloud bundles a complete cloud orchestration software package including distributed compute, storage, networking and management.

With today’s update, Juniper is integrating Cloud Contrail with Red Hat Inc.’s OpenStack and Ceph storage platforms, enhancing its real-time monitoring and service assurances, and adding new professional and managed services.

The idea is to eliminate some of the interoperability, support and management issues that crop up when trying to build a cloud environment with heterogeneous components, Juniper said. To that end, the integration with Red Hat’s OpenStack, which is a set of software tools for building and managing cloud computing platforms for public and private clouds, and its software-defined storage platform Ceph is intended to help minimize these compatibility issues.

“Building on Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat Ceph Storage, Contrail Cloud offers a compelling solution for customers to help them realize the true benefits of cloud and NFV,” said Radhesh Balakrishnan, general manager of OpenStack at Red Hat.

Juniper also said it’s adding the automation and optimization capabilities of AppFormix Inc., a cloud operations management startup it acquired last December, to the Contrail Cloud platform. These new capabilities mean the platform can provide real-time monitoring and service assurance for NFV workloads, helping simplify operations for service providers, Pratik Roychowdhury, senior director of product management, Contrail at Juniper Networks, said in a statement.

Roychowdhury said Juniper will also offer end-to-end professional services to Contrail Cloud users once they’ve built out their cloud environments. In addition, the company is offering a selection of prevalidated virtual network functions to help customers get started.

“Realizing the benefits of the cloud is near the top of the list for strategic imperatives for nearly all service providers big and small — equivalent to keeping costs low and innovation high,” Roychowdhury said. “Unfortunately for many, that move isn’t as easy as just flipping a switch. Based on our experiences in helping to run the cloud networks of some of the largest telcos in the world, we are introducing an easy, prescriptive path to building and operating a cloud, and making it available to all.”

Image: Juniper Networks/Flickr