Basis of Presentation (Notes)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation [Text Block]

Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Description of Business

Juniper Networks, Inc (the “Company” or “Juniper”) designs, develops, and sells products and services that together provide customers with a high-performance network infrastructure built on simplicity, security, openness, and scale. The Company serves the high-performance networking requirements of global service providers, enterprises, governments, and research and public sector organizations that view the network as critical to their success.

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements, which include the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”). All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned a 60 percent interest in a joint venture with Nokia Siemens Networks B.V. (“NSN”). Given the Company's majority ownership interest in the joint venture, the accounts of the joint venture have been consolidated with the accounts of the Company, and a noncontrolling interest has been recorded for the noncontrolling investor's interests in the net assets and operations of the joint venture. In July 2011, NSN and the Company entered into an agreement to cease operation of and terminate the joint venture and subsequently NSN has assumed the activities of the joint venture. The Company is in the process of winding down this joint venture and the termination of this joint venture is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations.

Foreign Currency Translations

Assets and liabilities of foreign operations with non-U.S. Dollar functional currency are translated to U.S. Dollars using exchange rates in effect at the end of the period. Revenue and expenses are translated to U.S. Dollars using average exchange rates for the period. Foreign currency translation gains and losses were not material for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Reclassifications

In the first quarter of 2010, the Company reclassified certain selling and marketing costs that were previously reported as cost of service revenues as sales and marketing expense. Accordingly, $25.1 million of costs reported in the year ended December 31, 2009, have been reclassified from cost of service revenues to sales and marketing expense to conform to the current period's presentation. The reclassification did not impact the Company's previously reported net revenues, segment results, operating income, net income, or earnings per share.