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Juniper Networks is looking to expand its software-defined networking ambitions and its offerings for cloud and services providers with the acquisition of BTI Systems, a Massachusetts-based company that specializes in cloud and metro networking hardware and software.
Juniper announced the deal Jan. 26, with Jonathon Davidson, executive vice president and general manager of development and innovation at the company, saying that the “combination of BTI Systems’ accomplished team, innovative and open solutions with Juniper’s longstanding switching and IP routing expertise positions the company well to take advantage of the fast growing DCI [data center interconnect] and Metro markets.”
In a post on the Juniper blog, Davidson wrote that the plan is to integrate BTI’s products with Juniper’s NorthStar Controller, a traffic optimization WAN software-defined networking (SDN) controller that automatically creates the best paths for traffic across the network, improving network utilization and avoiding over provisioning.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. No financial details were released.
According to Colin Doherty, president and CEO of BTI, becoming part of Juniper will enable the company to continue its rapid growth and expand its reach.
“We plan to build upon BTI Systems’ roadmap to deliver customers best-of-breed, open and automated packet optical solutions,” Doherty wrote in a post on his company’s blog. “Together with Juniper, we believe we will bring to the market outstanding synergies in technology, portfolio, expertise, skills, channel partners and a customer focused culture.”
According to the BTI Website, the company has more than 380 customers in more than 40 countries, including carriers, service providers, content providers, collocation providers and cloud infrastructure companies.
Juniper became a player in the SDN space when it bought Contrail for $176 million in 2012. A year later, the company released its Contrail SDN controller and launched its OpenContrail open-source initiative. The company also is pushing an open networking vision that includes switches that can run third-party software and a disaggregated Junos networking operating system that can run on other vendors’ systems that are compliant with the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE).