Riverbed Technology signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wi-Fi solutions provider Xirrus. Terms of the transaction, expected to close in May, were not disclosed.
According to Riverbed, the acquisition positions Riverbed and its partners to provide CIOs and businesses with a software-defined networking approach that delivers unified connectivity and orchestration across the entire network.
The acquisition further strengthens Riverbed’s differentiated SD-WAN offering SteelConnect—the first and only SD-WAN solution to unify management and policy-based orchestration spanning the entire network—LAN/WLAN, WAN, data center and the cloud, according to Joshua Dobies, vice president of Product Marketing and Strategy at Riverbed.
“Riverbed plans to integrate the Xirrus solutions into SteelConnect SD-WAN to deliver a more robust Wi-Fi capability and a unique enterprise networking solution, and will also continue to offer a stand-alone enterprise WLAN solution to customers,” Dobies told FierceWirelessTech via email. “The acquired technology will complement existing Riverbed strategic investments in R&D, and will add to its growing portfolio, creating significant value for Riverbed customers as well as new growth opportunities for Riverbed and its partners.”
Riverbed did not disclose specifics about how much of the current Xirrus staff, including Xirrus CEO Shane Buckley, will be moving over to Riverbed, but did say that a majority of Xirrus staff will be joining the company.
RELATED: Xirrus introduces new Wi-Fi solution for large public venues
Large enterprises with multiple sites use Riverbed’s technology to keep employees connected, regardless of where they’re located. In fact, more than 28,000 customers use Riverbed’s technology across a variety of verticals, including retail, healthcare, energy and utilities, government, transportation and education. Riverbed says its customers include 97% of the Fortune 100 and 98% of the Forbes Global 100.
Xirrus boasts about the ability to offer “wired-like” performance with its suite of Wi-Fi solutions, which includes high density access points, access points and cloud services. The company was recognized by Gartner in the “Visionaries” quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for the most recent wired and wireless LAN Access Infrastructure report. Xirrus customers include Microsoft, University of Mississippi, Liverpool Football Club and Paul Hastings Law Firm.
RELATED: Verizon, Riverbed address enterprise hybrid cloud opportunity with AWS connect bundle
In January, Riverbed acquired Ocedo Networks, a SD-WAN provider to accelerate the delivery of Riverbed’s next-gen networking solutions, and launched SteelConnect as an early access offering in April 2016, which included “one-click” access to Amazon Web Services (AWS).