Riverbed buys Xirrus

Riverbed recently announced it's buying Xirrus for an undisclosed sum of money. The former is a company that builds SD-WAN products and generally looks to improve and optimize WANs. Xirrus, on the other hand, builds next-gen Wi-Fi networks.

With the new acquisition, Riverbed will be able to offer its customers "the power of unified connectivity and policy-based orchestration that spans the entire distributed network -- WAN, LAN/WLAN, data center and the cloud."

Xirrus will also be offered through Riverbed as a standalone enterprise WLAN solution.

"Xirrus is a strategic acquisition for Riverbed, providing us with a leading enterprise-grade Wi-Fi solution, and enhancing SteelConnect to deliver an unmatched SD-WAN offering that will help further fuel our growth in this hot market," says Jerry M. Kennelly, Riverbed chairman and chief executive officer.

"In today’s digital, cloud, and mobile world, enterprise networks are more complex and unpredictable than ever before and IT is struggling to manage all of this. A fundamental rethink to networking is required and with this acquisition, Riverbed and our partners are uniquely positioned to provide CIOs and businesses with a software-defined networking approach that delivers unified connectivity and orchestration across the entire network."

Essentially, Xirrus builds enterprise-grade Wi-Fi kits that deliver multiple access points in a single framework. It is said that the company, which is currently privately-held, generates between $50 and $100 million in revenue. The acquisition is expected to close before April ends.

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