HPE – Juniper Acquisition Finalized After US Approval

A Hewlett Packard Enterprise deal to buy Juniper Networks for $14 billion closed two days after the US Department of Justice granted approval. HPE has thus doubled the size of its networking business.

HPE president and CEO Antonio Neri and former Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim provided insight into integration efforts and the possible future impact of the combined entity. The combination positions HPE to capture more of the growing AI and hybrid cloud market by creating a cloud-native and AI-driven IT portfolio, including a full, modern networking stack. The company will reach large adjacent markets, including data centres, firewalls, and routers.

“We will have an organisation that integrates at the functional level and obviously at the business unit level, which obviously has the engineering, the product management, all the typical types of activities,” Neri said. “And at the corporate function level, the Juniper team will be integrated into the HPE corporate structure.” The plan is to offer a full networking stack, which includes hardware, silicon, the operating system, software, services, AI for networks, and vice versa.

“We’re not just building a stronger company. We are establishing an industry powerhouse with vision, scale, and innovation to define and lead the future, one that will serve our customers and partners better than ever,” Neri explained. Rahim is now the president and GM of the combined networking business, which includes HPE Networking, HPE Juniper Networking, and HPE Aruba Networking. “My objective here as the leader of this combined networking business is to build the best networking business on the planet, one that’s founded in innovation. And we plan on doing this first by starting to focus on our customers and partners.”