As expected, Arris has confirmed the purchase of the Ruckus Wireless and ICX switching operations from Brocade Communications.
According to an Arris announcement, the leading cable industry technology vendor will pay $800 million in cash, plus the additional cost of unvested employee stock awards. The deal will add to Arris’ portfolio of both wired and wireless networking products, aimed at residential, enterprise and other markets.
RELATED: Arris reportedly near announcing $1B Brocade acquisition
In the last month, Arris had tipped its hand at such an M&A deal, noting that it had to transition to wireless networking products as operators including Comcast and Charter Communications edge into the wireless business.
“We’ve set an aggressive growth strategy for Arris that includes expanding our technology breadth and depth with a focus on wireless broadband,” said Arris CEO Bruce McClelland in a blogged statement. “This strategy will also take us beyond the home—and into new, adjacent markets. The acquisition accomplishes all of these goals, expanding our focus into the enterprise networking and wireless spaces, as well as augmenting our portfolio of products serving our existing and emerging customers.
“Ruckus is leading the industry in the development of an exciting new approach for delivering very high-bandwidth cellular service—areas that are of high interest to both mobile and fixed Service Providers. Combining the strengths of Arris and Ruckus will allow us to be agile, innovative and evolve our services as those lines blur between wireline and wireless operators.”
The deal isn’t only subject to regulatory and shareholder approval; it’s also contingent on Broadcom closing its acquisition of Brocade, which was announced Nov. 2. Broadcom expects to close that purchase by the end of its third fiscal quarter (July 30). Arris’ purchase of the Brocade assets is expected to follow by one month.
For Arris, the deal follows the $2.35 billion purchase of Motorola in 2013 and the $2.1 billion acquisition of Pace in 2015.
“Through our existing collaborations with the Ruckus team, we are very familiar with the amazing talent and innovation that have created this world-class brand,” McClelland added. “We plan to introduce Ruckus as a dedicated business unit within Arris, led by current Ruckus COO and industry veteran, Dan Rabinovitsj. Under Dan’s exceptional leadership, the team’s focus will remain on technological innovation, channel and partner ecosystems and vertical market development.”