Arista mentioned the acquisition will higher put together it for next-generation SD-WAN calls for as AI-driven information middle site visitors reshapes WAN necessities
Arista Networks has agreed to accumulate VMware’s former VeloCloud Software program-Outlined Extensive Space Community (SD-WAN) expertise from Broadcom, increasing its portfolio past conventional information middle and campus networking into the WAN and department markets.
Broadcom got here to personal VeloCloud by way of its $61 billion acquisition of VMware, however thought-about the SD-WAN enterprise outdoors its core focus. Arista plans to combine VeloCloud’s expertise into its enterprise networking choices to help clients searching for unified campus, department and WAN options.
Based in 2012, VeloCloud was an early chief in cloud-delivered SD-WAN. Nonetheless, the enterprise struggled underneath Broadcom’s possession following its acquisition of VMware, as Broadcom prioritized security-centric networking together with higher-margin personal cloud and AI initiatives.
The sale underscores Broadcom’s technique of specializing in information middle and infrastructure software program aligned with its semiconductor and enterprise targets, whereas divesting belongings like SD-WAN that fall outdoors its core, high-margin enterprise.
For Arista, the acquisition offers necessary portfolio diversification, enabling it to higher compete with bigger rivals akin to Cisco by increasing past information middle and campus networking into WAN and department environments.
“With the completion of the VeloCloud acquisition, our clients will now have wealthy configuration selections akin to leafs/spokes for department websites,” wrote Jayshree Ullal, Arista’s CEO, in a weblog publish. “This contemporary WAN structure delivers multipathing, encryption, in-band community telemetry, segmentation, software identification and site visitors engineering right into a single atomic identifier for WAN hub/backbone and spoke/leaf functions.”
She added, “In at this time’s AI period, clients want greater than conventional SD-WAN. WAN silos will not be viable, as site visitors attributable to generative AI in information facilities (both on-premise or hosted within the cloud) will more and more influence the WAN.”
The acquisition is anticipated to shut in Arista’s fiscal Q3 2025, pending regulatory approvals and customary closing circumstances. Monetary phrases weren’t disclosed.
