back to article HP gulps down Aruba Networks for $3bn

After a period of abstinence from mega buys, HP has dipped into its cash reserves to find $3bn (£2bn) for wireless infrastructure biz Aruba Networks. The deal will form a welcome plug to HP's sliding network biz, which fell 10.8 per cent to $562m (£365m) in the company's first quarter results last week. Aruba posted sales of …

  1. Mage Silver badge
    Devil

    Oh dear

    This will end badly... Except for whoever got the $3 Billion.

    1. Preston Munchensonton

      Re: Oh dear

      In many respects, there's sure to be an unhappy end for some. Most importantly, there's the remaining components from HP's purchase of Colubris in 2008 that will undoubtedly become jettisoned in favor of the superior offerings from Aruba. I would think Cisco, Juniper, and Dell are less than thrilled as well.

      But from a value perspective, many customers were already using HP switches and Aruba wireless in opposition to all Cisco, who clearly leads both markets. Given the distance that HP networking has come since the 3Com purchase (if you haven't tried them, the H3C-sourced switches are excellent), I would expect this is a generally happy announcement in most aspects. I can't see this as enhancing any consumer offerings, since neither HP or Aruba are significant players at present, but enterprises and service providers should be happy to fold into one vendor what used to be two.

  2. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Oh Meg, what have you done...

    "By combining Aruba's world-class wireless mobility solutions with HP's leading switching portfolio, HP will offer the simplest, most secure networking solutions to help enterprises easily deploy next-generation mobile networks."

    And went on to add...

    "Although I'd suggest you get your own professional services team to design, implement and support; as to be honest... we're just a little bit shit at that sort of thing."

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    interesting time for Dell, Juniper and others

    Dell and Juniper currently rebrand and resell Aruba, that's a relationship i can't see lasting and certainly will impact heavily on their ability to compete in the converged LAN / WLAN space.....

    1. Electron Shepherd

      Re: interesting time for Dell, Juniper and others

      Which may well be the main reason for buying them. $3Bn for a company making $5M profit / quarter isn't a sound investment in isolation.

    2. Mark 85

      Re: interesting time for Dell, Juniper and others

      I would tend to think you're dead on. It's been a common practice to buy a competitor and close it down (after many platitudes about synergy) but it seems more and more common to buy a competitor's supplier. I've not been overly impressed with Aruba items but they seem to work without many bells and whistles being present. But 3 really big ones seems an excessive price. Then again, HP, MS, Zuck and others have set a new standard for buying things at inflated prices so maybe this is the new "normal".

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eh, I can see this as a defensive play..

    But as a previous poster suggested, I don't see HP making a ton of money off this acquisition.

  5. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    Caveat Emptor

    Let's hope that HP had done their due diligence properly this time.

    If they haven't then Meg's reign could well come to an abrupt end.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Caveat Emptor

    Let's hope HP hired someone other than Deloitte to check Aruba's books before making the deal.

    That said, they all seem to be able to shift the blame and avoid accountability (no pun intended).

  7. Howard Hanek

    Value?

    HP probably could have have bought the island of Aruba for a little more.......and at least the shareholders would have gotten some pleasure out of it. It has lots of clouds surrounding it.

    1. El Gokri'x

      Re: Value?

      Maybe they *were* trying to buy the island...

  8. ben_myers

    Is Aruba another pig in a poke?

    After HP's last acquisition disaster, one must wonder whether the Aruba buy will work out OK, or if it's another pig in a poke. HP's track record with acquistions is not exactly sparkling since the days of Carly. But maybe they've learned and can make this one work.

  9. Terafirma-NZ

    Yes it add wireless to HP's kit but I don't think it was about that. I think its more about hitting Dell/Juniper/Brocade as none of them will be wanting to continue this.

    As I said to my Dell account manager 6 months ago drop Aruba and talk to Aerohive now I bet there is plenty of that going on.

    Now some poor HP guy gets to deal with Aruba BOM lists (nightmare and among the worst) as well as dropping their prices as they are some 6-8 times more expensive than Aerohive (not sure of Cisco have not really used).

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just like with every other HP acquisition, we can say good bye to innovative products and decent technical support from Aruba.

  11. MK11

    Here we go again

    How long before HP write off huge amounts and claim loudly that it was anyone but themselves at fault?

  12. Slow Joe Crow

    I just hope they don't screw up Aruba. It's very good wireless and VPN kit and our local reps have been very helpful. Plus they handed out free access points at a conference a few years ago.

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