Juniper Networks to buy Mist Systems for $400m

Under the terms of the agreement, Juniper will pay $405 million, subject to adjustment, payable in cash and the assumption of outstanding equity awards. The deal is set to close in Juniper’s fiscal second quarter, subject to the usual regulatory approvals.   

“Mist Systems is a great fit for Juniper and for our enterprise customers,” said Rami Rahim (pictured), CEO of Juniper Networks. “Juniper and Mist share a common strategic goal. We believe in the Software-Defined Enterprise and Mist’s focus on bringing AI to IT is consistent with our core belief that we need to simplify operations and improve customer experience while lowering costs. With Mist, we are adding a market leading solution to complement our portfolio, drive the cloud transition within the enterprise and accelerate our enterprise growth.”

The deal is set to enhance Juniper’s enterprise networking portfolio by combining Mist’s next-gen wireless LAN (WAN) platform with Juniper’s wired LAN, SD-WAN and security solutions to deliver high-quality end-to-end user and IT experiences.

“Mist Systems has developed a unique blend of wireless, AI and cloud expertise that has enabled us to stand out from the competition and bring much needed innovation to the wireless space,” added Sujai Hajela, CEO of Mist Systems. “By combining these proficiencies with Juniper’s expansive channel reach, world-class support and best-in class networking and security products, we believe we will be well poised to change the IT landscape by ushering in a new generation of AI-driven products.”

Capacity first learned of Mist in March 2018, speaking to Jeff Aaron, the company’s vice president of marketing, who introduced us to its next-generation wifi and disruptive location-based services.

“We have designed a solution using AI that is more simple, predictable and reliable, but more importantly more measurable. For first time ever it's a user-centric wireless approach,” explained Aaron at the time.

The acquisition will also expand Juniper’s presence in the accelerating cloud-managed sector of wireless networking. Additionally, the deal will enable Juniper to extend cloud-based management and end-to-end AI-driven visibility across the end-to-end enterprise network.

“The joint Mist and Juniper solution delivers excellent visibility into the entire wired/wireless stack and uniquely leverages AI for proactive automation, making it a perfect fit for our campus environment,” said Mitch Davis, vice president and CIO at Dartmouth College.