Getting tangled up by wired deployments? There’s an AI for that

There’s something about wires. Call it a love-hate relationship: we can’t live with them, yet we can’t live without them. As networks grow more complex over larger geographies, monitoring and optimising those wired components becomes particularly tricky.

What if AI could help manage those wired components for you? That’s the premise behind Wired Assurance, a service that’s part of Juniper Mist’s AI solutions range. Wired Assurance sets out to do exactly what its name suggests: provide a level of assurance and clarity for how your network’s wired switches are operating. For those with the right hardware already in place, it’s a powerful addition to an increasingly software-guided network that’s better-calibrated and more reliable for your users.

Rest assured with cloud-based solutioning

It’s no secret that the traditional wired experience leaves much to be desired. From cumbersome deployment of wired switches, to a lack of visibility over their service levels and systems integrity once they’re active – wired networking components offer more than their fair share of struggles for the typical network manager. Often, it’s hard to detect flaws in the network until something breaks.

Many of these challenges can be addressed by software, whether it’s improving visibility across hardware health metrics or optimising traffic flow for peak performance. Wired Assurance does this from the cloud, bringing AI capabilities into the mix to streamline and automate most aspects of the wired deployment workflow. The AI assists with automating onboarding and provisioning of resources as switches are installed, for example – while also providing smart insights into switch performance and service level expectations once the network’s up and running.

At the same time, wired infrastructure makes up only one part of any high-performing, high-flexibility network. Within the Juniper Mist solutions range, you’ll also find AI services for broader asset visibility, user engagement, and wireless deployment optimisation (known, unsurprisingly, as Wi-Fi assurance). The services work together in tandem in the one Juniper cloud platform, ensuring different components and facets of the network combine as a seamless whole – which ultimately means happier users and greater value for the organisation.

Plugging into Wired Assurance: what should I think about?

Network admins will find that Wired Assurance delivers especially large improvements when deployed for complex, multisite or large campus networks. If your network frequently faces unusual traffic patterns or requires remote troubleshooting and fixing (as with most multisite installations these days), you’ll find the visibility and insights of Wired Assurance to be particularly helpful. Those with fast-growing networks will also benefit from Wired Assurance’s one-touch functionality for switch provisioning, as well as its automated configuration models that help bring consistency and speed to larger rollouts.

One big question: does Wired Assurance work with non-Juniper hardware? The answer is both yes and no. You’ll need at least some degree of Juniper equipment installed in your networks – as always with proprietary platforms, the more the better.

Wired Assurance is designed to work best with Juniper’s wired EX switches, as well as the QFX5110 and QFX5120. If you’re already using or thinking of using these switches as the core of your network, installing Wired Assurance is practically a no-brainer. However, you can still take advantage of functions like key health metrics for all other vendors’ wired switches – as long as you’re pairing them with Mist access points and Marvis, the virtual network assistant that’s also part of the Mist Cloud. And Wired Assurance, like the rest of the Mist range, plugs into commonly-used platforms like ServiceNow and Splunk thanks to its set of APIs, meaning less disruption to existing workflows if you’re looking to integrate it.

If you’re already deploying some combination of Juniper wired switches and Mist access points, you’re likely to benefit substantially from Wired Assurance. Consider giving it a go with a 90-day free trial from Juniper, or email us at mist.presales@dickerdata.com.au to find out more about both the solution and the switches you’ll want to accompany it. Regardless of whether you choose Mist and Wired Assurance or not, now’s the best time to look at ways to untangle your wired infrastructure for more streamlined and reliable user experiences without the speedbumps. Rest assured that the investment’s worth it.