Aruba to purchase AirWave Wireless  
ConvergenceAsia staff
22/01/2008

Aruba Networks, a global provider of user-centric networks and secure mobility solutions, has announced the execution of a definitive agreement to purchase AirWave Wireless. AirWave, a San Mateo, California-based company, is a leading provider of specialised tools to centrally manage large, multi-vendor wireless LAN, mesh, and WiMax networks.

The acquisition will provide Aruba with best-in-class multi-vendor mobility management tools, as well as a vehicle for better supporting its expanding technology partner eco-system. AirWave will operate as a business unit of Aruba, chartered to enhance the AirWave Wireless Management Suite software and maintain its position as one of the industry’s leading multi-vendor management solutions.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aruba will acquire AirWave in exchange for total consideration of US$37 million in stock and cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of Aruba’s 2008 fiscal year.

Legacy and new networking equipment often need to run side-by-side, in some cases for several years, because of multi-year capital equipment purchasing cycles and the introduction of new networking technology like 802.11n. The AirWave platform eases technology transitions by extending the life of existing capital investments and enabling multi-vendor solutions to be run from a common, centralised network management system.

Customers have a vision of how they want to architect and deploy their networks, and those networks often include multiple vendors, said Dominic Orr, Aruba’s president and CEO. “We believe it is important to respect customers’ choices in these matters, and this acquisition positions us as the first mobility vendor to move beyond simple interoperability and offer cross vendor network management, too. Whether a customer wants to preserve some existing assets, or stage a phased roll-out of new technologies like 802.11n, the management of multi-vendor legacy and new devices is imperative.”

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