“No one will be left behind”. That was the key, repeated promise from the leadership of HPE and Juniper Networks, in a Q&A for press and analysts this afternoon, following the approval of HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of the networking vendor, which we covered earlier this week.
HPE CEO and president Antonio Neri (left above) was joined on the video call by Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim (right), who will now become the CEO and president of the new HPE division called HPE Networking.
HPE Networking is a straight combination of HPE Aruba Networks and Juniper Networks, with Juniper’s 10,000 staff becoming part of the HPE corporate structure, said Neri.
IT Europa asked about partner programmes going forward. Rahim said: “We want to protect the partner businesses of both companies. This is day one for the combination of the Aruba and Juniper businesses, but no one will be left behind.
“It is a true north strategy that leverages the best of both worlds, along with the computing, data storage, AI and other products and services that the wider HPE business can offer to partners and customers.”
Neri added: “Rahim will build this model on the networking side, and this will work its way into the rest of our HPE portfolio. Every partner I know is super excited about this combination.
“We unveiled a new and comprehensive HPE channel programme at HPE Discover in Las Vegas last week, and the Juniper portfolio will be integrated into this over time.” It was confirmed that Juniper Networks partners will be invited to join the HPE channel programme, although final details will be fleshed out as the integration moves forward.
“I’m like a kid in a candy shop, we have all these new products from the HPE side of the business to combine with Juniper products, and that includes the Greenlake SaaS offering,” said Rahim.
On product integration, Neri chipped in: “No customer will be left behind, there will be quick wins, and those that will need architectural integrations that may take longer to deliver.”
Rahim confirmed: “We will work on a thoughtful integration strategy that will leave no one behind.”
On the competition, including Cisco, Rahim said: “I’ve devoted my career in competing with them, but we are now the only tech provider to have all aspects in the IT stack to offer, along with very wide partner reach.”
Neri added: “We are able to offer more innovation to our customers. In the US we have seven major competitors, and outside the US we have more [including Huawei].”
He confirmed that all existing customer product contracts will be honoured and supported until the end of their existing agreements.
