Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has completed its acquisition of Juniper Networks, marking a major milestone in its strategic evolution.
This move positions HPE at the forefront of the AI and hybrid cloud revolution, enabling the company to deliver a more powerful, cloud-native, and AI-driven IT portfolio. The benefits of the $14 billion deal, which was announced on January 9, 2024, are broad and deep — for HPE itself, its global customer base, and shareholders.
Benefits for HPE
Doubled Networking Business and Increased Total Addressable Market (TAM):
The acquisition doubles the size of HPE’s networking business and boosts its TAM significantly by entering adjacent sectors like data center networking, firewalls, and routers. This strengthens HPE’s competitive edge in both enterprise and service provider markets.
Stronger AI and Cloud-Native Foundation:
Juniper’s AI-native Mist platform and cloud-delivered solutions will integrate with HPE’s Aruba networking and GreenLake cloud platform, creating a unified and intelligent networking stack. This fusion enhances HPE’s ability to serve customers deploying hybrid AI workloads and cloud-native applications.
Shift Toward High-Growth, High-Margin Segments:
With Juniper’s higher-margin portfolio, HPE accelerates its strategic portfolio mix shift, increasing networking’s contribution to 31 percent of revenue and 56 percent of total operating income, up from 18 percent. This strengthens HPE’s long-term profitability and shareholder value.
Faster Innovation Through Combined R&D:
The combination brings greater scale to research and development in networking silicon, software, security, and AI, allowing HPE to innovate faster and deliver modern, secure solutions optimized for today’s complex IT environments.
Scalable Global Go-To-Market Model:
HPE’s expansive global sales and partner network will help scale Juniper’s products to new geographies and customer segments, especially in enterprise and SMB markets.
Benefits for Customers
Unified, AI-Native Networking Architecture:
Customers will gain access to a modern, end-to-end networking stack that is purpose-built with AI and for AI. This architecture simplifies network management and improves performance across campus, branch, data center, and cloud environments.
Enhanced User and Operator Experience:
Through Juniper’s Mist AIOps and HPE’s intelligent interconnect fabric, customers will benefit from automated network operations, predictive insights, and improved service quality. The integration promises a secure, experience-first networking environment.
Accelerated Hybrid Cloud and AI Adoption:
Customers will be better equipped to handle data-intensive hybrid workloads through a tightly integrated offering across compute, storage, networking, and software. This unlocks faster AI deployment and easier hybrid cloud transformation.
Greater Security and Operational Visibility:
The merger expands the availability of secure, zero-trust networking, bridging HPE’s SASE capabilities with Juniper’s security and telemetry. Customers will have deeper insight and control across increasingly complex infrastructures.
Seamless Access to Innovation Across HPE Portfolio:
Networking customers will now benefit from innovations across HPE’s GreenLake, Aruba, and AI infrastructure platforms, leading to tighter integration, simplified operations, and greater value.
Strategic and Financial Impact
Leadership: Juniper CEO Rami Rahim will lead the combined HPE networking business, reporting to HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri. In this blog post, Antonio Neri has explained the benefits to customers and the industry.
Accretive Financials: The deal is expected to be accretive to non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow in Year 1 post-close.
Operational Synergies: HPE can now offer a comprehensive IT platform from silicon to services, enabling faster time-to-value for customers.
Disruption: The acquisition introduces a compelling new alternative to Cisco and other incumbents, with a strong focus on AI-native, cloud-native, and secure networking solutions.
As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), HPE has agreed to divest its global Instant On campus and branch business. After close, HPE will facilitate limited access to Juniper’s Mist AIOps technology.
Looking Ahead
The integration of Juniper into HPE’s portfolio represents a transformational leap for both companies and the industry. As AI and hybrid cloud reshape enterprise IT, HPE — with Juniper’s innovation and talent — aims to lead the next era of secure, intelligent, and autonomous networking. For customers, this means future-ready infrastructure, simplified IT operations, and faster innovation across the edge-to-cloud spectrum.
Rajani Baburajan
