Juniper Networks has created a software development kit (SDK) that will allow third-party application developers to create applications for the router vendor’s Junos operating system.

Juniper is licensing the SDK—which it says includes “intelligent and secure interfaces to Junos routing and service functions”—to select partners including Aricent and Avaya. The applications they create can then be downloaded into Juniper’s routers.

In a research note, IDC analyst Eve Griliches praised the move as “something no router vendor has ever done before.”

“In the past, if a service provider wanted to offer a new service, like anti-virus protection, they would have to add a specific hardware blade into the router, which only works on one anti-virus application,” Griliches said. “Not only is the provider dependent on the investment of the blade cost, but also the choice the router vendor made for the anti-virus application is unchangeable.”

Third-party developers will give carriers more choice in applications, she said, and it will also encourage carriers to try new applications without having to place big bets on them. “If an application doesn't take off, it can be removed and another one downloaded,” she said.

“Should a major security or delivery platform application come to market, in most cases providers would have to wait until the vendors support one form of it, release it in software, and put it on a hardware blade,” Griliches said. “In this case, all that's needed is the [application program interface (API)] from Juniper, a partner for the application, and a new service can be offered.”

Juniper won’t say how many developers are currently involved in the program, though the company expects to add new members over time. However, for the sake of security and quality assurance, the vendor plans to keep the program on an invitation-only basis for the foreseeable future. “The actual licensing [of the SDK] is the last step in a multi-phase process that includes determining the exact nature of the collaboration, engineering and development and go-to-market planning,” a Juniper spokesperson told Telephony today.

In a statement released by Juniper, Tom Nolle, president and Chief Executive Officer of CIMI, a telecom consultancy, said, “The decision to open a router [operating system] is a bold move that can be made only by a vendor with a long history of stability, security, and straightforward standardized releases.”