Anticipate decision on Juniper acquisition deal by August: HPE exec

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced its intention to acquire networking services firm Juniper Networks in January 2024 in a $14 billion deal. Since the announcement, the deal has hit several roadblocks. 

In the most latest update, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in February sued to block the deal. The department argued that the deal will eliminate competition, resulting in HPE, along with another major player, Cisco, leading the American networking market. 

“HPE and Juniper are presenting their arguments for the transaction’s merits to a judge in San Jose, California, beginning on July 9, and we anticipate a decision sometime in August. We firmly believe this acquisition is in the best interest of both customers and the market. The enterprise segment clearly needs another scaled competitor, and the combination of HPE Aruba and Juniper would create exactly that, by bringing greater choice, innovation, and competition,” said Phil Mottram, executive vice president and general manager of HPE Aruba Networking (HPE Aruba), in an interview with TechCircle, during his recent visit to India.

HPE Aruba is the networking division of HPE that was formed after HPE’s acquisition of California-based Aruba Networks in 2015 for approximately $3 billion. Juniper’s acquisition is expected to add to HPE Aruba’s capabilities in delivering modernised networking solutions for hybrid cloud and AI. 

Mottram said in conversations with his Indian customers during this visit to India, the Juniper acquisition was one of the major points of discussion. On Wednesday, on behalf of HPE, he signed a partnership agreement with Vodafone Idea’s enterprise arm, Vi Business,  to deliver enterprise networking solutions in India. The agreement will use HPE Aruba Networking products to provide managed wireless LAN, switching, and network security services. 

HPE Aruba in India

“India is a key strategic market for HPE overall, and this holds for HPE Aruba as well. From a sales perspective, it's a high-growth region with strong customer interest and expanding opportunities,” he said. Even in terms of talent, India remains one of the important sites for the company, with the teams participating in the core product development process.

Currently, there are around 15,000 full-time HPE employees in India spanning across sales, R&D, services, and our global functions. India is the largest strategic site globally for HPE Aruba Networking, as well as the second largest R&D center of excellence for the company.

Notably, in 2019, HPE announced a $500 million investment in India over the next five years to grow its solutions portfolio, operations, and employee base in the country. The company at the time said that it would also manufacture products in the country through HPE Aruba. Commenting on that, Mottram said, “We’ve been manufacturing servers in India for over a year now, and it’s proven to be highly successful for the company. 

As part of our ongoing strategy, we regularly evaluate which products and services make sense to manufacture locally. The initial products we began producing here have delivered strong results and validated our approach.” He did not divulge the volume of manufactured products.

AI and networking 

According to Mottram, AI in networking is emerging as a major area of development, garnering much attention from customers. 

“AI is transforming how customers manage and troubleshoot their networks. That’s where our platform, Aruba Central, comes in. It’s part of HPE’s GreenLake portfolio and has been a core investment area for over 12 years. Now approaching one million customers, it’s growing rapidly and helping organizations operate more intelligently,” he said. 

Aruba Central offers AI features for functions such as increased efficiency, workforce optimisation, and enhanced security. “For instance, the AI-driven natural language troubleshooting feature removes exclusive reliance on experienced network engineers. It helps organizations to empower early-career professionals to manage networks. They can simply describe the issue in plain language, and the platform helps identify and resolve problems.”

In April, Aruba Central was made available in two additional deployment models: private cloud and on-premises, along with the existing public cloud.
“This move addresses the needs of customers, particularly in the public sector and regulated industries, who are not comfortable with their data or management systems being hosted by U.S.-based cloud providers. These customers want the flexibility to host the application on their own infrastructure,” he said. 

The announcement has generated strong interest, especially among public sector organizations in Europe and India, and banks, which are showing a keen interest in the virtual private cloud option for enhanced control and compliance.