Friday, 25 July 2008

Brocade Buys out Foundry Networks

Brocade has announced a definitive agreement to purchase Foundry Networks, a performance and total solutions provider for network switching and routing.

The acquisition, Brocade claims, will position it as a leading provider of enterprise and service provider networking solutions, with innovative technology and product leadership from the Internet to the heart of data centers.

Brocade also believes that the combined company will be well positioned to create unique synergies, and to leverage the respective technologies, customer segments, and distribution channels of the two companies to accelerate growth and innovation in key markets.

"Through this deal, Brocade has now uniquely positioned itself in the networking industry to deliver a leading, alternative solutions portfolio spanning local, metro, wide and storage area networks," said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president, Global Enterprise Research at the Yankee Group.

"The breadth and depth of this portfolio make Brocade a viable option for customers looking for complete networking solutions capable of addressing their constantly evolving and increasingly complex IT challenges."

Under the agreement, Brocade will pay a combination of 18.50 dollars of cash plus 0.0907 shares of Brocade common stock in exchange for each share of Foundry common stock, representing a total value of 19.25 dollars, based on Brocade's closing stock price on Friday, July 18, 2008 of 8.27 dollars.