Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is making a play for the high-end data center
networking market, announcing plans to acquire Force10 technology in a deal
that is expected to close by the end of the summer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Dell said that it would maintain Force10's existing channel
program as it did with previous acquisitions of channel companies, Compellent
and EqualLogic.
Dell hinted at networking acquisition plans last year in an interview with Channel Insider.
Dell said that Force10's networking capabilities complement
Dell's datacenter solutions portfolio, enabling it to offer customers a broader
range of enterprise offerings.
Dell's move comes as the networking market has grown ever
more competitive as technology companies seek to become one-stop-shops for
compute, storage and networking needs. HP completed its acquisition of
networking giant 3Com in April 2010. And Cisco recently upped its game, offering
two distinct lines of switches with one especially designed for the high
performance and energy efficiency needs of the data center. Juniper Networks is also considered a giant
in the networking space.
Force10 founders came from Cisco but created modular
networking systems that are more like those offered by Juniper Networks.
"Today's datacenter networks are too complex and
require too much manual intervention. What worked in the past is no longer
viable in the virtual era," said Brad Anderson, senior vice president,
Enterprise Solutions Group, Dell, in a statement. "Dell's approach of
offering customers open, capable and affordable solutions aligns with Force10's
approach to offering customers new levels of flexibility, performance, scale
and automation which is fundamental to changing the economics of datacenter
networking."
Dell said in a statement that the acquisition was just the
most recent move it has taken over the past three years to expand its
enterprise portfolio to offer customers a complete range of datacenter products
and solutions such as an integrated stack of server, storage, networking and
services resources.
Force10 is nearly a $200-million company, (based on trailing
12 months revenue) with approximately 80 percent of its business in North
America and operating in over 60 countries worldwide. Force10's
Open Cloud Networking is based on open standards, automation and virtualization
and is consistent with Dell's design philosophy, the company said.
Force10's customers include Web 2.0 and Fortune 100
companies, Internet portals, global carriers, research laboratories and government
organizations with some of the world's most demanding network environments,
Dell said.
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