Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming HPE Juniper Networks and MUK representatives to our office for two days of technical training, architecture discussions, and a first close look at the Juniper MX301. It was great meeting with Iryna Voblaia, Matvey Alexandrov, and Andrii Kostretskyi.
Two Days of Juniper Technical Training
The two days were filled with insightful discussions and technical training sessions led by Matvey. Our team had the chance to stay fully aligned with the latest Juniper technologies, implementation guides, and design practices across the platforms our engineers run daily.
A Closer Look at the Juniper MX301
The highlight on the hardware side was the Juniper MX301, one of the newest additions to the MX Series. We appreciated the opportunity to explore its architecture, performance, and operational capabilities in detail, from the forwarding capacity and port density to how it fits the aggregation and edge roles where we typically design MX platforms for the ISPs and data center operators we support. For a team that operates MX routers in production every day, getting implementation guidance on a new platform directly from the people behind it, before the first deployment conversation with a client, is exactly the point of sessions like this.
A large part of the value came from MUK, the distributor that brought the HPE Juniper team in and helped shape the agenda around how we actually work. Rather than a generic product walkthrough, the sessions leaned into the operational side: validating configurations, reading platform behavior under load, and the troubleshooting workflow an on-call engineer follows when something at the edge misbehaves at three in the morning. That is the difference between a demo and real enablement. When a platform like this later shows up in a customer network we monitor, our NOC has already seen how it behaves and where to look first.
It is also why we keep investing in this kind of training. The platforms we study in a lab are the same ones we design and operate for customers, so the depth carries straight into our network design and architecture work for ISPs and data centers. Vendor certifications and hands-on time are not a box to tick for us. They are what lets an engineer troubleshoot a live Juniper MX301 edge without guessing, which is a large part of why customers trust us with networks we did not originally build.
Showcasing HORA, Our AI NetOps Agent
We were also proud to showcase HORA, our NetOps AI agent, built and battle-tested in our own NOC. It was rewarding to demonstrate the progress we achieved in such a short time, especially through features like:
- Automated root cause analysis with a success rate near ninety five percent
- A simple conversational interface that allows you to interact with the network
- Complete BGP visualization with intelligent best path optimization based on latency, jitter and packet loss
- Clear L3 topology and flow visualization that can be queried directly through chat
Demonstrating AI network operations to an audience of Juniper engineers is a useful stress test. The questions are technical, specific, and immediate, and HORA held up well.
Beyond the Sessions
At the same time, it was the perfect moment for a small chess rematch. Thank you Nicolae Musteata for holding the line for the ITcare team and delivering a very balanced game against an excellent player, Matvey Alexandrov.
We also had the chance to meet with one of our clients during the visit. Although we cannot share more due to NDA, we look forward to sharing updates soon.
The visit ended with a wonderful dinner that made the two days even more special. Thank you again for visiting us. It is always a pleasure to welcome you and we look forward to seeing you next time.
