Juniper Closes Apstra Acquisition

Juniper Networks announces that the company has finalized its acquisition of Apstra, an intent-based networking and automated closed-loop assurance company. The deal closure will ensure delivering an unmatched, experience-led portfolio for the data center across all customer segments – enterprise, service provider, and cloud provider.

Apstra brings network automation based on an open, multivendor architecture to Juniper’s Data Center networking portfolio. Post acquisition, the companies will deliver a proven open, programmable and highly scalable solution for next-gen data centers and cloud networks, providing customers the clearest and quickest path to automate the data center and introduce AI-driven operations.

As a part of the deal, Apstra team will be a part of Juniper’s Data Center business and Apstra CEO and Co-founder, David Cheriton, will join Juniper as Chief Data Center Scientist.

“The Apstra acquisition is a significant milestone for our business that reinforces our commitment to transforming data center operations. Apstra’s focus on intent-based networking, closed-loop automation, and fabric assurance is a perfect complement to Juniper’s award-winning hardware and software. Together, we can drive lasting customer value from design to deployment (Day 0 and 1) through everyday operations and assurance (Day 2 and beyond),” said Mike Bushong, Vice President of Data Center Product Management, Juniper Networks.

“Cloud – not just as a destination for workloads, but also as an operating model and set of technologies for intelligent automation – is driving profound change and disruption. Increasingly, organizations that own and operate their own data centers realize that their networks must be modernized both architecturally and operationally to support cloud-native applications and workloads. With the acquisition of Apstra, Juniper is responding to the urgent need for simplified, streamlined cloud-centric operations that help architects and network operators collaborate effectively to achieve greater agility throughout the network lifecycle,” asserts Brad Casemore, Research Vice President of Data Center Networks, IDC.

“The extreme demands of Switzerland's renowned financial services industry needs an infrastructure that guarantees the lowest latency and response times with high-cost efficiency and high levels of reliability. This is only possible if the latest technologies are used throughout. Apstra's automation and simple operational model helps us deliver the lowest response times with the highest cost efficiency and reliability. And with their rapid feature velocity, we are confident they'll continue delivering on our, and our customers', requirements in the future,” said Hanspeter Tinner, Chief Service Officer and Co-Founder, Beelastic.

The close of the Apstra acquisition follows the close of Juniper’s additional acquisitions of Netrounds and 128 Technology in H2 2020.