Aruba Networks acquires Azalea for $40m

Aruba hopes to take on the Chinese market with its new buy

Aruba Networks has announced plans to acquire outdoor mesh networking firm Azalea Networks in a $40m (£26m) move to enhance its wireless local area network range.

The acquisition will enable the delivery of secure mobility services that use Azalea's mesh technology to transfer data packets wirelessly from radio to radio, and carry latency-sensitive video and voice traffic in indoor and outdoor areas, the firm said.

Aruba marketing manager Roger Hockaday claimed that the deal will provide Aruba with an immediate position in the Chinese market, and add several new technologies to its capabilities.

"Azelea is very well placed in the Chinese market. They are four times bigger than Cisco and will give us a good immediate route to market in this region. We will also gain around 100 highly skilled engineers already based in China," he said.

"Furthermore, with the outdoor industrial Wi-Fi market expected to be worth around $200m [£133m] next year as markets such as oil and gas require Wi-Fi access, but are unable to use cable systems due to the nature of their work, it is an arena worth investing in."

Hockaday added that Azalea's technology is able to achieve solid high-speed hand-offs of data from moving vehicles to stationary locations to offer coverage for challenging environments such as underground metro systems.

Aruba will pay around $27m (£18m) in stock subject and up to $13.5m (£9m) cash over two years for completion in the first quarter of Aruba's fiscal 2011.