Official announcements by Juniper, which came through this week, confirmed that the company is all set to acquire partner Ankeena Networks, which is a privately held manufacturer of software for optimizing media content delivery. The deal will cost Juniper a whopping $100 Million.

The second-largest, and one of the top-ranked manufacturers of networking equipment, Juniper Networks Inc. has reportedly agreed to shell out a payment of $169 Million, in order to effectively settle a shareholder lawsuit which was filed by the New York pension funds and other investors, mainly over backdated stock options.

Chief Executive of Juniper Networks Inc., Kevin Johnson, has declared that the company is now open to acquisitions. In-house research and partnerships, however, will continue to remain the firm's main priorities.

The network equipment sector thus far had shown some resilience to the economic downturn, but not any more! The fourth-quarter results of Juniper Networks Inc, and the company's outlook for 2009, clearly indicate a slowdown in technology spending.