FEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS NEED A MISSION-FIRST NETWORK
Build an agile, resilient, secure network fabric to support offensive and defensive operations
Cyberwarfare has been described as the future of conflict between nations, whether that action is attacking another nation’s critical
infrastructure such as the power grid or Internet, using resources to hit military-specific targets such as weapons systems or R&D
programs, or stealing classified or top-secret information. Beyond offensive techniques, our nation needs cybersecurity experts to
defend against other nations and make sure that critical functions proceed unhindered.
The Challenge
During a conflict, it’s expected that both sides will employ offensive cyberwar measures to make it harder for their opponents’ commands and messages to
be received on the battlefield or for critical offensive and defensive systems to function. Commands and information that aren’t received in a timely manner can
lead to a breakdown of strategy and planning. Cyber operations require a strong, secure infrastructure, and a network that is
unable to avoid or repel attacks is an immediate disadvantage. But a conventional routed network, even when engineered for reliability and security, may not be
enough when it comes to the future of warfare.
A mission-first network is designed, implemented, and operated to adapt to the worst-case scenario. Commanders can modify network behavior as needed to
ensure freedom of maneuver and freedom of action. A drone strike, a missile launch, or communicating intelligence from the field depends on a mission-first network.
A mission-first network is in sharp contrast to how conventional networks support net-ready combat and mission operations. Today, network teams are all too familiar
with the painstaking, time-consuming work of modifying the network for each operation. Detailed information about IP addresses, access control lists, ports,
and protocols must be at their fingertips. Planning and making the necessary changes can take weeks or months, and network teams know that as more network
reconfigurations are required to achieve a designed outcome, the more likely they will create a network that is brittle and prone to failure.
The Juniper Networks Mission-First Network
Solution
The Juniper Networks mission-first network transforms the traditional ways of adapting the network to mission operations.
The result is a self-driving, intent-based network that is ready for net-enabled combat and mission requirements.
The foundation is the Juniper® Session Smart™ Router, which creates an advanced, service-centric network fabric that extends
from client to cloud. Together, the Session Smart Router and Juniper Session Smart Conductor create the agile, secure, and resilient
WAN connectivity that’s required for command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C2ISR)—and with
greater simplicity and operational efficiency than ever before. In a conventional routed network, packets are routed at Layer
3 OSI in a stateless fashion, which adds complexity and creates the requirement for tunnel-based transport to create capabilities
like SD-WAN.
The Session Smart Router is a new type of router which routes sessions at Layer 4+, rather than individual packets at Layer
3. Unlike a legacy SD-WAN approach, it does not use overlay tunnels and adds zero overhead. The Session Smart Router
transcends the inherent brittle architecture and uses network resources more efficiently than traditional routers.
The Session Smart Router’s tunnel-free architecture enables up to 75% reduction in headend infrastructure costs and a 15% to
50% reduction in bandwidth usage1, which is especially critical when conducting operations with degraded connectivity and
limited bandwidth.
Features and Benefits
A mission-first network is smart. The Session Smart Router realizes the vision of intent-based
networking. It is able to achieve this vision because it’s a “new” type of router.
With the Session Smart Router, the intent of mission planners and the data model used to configure the network and the desired
outcomes are aligned as closely as possible, enabling a new level of agility and control. The time-consuming, painstaking gap
between the planner’s intention and the network configuration is closed—all because sessions are routed statefully across the
fabric with end-to-end context, rather than routing packets as with a conventional routed network.
The Session Smart Router enables the creation of a simple, reliable, application-aware network fabric that meets the most
stringent performance, availability, and security requirements. Two unique control planes—the service-centric control plane
and the session-aware data plane—create an intent-based network that can be rapidly adapted to changing mission
requirements and environments. During cyber operations, leaders need to ensure freedom of maneuver2 and freedom of action while denying the enemy
the same. If cyber operations require immediate maneuvering in cyberspace or changing network posture or behavior
programmatically, the Session Smart Router makes it easy by routing sessions.
The Session Smart Router puts every session into context by
asking three fundamental questions:
• Who is the source of the traffic?
• What is the intended destination?
• How should the network behave?
If the “who” is allowed access to the “what,” then the Session Smart Router determines “how” the session should be escorted
to its destination in the most optimal way, based on the mission planner’s intent and the current state of the network. Global
policy definitions ensure consistency everywhere, and policies can be updated in just a few mouse clicks.
With tight alignment between the mission intent and network data model, the Session Smart Router understands how each
session is related to a user, device, or application, its intended destination, and if policy allows, how the traffic should be
escorted across the network. Policies are applied per session, not per tunnel, as with legacy SD-WAN solutions. Traffic can be
delivered across any type of IP connectivity, such as 5G, LTE, SATCOM, MPLS, mesh networks, or public Internet.
The result is a network that’s intelligent, adaptable, resilient, and secure. The Session Smart Router operates even when
disconnected from orchestration, giving remote operators the ability to modify network behavior, view analytics, and modify
configuration with the same local user interface and APIs.
This allows for full functionality even in denied, degraded, intermittent, or limited (DDIL) environments.