SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), a leader in secure, AI-driven networks, today announced the winners of the 2021 Elevate Awards, honoring customers delivering exceptional experiences to their consumers and communities. Customers around the world were recognized in eight categories: AI Innovation, Community Impact, Customer First, Data Center of the Future, Game-Changing WAN, Lean IT Machine, Security Excellence and Service Provider Transformation. The selection process involved a combination of Juniper executive and external judges selecting the finalists and category winners.

“Juniper’s customers are literally changing the world, from advancing COVID-19 drug research and discovery, to bringing internet to the Navajo Nation, providing exceptional patient care, educating today’s youth and even conquering cancer with data and AI,” said Rami Rahim, CEO at Juniper Networks. “Stories like those from our Elevate Award winners inspire us to develop solutions and offer services that help our customers transform, enable business success and deliver superior customer experiences.”

The winner in AI Innovation is Northeast Georgia Health System, one of Healthcare’s Most Wired Hospitals that improves health outcomes for over one million patients with AI-driven networking.

For Community Impact, winner Sacred Wind Communications built a network that could handle more customers, provide greater capacity and expand E911 services during the pandemic. This allowed the company to meet the tight funding deadline set by the CARES Act. With committed action across both teams, Sacred Wind had everything it needed to upgrade its network and bring the digital world to homes and businesses on the Navajo Nation.

In the Customer First category, a self-driving network enables winner University of Reading to create innovative digital services that support student engagement and academic success.

The winner in Data Center of the Future, T-Systems, reimagined operations of its cloud-scale data centers with continuous network automation and assurance, empowering its data center operators to make network infrastructure changes based on customer requirements faster, more efficiently and with lower risk.

The Game-Changing WAN category honors organizations architecting transformative wide-area network environments, and winner Discovery Inc. can serve live media to audiences anywhere in the world with a single connection to its private global network.

The Lean IT Machine category recognizes companies delivering huge results despite small teams, like winner First Bank. This family-owned independent bank reimagined data center operations with continuous automation and assurance to deliver improved customer experiences to businesses and individuals.

The winner of Security Excellence, GARR, was honored for proactively addressing cyber challenges. Service automation allows GARR to quickly meet the evolving network needs of Italy’s education, research and cultural institutions.

In the Service Provider Transformation category, winner Millicom accelerates Latin America’s digital transition with a flexible network for its telco cloud.

Finalists across all categories include 2degrees, Akamai, Aston Martin, CMC Networks, DRN ReadiTech, DQE Communications, Guardant Health, Hospital for Special Surgery, Momentum Telecom, Orange Egypt, Plusnet, SambaNova Systems, State of Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), ThunderCat Technology, University of Cyprus and ZF Group.

To learn more about Juniper’s Elevate Awards and its honorees, visit the Juniper website here.