Juniper Networks unveiled its Contrail Enterprise Multicloud, which was designed to enable end-to-end control across underlying devices in data center infrastructures as well as policy control overlay from a single command center.  

Contrail Enterprise Multicloud is a software package that helps enterprise data centers manage workloads across multi-vendor environments through orchestration and analytics. The new offering allows Juniper to position itself as a more open alternative to Cisco's ACI and VMware's NSX.  

"Cisco has the depth of capability, but they are decidedly Cisco-focused," said Michael Bushong, Juniper's vice president of enterprise cloud marketing in an email to FierceTelecom. "In fact, it’s difficult for incumbent players to drive multi-vendor solutions as it weakens their incumbent position while promoting competitors. NSX is really an overlay management and microsegmentation solution. It does not do any of the underlay management."  

In addition to working with multiple vendors, Contrail Enterprise Multicloud also enables policy and control capabilities across private, public and hybrid cloud deployments. Juniper said it leveraged open interfaces and standard protocols to support the multi-vendor environments.