SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), a leader in secure, AI-Native Networks, today announced that it is providing KK Networks, one of the fastest growing internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Pakistan, with a scalable and resilient Cloud Metro network. The network will provide residential users with affordable internet access and an enhanced quality of experience, while also providing a sustainable services delivery platform for KK Networks (KKN). KKN is also expanding its offering with business-grade internet services using the transformed network. The new, robust Cloud Metro infrastructure will cover extensive areas of Lahore, Pakistan with plans to extend further over time.

The company has also upgraded its data centers with state-of-the-art automation software and secure, high-performance platforms from Juniper to streamline and optimize the design, deployment and operations of the network fabric. This will complement the Cloud Metro platform, further enhancing the overall user experience at scale.

KKN is a fast-growing internet service provider that has rapidly evolved to accommodate the surging demand in Pakistan for digital services. Following a four-fold increase in its user base in Lahore in just two years, KKN needed a robust metro network to handle the increasing demand on bandwidth which today serves 140000 residential customers and growing. Juniper’s Cloud Metro solution was chosen specifically to provide a platform that can scale alongside KKN’s continued traffic growth and support the distributed nature of its user base and therefore traffic patterns.

With its previous network, internet performance would often slow during peak hours. Frequent network congestion meant that subscribers’ internet connections would often drop. With a transformed metro network that keeps up with the pace and scale of demand, KKN can now deliver reliable internet connectivity with enhanced quality of experience for its subscribers. The company is continuing a high-growth trajectory with an opportunity to bring high-performance, differentiated internet services to thousands of homes and businesses in Pakistan.

KKN has an ongoing objective to help support and enhance the digital economy in Pakistan. Approximately half of the 230 million population is still without access to broadband internet services today, according to the Pakistan Telecom Authority. The Cloud Metro network from Juniper equips KKN to create reliable, high-quality digital connections that can improve economic opportunity, build a stronger community and foster better education. Juniper Cloud Metro’s compact and efficient system design enables KKN to deliver more energy-efficient operations. Additional to improving its own operational costs, this also bolsters its ability to offer affordable broadband for customers across the region.

News Highlights

· KKN deployed the Juniper Cloud Metro solution to scale capacity, improve resiliency and deliver low-latency user experiences for residential and business services.
· High-capacity Juniper ACX7100-32C Cloud Metro routers form the aggregation network, meeting KKN’s growth requirements with a compact, power-efficient design for operational efficiency.
· The Juniper ACX710 Universal Metro Router is used for the access layer. As a compact, hardened platform, the ACX710 can be deployed indoors or outdoors. Its high port density and small footprint allow KKN to support a higher number of customers efficiently. Lower energy consumption means KKN can deliver its services more sustainably.
· KKN also uses Juniper’s AI-driven, high-performance EX2300 Ethernet Switch to extend connectivity to its business customers. The cloud-ready EX switches are easy to onboard, configure and manage, ensuring quick and easy deployment for KKN’s business customers.
· KKN uses Juniper QFX5120 switches for the data center underlay network, EVPN-VXLAN for the overlay network and EX2300s to create a data center fabric that supports up to 100GbE interfaces. This enables the network to keep pace with customer demand for content delivery, voice, video and other bandwidth-hungry services.
· KKN plans to deploy Juniper Apstra™ intent-based networking software in its product roadmap, to automate and validate the design, deployment and operation of the data center fabric to ensure reliable operations. With multi-vendor support, Apstra will empower KKN to automate and manage networks across any data center location, vendor and topology.

Supporting Quotes

“KKN is determined to improve and expand internet services across Lahore, Pakistan, to ensure that our customers have the best digital experiences. With Juniper, our new Cloud Metro network has observed 99.9 per cent uptime, delivering an accessible, high-performance digital platform to 14 regions in Lahore. With this new low-latency, resilient network, KKN can continue to grow our customer base with confidence that residential and business customers can rely on great connectivity to a sustainable network that can handle the demand.”

- Imran Ali, CEO, KK Networks

“Juniper continuously strives to enable remarkable digital experiences for our customers’ users, and the Cloud Metro solution is a perfect example of our market-leading innovation, applying cloud principles to metro networks. KK Networks is undertaking a transformative journey, upgrading from a traditional “Retro Metro” that cannot keep up with demand for today’s digital services at scale, to Juniper’s high-performance Cloud Metro infrastructure that makes sustainable, future-proof business growth possible for service providers globally.”

- AE Natarajan, Executive Vice President, Juniper Networks