HPE completes Silver Peak buyout & strengthens edge-to-cloud portfolio

HPE has officially wrapped up its US$925 million (NZ$1.4 billion) acquisition of SD-WAN specialist firm Silver Peak.

Silver Peak will now begin a new life under HPE's Aruba business, where it will strengthen the Aruba Edge Services Platform and provide edge-to-cloud networking for enterprises. Silver Peak specialises primarily in software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN), wireless local area networking (WLAN), and wide-area networking (WAN).

Silver Peak founder and CEO David Hughes will lead Aruba's WAN business as senior vice president.

"I look forward to leading the new WAN business unit within Aruba and accelerating our customers' edge-to-cloud transformation initiatives," says Hughes.

"Digital transformation, cloud-first IT architectures, and the need to support a mobile work-from-anywhere workforce are driving enterprises to rethink the network edge. The combination of Silver Peak and Aruba will uniquely enable customers to realize the full transformational promise of these IT megatrends.

According to HPE, enterprises are seeking greater investment in SD-WAN technologies as the costs of legacy WAN architectures begin to rise and becomes difficult to manage. The Aruba SD-Branch portfolio, in combination with Silver Peak SD-WAN and WAN optimisation, will enable the company to take advantage of the market opportunities in this space.

HPE president and CEO Antonio Neri says that WAN transformation is an integral part of the company's edge, cloud, and growth strategies.

"Armed with a comprehensive SD-WAN portfolio with the addition of Silver Peak, we will accelerate the delivery of a true distributed cloud model and cloud experience for all apps and data wherever they live."

HPE expects that the combination of Aruba and Silver Peak will strengthen HPE's Intelligent Edge business, and will drive 'significant revenue opportunities'.

"Aruba and Silver Peak share a common vision and goal to provide simplicity, scalability, and application-awareness at the edge," the company says in a statement.

HPE president of intelligent edge and founder of Aruba Networks, Keerti Melkote, welcomes the Silver Peak team.

"With the evolving nature of the hybrid workplace, enterprises are looking to extend connectivity to branch locations and enable secure work-from-home experiences. By combining Silver Peak's advanced SD-WAN technology with Aruba's SD-Branch and remote worker solutions, customers can simplify branch office and WAN deployments to empower remote workforces, enable cloud-connected distributed enterprises, and transform business operations without compromise."

HPE expects the transaction to be neutral to non-GAAP EPS in FY22. HPE will also discuss how the integration of Silver Peak will create value and enhance growth and profitability at its Securities Analyst Meeting in October.