Extreme Networks: Partners to Gain from Acquisition of Avaya's Networking Business

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Extreme Networks said its planned $100 million purchase of Avaya’s networking business fits into its growth strategy and will benefit partners of both companies.

On Tuesday, Avaya announced it has agreed to sell the business to Extreme in accordance with the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Avaya filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reduce its debt load of about $6.3 billion, and said it has no plans to sell its call-center business.

Approval of a final sale to either Extreme or a competing bidder is expected to take place shortly after an auction is complete. The transaction is expected to close by June 30, the end of Avaya’s fiscal third quarter 2017, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

According to Avaya’s fiscal 2016 earnings by segment, the networking business comprised 6 percent of the company’s revenue.

“Avaya Networking expects to continue to conduct business as usual until the auction process and subsequent transaction process are complete,” said Christina Rohall Knittel, Avaya’s corporate communications lead. “We will continue to sell the entire Avaya Networking portfolio of products and solutions, and all existing customer bids, quotes and support agreements should not be materially impacted.”{ad}

In a statement to Channel Partners, Extreme said the acquisition will provide it with a broader set of networking technologies and capabilities that “complement our existing solution portfolio and enhance our position in the marketplace.”

“The announcement supports our growth strategy and builds on our value proposition as Extreme continues to lead the enterprise campus market with our end-to-end, wired and wireless software-driven network solution technologies,” it said. “We are excited to share more information at the conclusion of the auction process.”

Avaya’s partners will be supported by Extreme’s customer service and will have access to its integrated offerings portfolio for the campus enterprise, Extreme said. Extreme’s single-pane-of-glass network management, analytics and control platforms will be expanded to support Avaya’s switching portfolio and will deliver unified visibility and control from the data center through the core, access layer and access point to the end-user device, it said.

Extreme partners will have access to Avaya’s switching fabric technology for “highly secure, simplified access, management and control of their data center, core and edge switching environments,” it said.

Avaya has been transitioning from a legacy hardware business to a software and services company.