Juniper Networks has become the latest vendor to address the problem of mobile network congestion caused by surging smartphone data traffic. According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, the US network gear firm is set to announce new software at next week’s GSMA Mobile World Congress. The offerings are designed to divert non-essential mobile traffic, optimise the network to improve the delivery of video, and ease the way to upgrade to next-generation mobile technology (LTE). The new focus is likely to increase competition in the mobile space between Juniper and its great rival Cisco, which recently acquired Starent Networks to bolster its own mobile infrastructure services. “What was a convenience is turning into frustration with the experience,” said Juniper’s Kim Perdikou with regards to the rise in bandwidth-heavy smartphones. “You need to be able to deliver, or you’ll get a customer rebellion on your hands.”

According to Dow Jones Newswires, Juniper announced last October that it was working on routers and software specifically geared for handling large volumes of traffic across mobile networks. The project – dubbed Project Falcon – marks a new area for the firm, which had previously concentrated on network backbone and backhaul services. Perdikou said that many of the world’s largest operators, most of which are already Juniper customers, have already expressed an interest in the new offerings, though he did not reveal the costs involved.