Juniper Networks announced it is buying Cupertino, California-based Mist Systems for $405 million. Mist is a company that is a pioneer in cloud-managed wireless networks powered by artificial intelligence. The deal is expected to close in Juniper Networks’ fiscal second quarter and it is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Juniper’s enterprise networking portfolio will be combined with Mist’s next-generation wireless LAN (WLAN) platform with Juniper’s best-in-class wired LAN, SD-WAN, and security solutions to deliver high-quality end-to-end user and IT experiences.
“Mist Systems is a great fit for Juniper and for our enterprise customers,” said Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim in a statement. “Juniper and Mist share a common strategic goal. We believe in the Software-Defined Enterprise and Mist’s focus on bringing AI to IT is consistent with our core belief that we need to simplify operations and improve customer experience while lowering costs. With Mist, we are adding a market leading solution to complement our portfolio, drive the cloud transition within the enterprise and accelerate our enterprise growth.”
Mist’s AI-driven wireless platform makes Wi-Fi more predictable, measurable, and reliable. And Mist also developed the network industry’s only AI-driven virtual assistant called Marvis. Marvis simplifies wireless troubleshooting and provides insights into client and network behavior.
Plus Mist uses virtual Bluetooth LE technology along with Wi-Fi and IoT to deliver scalable and cost-effective location-based wireless services to customers like indoor wayfinding, proximity notifications, traffic analytics, and asset tracking.
The operations are managed via Mist’s modern cloud microservices architecture for maximum scalability, agility, and performance. And Mist’s customers include 2 of the Fortune 10, 7 of the top 40 retailers, the flagship facility at the largest healthcare system in the U.S., one of the top mobile carriers, and one of the largest airline companies in the world.
This acquisition will expand Juniper’s presence in the rapidly growing cloud-managed segment of the wireless networking market. And the deal enables Juniper to extend cloud-based management and end-to-end AI-driven visibility (“AI for IT”) across the end-to-end enterprise network (from access to the WAN) to offer a software-defined and highly differentiated solution for simplifying operations, improving user experience, and lowering the total cost of ownership.
“Mist Systems has developed a unique blend of wireless, AI and cloud expertise that has enabled us to stand out from the competition and bring much needed innovation to the wireless space,” added Mist Systems CEO Sujai Hajela. “By combining these proficiencies with Juniper’s expansive channel reach, world-class support and best-in-class networking and security products, we believe we will be well poised to change the IT landscape by ushering in a new generation of AI-driven products.”
Here is a video of how Mist works:
Dartmouth College VP and CIO Mitch Davis also pointed out that “the joint Mist and Juniper solution delivers excellent visibility into the entire wired/wireless stack and uniquely leverages AI for proactive automation” — which he said will be a perfect fit for their campus environment.
Prior to the acquisition, Mist raised more than $88 million in funding from investors like GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, Dimension Data, Cisco Investments, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and several others. Mist was also founded by Bob Friday (CTO) and Brett Galloway (chairman).
