U.K. Follows Europe’s Lead in Clearing HPE’s Acquisition of Juniper

Just days after the European regulator approved the deal, the U.K. has now given the greenlight to HPE‘s acquisition of Juniper Networks.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had been considering whether the acquisition will stifle competition in the U.K. The watchdog was concerned the transaction may “result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.”

But now HPE is one step closer to closing the deal with the CMA announcing Wednesday it had cleared the anticipated acquisition.

The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly still looking at the deal and has sent a second request for further information.

A spokesperson told Bloomberg that HPE will continue working to complete “all necessary remaining reviews and secure additional clearances quickly and efficiently.”

“We continue to expect to close by the end of calendar year 2024 or early 2025,” they said.

Juniper Acquisition Will Make HPE 'More Credible'

HPE announced its plans to acquire Juniper in January. CEO Antonio Neri said he envisioned a new company post-merge, where Juniper’s AI-based networking stack is central to its offerings. More recently, Juniper’s global VP of campus and branch networking Tom Wilburn said Juniper’s technology will provide HPE with a competitive advantage on rival Cisco.

Related:European Regulator Gives Go-Ahead to HPE’s Acquisition of Juniper

Charlie Tunley, HPE’s UKIMEA partner ecosystem leader, said the acquisition of Juniper will enable HPE to “be even more credible in that market.”

HPE's Charlie Tunley

“It’s designed to give customers and partners more choice in the market by giving us a more comprehensive portfolio,” he told Channel Futures.

Also on Wednesday, HPE announced the expansion of its AI-powered networking portfolio. It is introducing behavioral analytics-based network detection and response (NDR) capabilities. Furthermore, it's expanding its zero-trust-network-access approach to campus-based local area networks.

HPE Aruba Networking Central’s new NDR capabilities use AI models to identify unusual activity in IoT devices, network traffic patterns, connection status or dynamic device attributes that signal compromise.