Ericsson, Juniper form mobile data JV

(Telephony) Ericsson and Juniper Networks have agreed to form a joint venture that will combine products and technologies from both companies for GPRS and third generation mobile Internet routing products. The companies expect to finalize the deal in the first quarter of 2001.

According to Scott Kriens, chairman and CEO of Juniper, Ericsson will act as the exclusive distributor for the yet unnamed venture, which will address a $10 billion market by 2003.

“We expect the investment between the companies to be in the $50 million range,” with Ericsson owning 60% to Juniper’s 40%, said Kriens.

Beyond fiscal commitments, though, both will contribute existing products from their respective portfolios. The CEO will come from Ericsson, the chief operating officer from Juniper, and the board from both companies.

For the creation of new products, Juniper will contribute technology and intellectual property in the realms of routing and Internet software, with Ericsson contributing for mobile IP.

These new products, the first of which should ship in 2001, will support IPv6 and will scale to millions of sessions, Kriens said.

Kriens predicts that over the next few years various mobile devices will converge into a single device. This convergence will complicate wireless data, requiring in-depth infrastructure knowledge from the areas addressed by these two companies, each heavyweights in their respective fields.

“The services we’re out to offer here are the infrastructure and the sophistication behind it necessary to differentiate the traffic [resulting] from the advances that we’re going to see in applications used by consumers. This is what really drives the operators to need solutions like this,” he said.