Brocade and Ruckus Wireless announced on April 4 that they have entered an agreement through which Brocade will acquire Ruckus for cash and stock. The deal is valued at approximately $1.2 billion. “The acquisition will complement Brocade’s enterprise networking portfolio, adding Ruckus’s higher-growth, wireless products to Brocade’s market-leading networking solutions,” a joint announcement said. “It will significantly strengthen Brocade’s strategic presence in the broader service-provider space, with Ruckus’s market-leading WiFi position. The Ruckus organization will be led by current Ruckus CEO, Selina Lo, and report directly to Brocade CEO, Lloyd Carney.”
The statement added, “As companies move to digitize their business, they need an underlying network architecture that supports business agility. This new IP architecture enables the network to become a platform for innovation and for developing, delivering, and securing new applications. Wireless is a critical access technology and the combination of Brocade and Ruckus creates a new type of pure-play networking company, with solutions spanning from the heart of the data center to the wireless network edge. In addition, after close, the acquisition is expected to accelerate cross-selling activities into the respective companies’ partner and customer bases, opening up new revenue opportunities for the combined company across a variety of verticals.”
Chief executive officers Lo and Carney, in a separate statement, said, “Today is an exciting day and we’re both energized by the opportunity ahead of us. For customers, once the transaction closes, you will be able to rely on the combined company for market-leading networking solutions that extend from your storage networks to your data center, campus, and wireless edge. Both companies remain committed to partnering across the industry and your will continue to enjoy the flexibility that our open, partner-centric strategy brings … We’re not planning any near-term changes to the sales support you’ve come to rely on. Ruckus solutions will continue to be sold and supported by the current Ruckus teams, and Brocade solutions will continue to be sold and supported by the current Brocade teams.
“For partners, we’re also not planning any near-term changes to our respective channel and partner structures after closing. Over time, we expect the combination of our two companies will bring our collective partners greater opportunities to offer a broader portfolio of both wired and wireless networking solutions.”