Juniper drops a line of cable gear

Juniper Networks said Monday it will stop making its G-series line of cable network equipment.

The network gear maker will instead co-market similar cable modem termination systems (CMTS) made by rival Arris Group, Juniper said in its announcement. Some 65 Juniper employees will be laid off as a result, said Paula Reinman, Juniper's corporate marketing director.

The deal promises to intensify the battle between Arris, Cisco Systems and ADC Telecommunications over selling CMTS, which cable providers use to shuttle video, broadband and telephone calls to thousands of customers at a time.

In the first quarter of 2003, Arris was the No. 2 seller of CMTS gear, which is sandwiched between market leader Cisco and No. 3 ADC, according to industry analysts Infonetics Research.

Juniper?s partnership with Arris ends its two-year effort to make and sell its own CMTS. To enter the market, Juniper bought Pacific Broadband Communications (PBC) for about $200 million. PBC?s line of CMTS products became Juniper?s G-series.

Juniper promised to continue providing support for any existing G-series products through 2007, when the service contracts will expire. The support will include "repair or replacement of faulty hardware," according to the Juniper statement.