The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced a deal Saturday clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (NYSE: HPE) $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), requiring the divestiture of a WiFi network business geared towards small firms. The principals said among other benefits, the deal will enable HPE to grow in the AI data center space.
HPE first announced its intention to acquire Juniper in January 2024. The deal was subject to scrutiny by both the U.K.’s competition regulator and the European Commission. Both approved the deal, notes Channel Futures.
But the DoJ filed a lawsuit to block the transaction. It alleged the acquisition would raise prices, reduce innovation and diminish customer choice.
A statement released by the two vendors says they’ve resolved the lawsuit. HPE CEO Antonio Neri said the agreement paves the way to close the acquisition. He said it “preserves the intended benefits of this deal for our customers and shareholders, while creating greater competition in the global networking market.
For the first time, customers will now have a modern network architecture alternative that can best support the demands of AI workloads,” said Neri in a press release. “The combination of HPE Aruba Networking and Juniper Networks will provide customers with a comprehensive portfolio of secure, AI-native networking solutions, and accelerate HPE’s ability to grow in the AI data center, service provider and cloud segments.”
The DoJ settlement requires HPE must divest its global “Instant On” campus and branch WLAN business, including all assets, intellectual property, R&D personnel, and customer relationships, to a DOJ-approved buyer within 180 days. The agreement also ensures that key software assets will be available to rivals looking to compete with the merged company. The parties must hold an auction to license Juniper’s AI Ops for Mist source code—an important component in modern WLAN systems.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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