Brocade has boosted its presence in the area of network function virtualisation (NFV) after agreeing to buy network visibility and analytics provider Vistapointe.
The all-cash transaction was closed today for an undisclosed amount.
The networking firm, which competes with Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent and NEC, plans to extend Vistapointe’s software-based, carrier-grade technologies to its service provider customers, particularly mobile network operators (MNOs).
NFV has gained popularity with MNOs because it offers potential cost savings by implementing network functions in cloud-based software running on non-proprietary hardware.
Brocade said MNOs will now be better able to classify, visualise, manage and secure data traffic – capabilities it says are "essential for MNOs rolling out 4G/LTE technology across billions of mobile devices worldwide".
Brocade, which is part of the 25G Ethernet Consortium, said the new technologies will also compliment its existing MLX-based IP telemetry system.
Jason Nolet, VP of the Switching, Routing and Analytics group at Brocade, said: "The Vistapointe team has recognised the disruptive opportunity of leveraging NFV-based solutions for analytics, and we believe its technology is at the forefront of this space and perfectly aligned to the needs of mobile operators."
Vistapointe’s CEO Ravi Medikonda is expected to join Brocade as VP of the Network Visibility and Analytics product group. The Vistapointe development team will also report to Medikonda as part of the new business unit.
