HP should buy Juniper

I'm not sure whether the Compaq merger is far enough in the past for Hewlett-Packard to contemplate another major acquisition. But if so, I believe that HP could really shake up with networking status quo by buying Juniper.

This move would certainly take some chutzpah, and it would cost HP somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 billion to pull this off. Nevertheless, I believe that an acquisition of Juniper makes a ton of sense.

First off, HP and Juniper have almost no product overlap. HP has a strong business in Ethernet edge and core switches, as well as lots of network management strength with OpenView and now Opsware. Juniper, by contrast, is a leader in routing, security and application networking. A combined entity would offer top-notch edge-to-core network infrastructure, along with all the goodies needed to secure and manage the whole enchilada. In other words, HP would be able to pretty much match Cisco Systems product for product.

Would enterprise users actually buy networking equipment from HP/Juniper? Yup. Cisco owns the enterprise network market and there isn't a No. 2 vendor in sight. Viable vendors that establish this position tend to do extremely well. Remember Amdahl and HDS in the mainframe market? These guys gave IBM fits in the data center for years. And it isn't like HP is a stranger to the enterprise.

Finally, this new networking tide could float a lot of other HP boats, pulling in server, PC, software, and professional services dollars as well. HP would also bolster its already strong presence in the global telecommunications sector, an industry that is growing quite well again.

Lots of system vendors like IBM and Sun Microsystems walked away from networking, and Cisco has benefited every time. Quietly, HP has built a multibillion-dollar, successful business with its ProCurve networking division.

A Juniper acquisition would be an extremely bold step. Although HP may not want to stick its neck out quite this far, I believe there is a potential huge payoff if it does.

[Dachi]

Would I like Juniper more as an HP product? No

Maybe you like the idea from HP's perspective, but I think Juniper will be fine on their own merits. Their M and T series carrier class products are strong, as are their Netscreen/Firewall solutions.

Enterprise network is a huge market and somewhere Juniper lacks a great deal of presence, and moving into this area on their own merit would take longer, but I think longer term this is a better move for them than getting to be some kind of division under HP.

I think with the right attention to the J series (small buisness) and MX series (High port density ethernet) that they can carve their own niche out in the enterprise space.

I know what I think would be a successful enterprise strategy for Juniper, I won't detail it here but I can say that it does not involve letting HP call the shots.

[LarryLo]

Good Call

Yup that makes sense, Juniper needs HP to take it to the next level. right now, no one really competes with Cisco on that level. This would make for great competition and ultimately benefit the Networking gear consumers.

[meh130]

Interesting

Some were forecasting Juniper to buy Extreme (pure switch company) last year, but it did not happen. I think an HP-Juniper play might work, but I think a better play would be for Juniper to buy a switch player.

There has been speculation this year that Brocade would buy an Ethernet switch vendor, so we may see some consolidation in the network industry over the next 18 months.

[lloda]

This would be disasterous. HP's strength is enterprise. Juniper's strength is carrier. The business strategies and personalities are vastly different. Juniper would lose it's creative freedom and will eventually lose it's edge. The resulting brain-drain will kill Juniper. It will be back to Procurve. Brocade is a better fit for HP.