Customer Success Story
Syntrio delivers fast, secure digital services with Texas friendliness
Santa Rosa Communications first brought phone service to Texas farmers and ranchers in the 1950s. With two acquisitions of wireless companies, Pinnacle Network Solutions, and managed service provider, PCnet, the company exemplifies innovation. Still locally owned and operated, but now called Syntrio, the company serves the digital needs of homes and businesses across North Texas and Southern Oklahoma.
The area, known as Texoma, is attracting residents from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and new businesses. Syntrio, which relies on Juniper Networks® from customer premises to core, is primed for growth.
73
Years of operation
4,500
Square-mile service area
Critical
Applications run safely
Locally
Owned and operated
Modern digital services with friendly neighborhood service
“Security is where we start,” says Seth Tabor, CTO of Syntrio. “Taking a security-first approach helps us deliver services more efficiently to our residential and business customers.”
Tabor has led a multiyear effort to build out a state-of-the-art fiber network to support the delivery of a growing portfolio of residential and business services, including voice, Internet, managed IT services, and commercial Wi-Fi, all with friendly, local customer service.
Security has always been a critical part of the network design, and Syntrio wanted to scale up to next-generation protection as the global cybersecurity situation has underscored the need to deliver secure network services to homes and businesses in Texas and Oklahoma.
“We have seen severity and sophistications of cyberattacks get worse over time,” says Tabor.
An agile, threat-aware network
Syntrio leverages Juniper Networks MX Series Universal Routing Platforms in its core network, Juniper Networks ACX Series Universal Metro Routers for access and aggregation, Juniper Networks QFX Series Switches in its data centers, and AI-driven wireless in its commercial Wi-Fi offering. Most recently, Syntrio deployed Juniper Networks SRX Series Firewalls with Advanced Threat Prevention to protect its network and data center.
“Visibility is part of our security-first approach,” says Tabor. “If we can’t see what’s happening on our systems and network, then we can’t control and protect it.”
Syntrio’s network is highly segmented, giving the network operations team the visibility and control they need to deliver on service levels while reducing security risks.
“With Juniper, we have best-of-breed firewalls with massive flexibility to microsegment the network the way we want,” he says.
The SRX4100, SRX4200, and SRX4600 platforms provide next-generation firewall features, including intrusion prevention system (IPS), application security, user ID and role-based access controls, and content security. Advanced Threat Prevention delivers comprehensive threat defenses with malware detection that includes discovering threats hidden in encrypted traffic, threat profiling, and SecIntel feeds.
Ready for Texas-sized growth
Syntrio is poised to meet growing customer demand as the Texoma area attracts people looking for room to spread out or jobs in semiconductor manufacturing, distribution centers, and business services.
Syntrio delivers a growing portfolio of residential and enterprise services over its MPLS network. Juniper firewalls protect Syntrio’s operations and business support systems and other applications in its data center. Microsegmentation helps Syntrio protect against software supply chain risks, whether it is using automation with open-source tooling or commercial applications.
The programmability and open APIs of a Juniper network also help Syntrio run its network more efficiently. “We have so many awesome automation opportunities with a Juniper network that are fundamental to our ability to grow,” says Tabor.
Finding talented network engineers is difficult even in big cities, but Tabor is a big believer in developing talent locally. Juniper’s training and certification programs have helped him attract and retain skilled staff. “Every dollar we spend on employee development is paid back in spades,” he says.
The Products
SRX4100
SRX4100 is a high-performance, low-latency, next-generation firewall for small and mid-sized enterprise campuses and data centers, and regional headquarters.
SRX4200
SRX4200 is a high-performance, low-latency, next-generation firewall for small and midsized enterprise campuses and data centers, and regional headquarters.
SRX4600
SRX4600 is a next-generation firewall that protects mission-critical data
center and campus networks for enterprises, service providers, and cloud providers.
MX204
The SDN-enabled MX204 Universal Routing Platform provides a modular, automated, carrier-grade solution for service providers and enterprises. The compact platform brings 400 Gbps capacity and a full feature set to space and power constrained environments.
MX480
The SDN-enabled MX480 Universal Routing Platform offers unprecedented scale for service provider and cloud applications, enabling the delivery of advanced business and residential multi-service edge services. The MX480 Universal Routing Platform delivers 7.5 Tbps of system capacity that supports inline MACsec without performance penalties for 10/40/100 GbE interfaces. It is also a carrier-grade platform with extensive automation capabilities.
MX960
The SDN-enabled MX960 Universal Routing Platform is a high performance, carrier-grade, multiservice edge platform with unprecedented scale for service provider and cloud applications. The MX960 enables inline MACsec support without performance penalties on 10, 40 GbE and 100 GbE, and delivers 12 Tbps of system capacity in a 12 slot chassis supporting dense 100 GbE, 400 GbE interfaces. Similar to the other MX Series Universal Router Platforms, the MX960 has extensive carrier-grade capabilities.
QFX5100
The QFX5100 line of top-of-rack 10/40GbE switches for the data center offers low latency, deployment versatility, and rich automation features. These switches provide universal building blocks for industry-standard architectures such as spine-and-leaf fabrics.
QFX5110
QFX5110 10/40GbE switches offer flexible deployment options and rich automation features for data center and campus deployments that require low-latency Layer 2/Layer 3 features and advanced EVPN-VXLAN capabilities. The QFX5110 provides universal building blocks for industry-standard architectures such as spine-and-leaf fabrics.
QFX5120
The QFX5120 line offers 1/10/25/40/100GbE switches designed for data center, data center edge, data center interconnect and campus deployments with requirements for low-latency Layer 2/Layer 3 features and advanced EVPN-VXLAN capabilities.
ACX1000
The ACX1000 is a 1U fanless router with eight T1/E1 interfaces, eight copper GbE ports, and four copper/fiber GbE ports. It is ideal for enterprise and service provider cabinet and tower deployments.
AP12
The AP12 access point integrates Mist AI for AX capabilities to automate network operation and boost Wi-Fi performance.
AP43
The Juniper AP43 high-performance Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) access point integrates patented virtual Bluetooth® LE (vBLE) and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to deliver an unprecedented user experiences.
EX2300
The EX2300 Ethernet Switch delivers a compact, high-density, cost-effective solution for small network environments where space and power are at a premium.
EX4300
The EX4300 line of Ethernet switches are compact, fixed-configuration platforms that satisfy a variety of high-performance campus and data center access needs.
Wireless (Wi-Fi) Assurance
Driven by Mist AI and machine learning, the Juniper Mist Wireless Assurance cloud service automates troubleshooting and operations, making wireless networks predictable, reliable, and measurable while providing near-real-time visibility into user service levels.
Advanced Threat Prevention
The threat intelligence hub for the network, with a litany of built-in advanced threat services that use the power of AI and machine learning to detect attacks and optimize enforcement. Juniper ATP protects against known and unknown threats, assesses and verifies device and IoT risk, and analyzes encrypted traffic.
Published April 2023