Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is in the process of acquiring networking vendor Juniper Networks for around $13 billion, according to US reports.
The deal, first covered by the Wall Street Journal, and then followed up by Reuters, would, if completed, be HPE’s biggest acquisition since its ill-fated capture of Autonomy in 2011 for $11 billion.
Ironically, the “intelligence” billed around Autonomy’s data management and analytics products was the reason it was bought, but it didn’t lead to many extra sales. And now, the artificial intelligence packed into some of Juniper’s networking solutions, is one reason HPE is said to want the firm, which has a growing channel.
HPE’s sales in servers were well down in its last reported quarter, but there were big increases in business across its Intelligent Edge networking and AI and HPC business segments.
No one from either HPE or Juniper Networks has so far publicly commented on the reported acquisition.
Pictured, Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim.