Finally, HPE Now Owns Juniper! So, what is in it for the customer?
- bondash
- Jul 9
- 4 min read
On the 2nd of July, 2025, after 18 months of "gbas-gbos" or what one can describe as sustained hurdling over bureaucratic cum legal obstacles, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) finally completed the acquisition of Juniper Networks.
In January, 2024, HPE and Juniper announced the acquisition of the latter by the former (see story here: https://www.caspian-services.com/post/hpe-juniper-blackrock-gip-nigeria-its-citizens) only for the deal to be blocked a year later by the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) (see the story here: https://www.caspian-services.com/post/usa-department-of-justice-vs-hpe-juniper-witch-hunt-or-utilitarianism-public-interest
Nothing goes for nothing!
With the help of some horse-trading, the parties recently reached an out-of-court settlement which mandates HPE to do the following:
1. 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.
2. Hold an auction to license Juniper’s AI Ops for Mist source code—an important component in modern WLAN systems. The license will be perpetual, non-exclusive, and include optional transitional support and personnel transfers to facilitate competition.
HPE has hailed the development as an exciting step forward that will avail customers 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.
WHAT COULD BE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR CUSTOMERS?
CONS
1. Portfolio Complexity – The resultant overlap of networking and security products from HPE & Juniper may prove to be too complex to smoothen and thus delay integration and infusion into the marketplace (Rami Rahim has his work cut out for him). This may discourage existing HPE/Juniper customers from upgrading and new customers from adopting. It may end up in favour of the likes of Extreme Networks, Cisco, Fortinet and others as customers often prefer simplicity.
2. Operational Complexity – In spite of perceived complementarities and economies of scale and scope synergies, seamlessly blending the two behemoths to realise these benefits may prove to be arduous and take a considerable length of time. Indeed, the potential for failure may be deemed significant as was the case with Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia in 2013, Alcatel’s merger with Lucent in 2006 & HP’s merger with Compaq in 2002. Such uncertainties can feature in the minds of customers and impede purchase decisions.
As a case in point, Juniper was known to offer mandatory AI licencing for standard use case needs and advanced features. How will these be blended with HPE legacy licencing in a simple, comprehensible manner for channel partners and customers?
Such probing questions can create doubt in the minds of customers and may offer an edge to competitors such as Extreme Networks which offer simple, straightforward licencing with portability across diverse products i.e. customers can transfer a licence from one switch to another or switch to router etc.
3. Future Antitrust Issues – While the DoJ has approved the acquisition, it does not preclude future antitrust cases from rearing their heads. Evolving market conditions, new evidences, or changes in legal interpretations can cause these to occur. This potential can cause customers to be cautious in purchasing.
Previous cases like those of AT&T (which led to its breakup) and Microsoft’s browser (which led to emergence of Google Chrome and others) showed that antitrust issues can linger for years.
PROS
1. Improved Solutions and Products – The combination of technologies and expertise of HPE and Juniper could engender innovation in security and networking especially in areas such as AI-driven networking and cloud-native solutions for the ultimate benefit of customers.
In addition, the stiffer competition expected from the newer HP might have prodded competitors to seek to improve the quality of their offerings to the marketplace. Higher R&D budgets & perhaps more employment of engineers and scientists may lead to higher quality solutions and products and eventually, the customer benefits from a better array of solutions to choose from.
2. High quality purchasing decisions – The entry of a newer, more formidable HP may compel competitors to turn up their marketing in a bid to enlighten customers about their respective solutions and products and attendant superior benefits over those of competitors. Overall, a surge in market presence of major networking OEMs may ensue and the attendant, richer information may enable customers make better purchasing decisions.
3. Reduced Prices – HP and her major competitors, such as Cisco, Extreme Networks, Huawei, may all refine their go-to-market strategies, especially pricing. This may mean reduced prices to customers in the near future. This was one of the goals of the DoJ in the antitrust suit.
Time will tell how it will all play out and we will surely be here to keep you updated!
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