Riverbed to Buy Aternity to Expand SteelCentral Services

**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting mergers in May-June 2016.**

App performance company Riverbed Technology is buying Aternity, a provider of end-user experience and app-performance monitoring services.

Aternity’s technology helps enterprises see the entire user experience for any app running on any device. The company monitors more than 1.7 million mobile, virtual and desktop workforce endpoints.

Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close next month.

Karl Meulema, Riverbed’s vice president of global channels, tells Channel Partners the Aternity acquisition is “fantastic news for Riverbed’s ecosystem of technology partners, channel partners, SIs and service providers.”

“They will be able to offer their customers the most comprehensive end-to-end visibility solution in the market and a broader portfolio of application-performance infrastructure products to solve a broad range of customer problems,” he said.{ad}

Riverbed said the acquisition will expand its SteelCentral performance-monitoring services.

“With the increased use of mobile devices, virtual desktop environments and the cloud, the ability to manage end user experience has become more important and complex for IT organizations,” said Jerry Kennelly, Riverbed’s chairman and CEO. “With this acquisition, Riverbed and our partners are now uniquely positioned to provide CIOs and businesses with a complete view across networks, applications and end users, all in one solution.”

Aternity’s technology-provider partners include such companies as BMC Software, Citrix, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Global SI and ITO partners include such companies as CSC, Dell and Lockheed Martin.

“The acquisition will provide great opportunities to expand the toolbox for both partner communities,” Meulema said.

He added that it’s too early to share details on the companies’ channel programs. From an organizational view, Aternity’s product and engineering teams will be integrated into the SteelCentral product group, led by Mike Sargent, Riverbed’s senior vice president and general manager. Also, Paul Mountford, Riverbed’s chief sales officer, will assume the responsibility of sales for Aternity’s products and services.

“The acquisition will complement the existing market strategies, and will open up a broader set of solutions and differentiation that both partner communities can leverage to create greater value,” he said. “Riverbed will continue to work closely with our partners to maximize our joint success in the market.”

The acquisition follows Riverbed’s purchase of SD-WAN provider Ocedo in January, which helped it get to market faster with SteelConnect in April.