HP makes $2.7B wireless play with Aruba deal

Hewlett-Packard is acquiring Aruba Networks in a $2.7 billion deal that boosts HP’s wireless networking operations.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Aruba Networks will bring 1,800 employees to HP. The company had revenues of $729 million in fiscal 2014, reporting a compound annual revenue growth of 30 percent over the past five years, HP said in a release.

Aruba’s capabilities in next-generation network access solutions for mobile enterprise will complement HP’s networking business and go-to-market breadth, HP said in a release.

The new combined organization will be led by Aruba CEO Dominic Orr and Aruba chief strategy and technology officer Keerti Melkote. The two will report to Antonio Neri, leader of HP Enterprise Group.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of HP’s fiscal 2015 year.

The deal comes as HP is planning into split into two companies -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which will be comprised of the business focused on servers, storage, networking, converged systems, services and software, and HP Inc., which will focus on personal systems and printing.