While discussing news topics with our team earlier this afternoon – CES (News - Alert) in Las Vegas, various AI-related stories, our own huge ITEXPO coming next month in Fort Lauderdale – our Group Editorial Director Erik Linask (News - Alert) addressed what is shaping up to be very big acquisition news, especially less than two weeks into the new year.

“This really is a major deal in the networking space,” Linask emphasized.

So, the coverage:

Two massive organizations – Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Juniper Networks – have officially announced a definitive agreement they’ve entered under which HPE will acquire Juniper as part of an enormous $14 billion megadeal.

As this evolves, the acquisition is expected to nearly double HPE’s networking business and bolster its already comprehensive portfolio with new opportunities to drive substantial business value. (This includes HPE’s edge-to-cloud strategy, now supercharged by AI-centric resources based on a foundational cloud-native infrastructure.) It also creates meaningful avenues for Juniper’s base of enterprise customers, service providers and tier-one cloud customers, as well.

Indeed, this is a highly complementary combination; at a glance, we’re talking enhanced security, unified cloud and AI-native networking, and accelerated long-term revenue growth. (To name a few.)

Upon closer inspection (i.e. another tactical angle, like Forbes’ analysis of the news), additional potential high-value outcomes to be generated from this acquisition include the following:

• HPE, after capitalizing on hybrid cloud-driven business demands and the undeniable proliferation of AI, will be in a better-equipped spot to tackle even more substantial trends (with networking as that ever-critical connective component).
   
• Consistently improving user and operator experiences – benefitting customers’ high-performance networks and cloud data centers – is a very achievable must.

• By combining HPE GreenLake and Juniper Mist AI, HPE and Juniper together will have what has been called “an exciting ability to offer NaaS to customers in an extremely comprehensive way.”

• Notably, HPE also innovates through high-end Ethernet networking, thanks to its acquisition of supercomputing company Cray in 2019. This gave HPE the “Rosetta” Slingshot ASIC that is, quote, “at the heart of many pre-exascale and exascale systems, these days.”

Surely, we could tack more onto that list; HPE Aruba-related benefits, Juniper’s other areas of expertise adding new dimensions to HPE’s offerings, more ins-and-outs of enterprise branch networking, how HPE could become a dynamic competitor against giants like Cisco (News - Alert), and so on. Having said that, we’re confident this is the first of many HPE + Juniper pieces we’ll excitedly share with you in the future.

In the words of HPE’s CEO, Antonio Neri:

“HPE’s acquisition of Juniper represents an important inflection point in the industry and will change the dynamics in the networking market and provide customers and partners with a new alternative that meets their toughest demands. This transaction will strengthen HPE’s position at the nexus of accelerating macro-AI trends, expand our total addressable market, and drive further innovation for customers as we help bridge the AI-native and cloud-native worlds, while also generating significant value for shareholders. I am excited to welcome Juniper’s talented employees to our team as we bring together two companies with complementary portfolios and proven track records of driving innovation within the industry.”

And in the words of Juniper Networks’ (News - Alert) CEO, Rami Rahim:

“Our multi-year focus on innovative secure AI-native solutions has driven Juniper Networks’ outstanding performance. We have successfully delivered exceptional user experiences and simplified operations. And so, by joining HPE, I believe we can accelerate the next phase of our journey. In addition, this combination maximizes value for our shareholders through a meaningful all-cash premium. We look forward to working with the talented HPE team to drive innovation for enterprise, service provider and cloud customers across all domains, including campus, branch, data center and the wide area network.”

Rahim also added, “HPE is a values-oriented and people-oriented company, like Juniper. In sharing a strong track record for sustainability, a focus on diversity and inclusion, and a deep-rooted passion for innovation, HPE is a natural partner for us in this next chapter.”