Go for Cisco or Juniper?

Hi networkers,
This may be a casual debate about networking. But let me explain my situation.
I work in a network integration company. We are Juniper Elite Partner (highest partnership tech program). We have a quite nice Juniper routing and security lab.
And we are also Cisco Premium Partner (first step of partnership). I'm studying for CCNP actually.
My boss suggested me to pursue Juniper certs in addition to my cisco studies. However I always was in "enterprise networks" and never tasted SP networks. Besides, I used to think that with Cisco certs, I have more job security than with Juniper. And I'm having CCIE in mind in the future.
What do you guys suggest?

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Comments

cisco_trooper

I know for fact that Sprint has a significant number of both products in their network. I know the may not help you much...just saying.

networker050184

If you work with both then go for both. Juniper certs are not as sought after as Cisco certs, but they definitely won't hurt with some solid experience backing them up. Especially if you want to work in a Juniper shop.

We only have about 5 - 10 Junipers in our network so the Juniper certs are on the back burner for me. Not really as good of a ROI IMO.

mikej412

ccnpninja wrote: »

My boss suggested me to pursue Juniper certs in addition to my cisco studies.

I agree with your boss

spaat

Most importantly, if your company is footing the bill, I would go for both. The emphasis would def be more towards Cisco though.

Forsaken_GA

Juniper has been gaining market share, it might be worth your time to do both, or at least grab the JNCIA that's appropriate to the machines you have in your shop

jryantech

Juniper is Mac and Cisco is Microsoft. Would you rather be cool and hip, or boring and business like?

On a serious note. I would probably pursue Juniper if I had interest in Networking since less people are ceritifed in it. But that being said there are less jobs with Juniper technologies then Cisco.

I would pursue both if you had the time. But you really would have to have no life to do such a thing in a good manner.

Forsaken_GA

sure, sure, build your OS on top of a BSD kernel, and all of a sudden your cool and hip

In all seriousness though, JunOS complements any unix based skills you may have as well.

I personally believe in gaining as much leverage as possible. While my main avenue of study is Cisco oriented, I'll probably pickup a JNCIA-M at some point as well. Demonstrating that your skill set is versatile only helps your resume

oo_snoopy

cisco_trooper wrote: »

I know for fact that Sprint has a significant number of both products in their network. I know the may not help you much...just saying.

Huh?

Sprints IP-Core is 100% cisco.

the_Grinch

I've found a lot of places use Cisco and then Netscreen so maybe go for that?

cisco_trooper

oo_snoopy wrote: »

Huh?

Sprints IP-Core is 100% cisco.

Are you saying I imagined the 100 or so M40e and M10i I configured?

There is quite a bit more to a network than just a core.

APA

cisco_trooper wrote: »

Are you saying I imagined the 100 or so M40e and M10i I configured?

There is quite a bit more to a network than just a core.

spot on!

I work for a SP in Aus....We use 100% Cisco core.... and previously had 100% Cisco Metro Transmission (DSL Network)....

However we are just starting our Juniper MX4xx series roll out within our Metro Network for VPLS

so this part of our network will now be cisco\juniper(50/50)

I've been very cisco centric with my studies recently... but realise even more now that to become a valuable asset to the company I need to branch out and get some Juniper experience\quals under my belt.

I agree with your Boss... but you can only do so much at one time.... personally myself I'm going to finish off the Cisco Pro certs I have set goals for, then as I'm studying for CCIE... I'll dabble arround with JNCIA, JNCIP....

I have no plans to rush my CCIE as I want to take in and store as much as possible into long term mem!!!!! so dabbling with Juniper in the mean time will not mess with my study time too much I hope

arwes

A friend that works at CenturyTel's NOC (8th largest LEC in the US) tells me they're transitioning from Cisco to Juniper for their routers. He doesn't know exactly why though, he just works in network surveillance and they don't get told much other than don't fall asleep.

oo_snoopy

cisco_trooper wrote: »

Are you saying I imagined the 100 or so M40e and M10i I configured?

There is quite a bit more to a network than just a core.

I know Sprint has some juniper gear, but I'm I don't think it's fair to say they have significant amount of Juniper gear when the largest IP networks they run are Cisco and Nortel.

What network did you install the M40e and M10i's for?

Oh and to answers the OP's question. I would do both, maybe take both to mid level.

cisco_trooper

oo_snoopy wrote: »

I know Sprint has some juniper gear, but I'm I don't think it's fair to say they have significant amount of Juniper gear when the largest IP networks they run are Cisco and Nortel.

I don't think it's fair to say it's 100% Cisco at the same time you know they have Juniper gear.

The Juniper gear I was involved with was for all the EVDO and IP Backhaul markets for the CDN.

oo_snoopy

cisco_trooper wrote: »

I don't think it's fair to say it's 100% Cisco at the same time you know they have Juniper gear.

The Juniper gear I was involved with was for all the EVDO and IP Backhaul markets for the CDN.

I said Sprints IP Core aka "Sprintlink" is 100% Cisco, which it is. I wold say for Sprints major IP networks, it's around 75% cisco, 10% Juniper, 10% Nortel, and 5% misc.

Again for OP As for other Tier I ISP's and what they run that I know.

Global Crossing is mostly Juniper with some cisco and foundry.
Level 3 has a lot of Juniper (not sure how much much)
ATT has Cisco CSR in their cores (around 40 of them iirc)

Forsaken_GA

arwes wrote: »

A friend that works at CenturyTel's NOC (8th largest LEC in the US) tells me they're transitioning from Cisco to Juniper for their routers. He doesn't know exactly why though, he just works in network surveillance and they don't get told much other than don't fall asleep.

A very large part of the decision to start employing Juniper gear is the cost. Cisco comes at a premium, and Cisco sales reps are all about the dollar. They'll do anything to make a sale, including lie about their competitors and their products.

When we decided to upgrade our distribution switches, we had Cisco, Juniper, and Force 10 in. The Juniper and Force10 reps were polite, respectful, and honest. We ended up going with Force10 because they gave us a *very* good deal on a pair of E1200's and they've performed fine. Since then, we've also deployed some S-series switches on the edge, and they beat the snot out of the equivalent Cisco gear.

Cisco is still top tier (we still run Cisco devices in the core and at the majority of the edge), but you pay for it, and the competition has grown up to the point where they can compete. I think Cisco realizes this too, and is a large part of their decision to push into other markets.

oo_snoopy

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

A very large part of the decision to start employing Juniper gear is the cost. Cisco comes at a premium, and Cisco sales reps are all about the dollar. They'll do anything to make a sale, including lie about their competitors and their products.

When we decided to upgrade our distribution switches, we had Cisco, Juniper, and Force 10 in. The Juniper and Force10 reps were polite, respectful, and honest. We ended up going with Force10 because they gave us a *very* good deal on a pair of E1200's and they've performed fine. Since then, we've also deployed some S-series switches on the edge, and they beat the snot out of the equivalent Cisco gear.

Cisco is still top tier (we still run Cisco devices in the core and at the majority of the edge), but you pay for it, and the competition has grown up to the point where they can compete. I think Cisco realizes this too, and is a large part of their decision to push into other markets.

I think it's worth pointing out that Juniper has had "Carrier Grade" gear routers for quite some time, while Cisco only recently released a "Carrier Grade" router, with a huge cost to boot.