News at Last: It's Extreme

We have news at last: Extreme Networks is acquiring Brocade’s Data Center Networking business. This includes the SLX, VDX and MLXe routing and switching product lines, Network Visibility and Analytics products, and most importantly, my team: StackStorm.

Extreme Networks has been around a long time - they were founded in 1996, the same year as Foundry, which was acquired by Brocade in 2008, and became my business unit. They’ve had ups and downs over the years, but business is going well right now. Their share price is up, and they have been on an acquisition spree recently, acquiring Zebra Wireless, and 3 weeks ago announcing their intention to acquire Avaya Networking.

This gives them all the pieces to provide end-to-end IP networking solutions, and gives them scale to compete.

The deal is expected to close 60 days after Broadcom completes its acquisition of Brocade, which is scheduled to happen by July 30. Until then we will continue to operate as separate businesses. We don’t know exactly what it will mean for my team, but given that network automation was explicitly mentioned in investor call, we should find a good home.

The legal nature of the company means that it should be possible for me to transfer my L-1 visa. Hopefully we’ll find out for certain soon, which removes at least some of the uncertainty about my future.

I am constrained in what I will be able to say about our future until the deal closes, but today things are looking positive. Here’s hoping that it stays that way, and let’s not forget my colleagues in Brocade’s Software Business Unit: we all hope they find a good home soon too.