Juniper Networks has agreed to acquire Apstra as part of strengthening its focus on AI-driven automation.
Apstra is a leader in intent-based networking and automated closed loop assurance. David Cheriton is the CEO and co-founder of Apstra.
The combined solution from Juniper Networks and Apstra helps public and private cloud builders optimize operations for application experience as they accelerate on the path toward the self-driving network.
“Adding Apstra’s intent-based networking and automated closed loop assurance advances our vision to transform data center operations,” Rami Rahim, CEO of Juniper Networks, said.
With Apstra, architects describe how the data center should behave in terms of outcomes and the system implements and continuously assures that the network operations and experience match the intent.
Apstra offers proactive insights, along with automated root cause identification and remediation. Apstra also enables self-service delivery, with its advanced automation accelerating time to market along with lowering data center outages and Opex.
Juniper is recognized as a leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center and Cloud Networking and The Forrester Wave: Open, Programmable Switches for a Businesswide SDN, Q3 2020.
Juniper switches, differentiated in their EVPN-VXLAN fabric capabilities, integrate to Apstra to automatically deploy services and safely implement changes, advancing fabric management and simplified operations in the automated data center.
Juniper does not expect the acquisition of Apstra to materially impact revenue in 2021. While the acquisition is expected to be approximately breakeven to non-GAAP earnings for the full-year 2021, it will likely be dilutive during the first half of the year. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to revenue growth and non-GAAP earnings in 2022.
“As the industry transitions to new IT infrastructure focused on automated operations and optimized user experiences, Juniper has positioned themselves as a leading business and technology partner in the market,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research.
