Dell to Buy Force10

Force10 Networks has apparently finally found a home according to reports today.  Dell, the giant computer maker, will be buying the company according to reports today as part of an effort to raise its profile with enterprise customers and of course the cloud.  The deal is expected to close later this summer, and terms were not disclosed.

The news suggests the company’s long independent run will finally come to an end.  Force10 was rumored to be on the verge of an IPO for many years, eventually filing an S-1 with the SEC in the Spring of 2010 but not following through.  In 2009 at the height of the financial crisis, they merged with fellow independent Ethernet equipment maker Turin Networks.  They are said to have about $200M in annual revenue based on the last twelve months according to the PR from Dell.

Dell is looking to increase its position within the datacenter market and compete with hybrid equipment offerings aimed at the cloud such as that of Cisco.  It’s one more indication that you can’t power a cloud without taking the network that hooks it up very, very seriously.

 

 

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Telecom Equipment