Juniper Networks to Acquire Mist Systems to Bring Artificial Intelligence to Wireless IT

Juniper Networks announced that it plans to acquire Mist Systems for USD $405 million. The acquisition brings cloud-managed wireless networks powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to IT and solidifies its vision of Software-Defined Enterprise.

Found in 2014, Mist Systems delivers the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven wireless platform, and virtual assistant, Marvis. The company also provides location-based wireless services such as indoor wayfinding, proximity notifications, traffic analytics and asset tracking using its patented virtual Bluetooth LE technology with wi-fi and IoT. Mist systems raised overall $88.4M in funding over 3 rounds.

Executive Opinion

CEO of Juniper Networks, Rami Rahim, said, "Mist Systems is a great fit for Juniper and for our enterprise customers. 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 the 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."

CEO of Mist Systems, Sujai Hajela, said, "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. 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."

The Acquisition's Objective

The announcement noted that the acquisition of Mist Systems allows Juniper to enable an industry-leading, software-defined and highly differentiated solution by extending its cloud-based management and end-to-end AI-driven visibility (“AI for IT”) across the end-to-end enterprise network (from access to the WAN).

The acquisition presents Juniper systems with an opportunity to grow in a cloud-managed segment of the wireless networking market. The deal further enhances Juniper Network's networking portfolio with the help of Mist’s next-generation Wireless LAN (WLAN) platform with Juniper's best-in-class wired LAN, SD-WAN and security solutions.

In a blog post, CEO of Mist Systems, Sujai Hajela also mentioned that the Mist business and the Mist brand will continue to run under the Juniper umbrella.

The deal is expected to close in the fiscal second quarter.