Alcatel-Lucent this week at Interop will flesh out its data center fabric vision with 40G Ethernet and higher-density 10G Ethernet capabilities on its core switches, as well as enhanced software for its top-of-rack and core switches.

Juniper this week unveiled new and enhanced products designed to secure mobile device access to enterprise networks.

Juniper said this week it has acquired Mykonos Software, a provider of website and web application security software, for $80 million.

R.K. Anand, executive vice president and general manager of Juniper Networks' Data Center Business Unit, was employee No. 12 of the network startup back in 1996, leaving a job as a microprocessor designer at Sun Microsystems. Years later he left Juniper for a brief stint at another startup, but came back to help finalize the company's QFabric product and get it out the door. QFabric began shipping in September 2011. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently caught up with Anand at the company's headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., for a deep dive on the company's answer to high-end data center demands.

Juniper Networks' challenges are due to timing with new product rollouts and shifts in investments from customers and channel partners.

Servers get most of the glory when it comes to energy management, but networking gear is about to catch up.