Brocade Snaps Up Ruckus Wireless

Brocade announced Monday that it plans to buy Ruckus Wireless in a cash and stock deal valued at about $1.2 billion. The announcement marks yet another M&A deal in the rapidly changing WLAN market.

Brocade, which has its roots in storage networking, said the acquisition of Ruckus will boost its enterprise networking product line and strengthen its position in the service provider market. The deal also helps Brocade target the emerging Internet of Things and 5G markets, the vendor said.

The value of the deal may fluctuate between $1.5 billion and $1.2 billion until it closes in Brocade's third fiscal quarter, according to Brocade.

The merger comes a little more than a year after Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $3 billion acquisition of top WLAN vendor Aruba Networks. Other deals in the WLAN market last year include Fortinet buying Meru Networks and Cradlepoint acquiring Pertino. Last year, Ruckus was the buyer when it acquired WiFi onboarding specialist Cloudpath Networks.

Brocade's acquisition of Ruckus raises questions about Ruckus' strategic partnership with Juniper Networks. That partnership was announced last year in the wake of HPE's acquisition of Aruba.

Brocade said its Ruckus unit will be led by current Ruckus CEO, Selina Lo, who will report to Brocade CEO Lloyd Carney.