‘Our Mist AI native networking platform—it’s that gateway into predictable as-a-service growth because that for me is the future and what customers are looking for, and our technology just plays so well into that. … If you think about managed services and you think about the role partners could play in that, it’s really, really huge,’ says Gordon Mackintosh, senior vice president of the Juniper partner organization and commercial sales.
Despite a looming potential $14 billion acquisition, Juniper Networks is staying on pace and won’t be “distracted,” according to Global Channel Chief Gordon Mackintosh.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise in January revealed plans to buy Juniper in a megadeal that has culminated in a court battle against the U.S. Department of Justice that begins July 9, with the DOJ suing to block the deal. While both Juniper and HPE are committed to vigorously defending and completing the transaction, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based networking specialist is staying the course with partners and customers in the meantime, Mackintosh told CRN.
That’s because two big opportunities are right in front of the company and its channel community: “AI for networking and networking for AI,” the channel chief said. To that end, Juniper refreshed its industry-leading, AI-native networking platform, Juniper Mist, last month. The platform has resulted in 90 percent fewer customer tickets and 85 percent lower delivery costs on average, the company said. Despite macroeconomic challenges and a potential acquisition, partners are investing more right now in Juniper, driven by its AI-driven networking offerings, Mackintosh said.
CRN caught up with Mackintosh, senior vice president of the Juniper partner organization and commercial sales, about the company’s recent product developments, partner program updates, and opportunities in the campus, AI data center and managed services that should be on partners’ radars.
Here’s what he had to say.
How is the Juniper Mist platform expanding the managed services play for partners?
We just [refreshed] our Mist AI networking platform, which is eventually going to be across the entire Juniper portfolio. Why I’m really excited about it is because I think it’s going to be a gateway to very scalable, predictable as-a-service growth for the partners. What I’m hearing right now from the partners—we just had a couple of Partner Advisory Councils—is that obviously customers are looking to do more with less. We’re seeing partners wanting to drive up the valuation of their businesses as well by moving to more of the as-a-service model, and the proliferation of AI really just lends itself to that managed service model. So, as I look forward, that’s something that we’re going to really get more and more focused on with the partners, and we’re going to use our foundation and framework that we’ve been building over the last few years successfully to enable the partners even more so in that space.
There’s this perfect storm in the market where customers are looking to partners to do more in managing the network, to consume as a service. Partners are looking to shift to that delivery model for a variety of different reasons. The [Mist] platform is the easiest to deploy, easiest to manage, and can deliver more outcomes to the customer because it has an open API, cloud microservices infrastructure, so the partners can build a lot of additional services around it. Just to give you a couple of stats, our deployments so far result in 90 percent fewer tickets for the customer and 85 percent lower delivery costs, so it’s a dream ticket for managed services where partners are being held accountable to outcomes.
Juniper saw enterprise growth last year and a strong first quarter in 2025. What has growth been like through the channel?
Juniper has been doing really well. We [had] 28 percent product growth in FY 2024. We had a record-breaking year for enterprise, with partners now at 80 [percent] to 90 percent of the enterprise business. Really significant growth in partner-initiated deal registration as well. We’ve been keeping the partner program really consistent. We’ve been continuing to build on that simple, predictable, profitable partner program [with] rebates [and] keeping it simple in terms of positioning what partners need to do to meet the variety of different specializations. [We have a] very strong back-end incentive program. We just launched a new $10,000 proof-of-concept bounty SPIF and then individual seller SPIFs as well because what we’re seeing is just an incredible hit rate on proofs of concept—we’re winning more than 90 percent, so we’re working with the partners so that they can open doors, and then we reward them financially—the business, the sellers and the presales team.
I’d say that it’s kind of gotten to a bit of a tipping point. Last [year] there was high interest from the partners in Juniper, in particular, Mist and also in the AI data center space. But I’d say now that interest has turned from, ‘OK, let’s build practices and invest together,’ and has pivoted much more to execution. The conversation is not really around, ‘Why build a Juniper practice?’ It’s around, ‘How can we rapidly expand that Juniper practice?’ So, we’re putting a lot of focus on enablement [and] incentives. We’re doubling down on our Elite Plus Program, which has been really successful. Our Elite Plus partners are growing three times faster than the rest of the partner community. Our Champions community [last year] was maybe 3,000 to 4,000 people and is now over 7,000 in that community. It’s really now about enablement incentives because while we’ve had incredible growth, we still have a lot of addressable market out there that we can go after [and] we’re really getting focused on the white space.
How does Juniper’s AI networking strategy stand up to the competition from networking rivals like Cisco?
We’re rated No. 1 by Gartner in the wired and wireless space. We just moved into the Leader Quadrant for data center switching as well. We’ve been at AI-driven networking now for a long period of time. We acquired Mist about five years ago [and] that true, AI-native, cloud microservices infrastructure is positioning us as No. 1. It’s really matured and we feel like we’re two to three years ahead of our competition at the moment. I think our results, customers and the analysts really testify to that.
In terms of staying ahead, [we’re] taking that Mist magic secret formula and extending it across the whole portfolio. So if partners are looking to deliver a managed service, as an example, they’re using the same technology for all parts of our portfolio.
How big is the AI data center opportunity for Juniper partners?
The AI data center opportunity is very real. We’ve had some big wins already. Our technology is very applicable in that space, so we see tremendous opportunities. I think we’re going to see some of the biggest networks that the world has ever seen being built out over the next few years in order to enable AI in a variety of different use cases. We’re in the middle of a lot of that, and at the same time, we’re obviously still seeing tremendous success in other areas, like campus and branch and security. That continues to grow at the edge of the network as well. The two distinct opportunities, really, are AI for networks and networks for AI.
What do you want partners to know, given there is the potential for Juniper to be acquired soon?
I can’t comment on the DOJ remarks, but what I would say is what’s going to remain constant is our commitment to the channel and accelerating growth, particularly in the enterprise space, through the channel given the amount of business that we do together, with a real focus on enabling partners to take advantage of this shift toward as-a-service and to leverage our Mist AI native networking platform. It’s that gateway into predictable as-a-service growth, because that for me is the future and what customers are looking for, and our technology just plays so well into it that. There’s obviously upside for the customers, with great upside for the partners as well. Juniper is really on a journey toward self-driving networking. If you think about managed services and you think about the role partners could play in that, it’s really, really huge. At the end of the day, if you’re delivering managed services to customers, you’re governed by SLAs and things have to work. It has to be an amazing service. And that’s exactly what Mist can deliver.
How are macroeconomic issues impacting business for Juniper right now?
The macroeconomic environment is changing a lot. We’ve taken an approach with our partners to be direct and open with our communications, making sure that we’re talking to them regularly about it. But I think, generally, and given our results and our performance, particularly in enterprise and with our channel partners, when I look at our deal registration and partner-initiated numbers, we’re doing extremely well. There’s just this sense now that we’ve reached a tipping point [with partners] and they’re investing more and more into Juniper, so I don’t see any apprehension. I think they believe in our technology, they believe in the value that we have to them and to the customers, and they’re continuing to invest with us.
