Riverbed to acquire Xirrus to boost SD-WAN offering
Riverbed Technology has announced that it is acquiring wireless networking specialist Xirrus to boost its software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) and cloud capabilities.
The San Francisco-based network management firm said the acquisition, which it expects to close by the end of this month, will allow it to use Xirrus' technology to extend SteelConnect, its SD-WAN offering, to the wireless network edge.
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"The SteelConnect offering is unique in that it is the first SD-WAN solution that has extended the power of policy-based orchestration out to the broader reaches of the distributed network," said Paul O'Farrell, SVP of the Riverbed SteelConnect, SteelHead, and SteelFusion business unit, in a statement.
"By combining the advanced Wi-Fi capabilities of Xirrus and SteelConnect's intuitive and powerful orchestration, we're taking a bold step to bring the power of policy-based network management out to the wireless edge."
Once the purchase closes, the company said it will launch partner enablement and training on Xirrus and will continue to distribute Xirrus as a stand-alone enterprise wireless local area network solution through its partner ecosystem.
A majority of Xirrus staff will also be joining Riverbed following the close of the acquisition.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Xirrus is the latest in a line of high-profile enterprise wireless acquisitions over the last few years. In 2015, HPE acquired Aruba Networks for $3 billion while Fortinet bought Meru Networks for $44 million.
Most recently, in 2016, Brocade acquired Ruckus Wireless in a deal worth $1.2 billion, before selling it to telecommunications equipment maker Arris in February for $800 million this year.