NEW YORK • Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) said on Monday it would buy Silver Peak, a developer of tools to enhance the performance of wide area networks (WAN), for about US$925 million (S$1.29 billion) in cash.

California-based Silver Peak will be combined with HPE's Aruba business unit, which makes Wi-Fi network gear, the company said.

The deal is an effort by HPE to strengthen its software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) capabilities at a time when demand for the service is increasing, with many working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Businesses around the world rely on WAN, a form of telecommunications network, to connect devices from multiple locations.

"We are seeing an accelerated need for technology like this because we are going to be working from home quite a bit," said Mr Keerti Melkote, president of Intelligent Edge for HPE.

The two parties started to explore a deal late last year, Mr Melkote said. While talks were put on hold when the pandemic hit the United States in March, they resumed as the market stabilised and HPE saw a surge in demand for remote solutions and cost-saving opportunities.

HPE plans to offer Silver Peak's SD-WAN capabilities to its global customer base. It expects the market to grow to US$5 billion from US$2 billion over the next several years.

Founded in 2014, Silver Peak has annual revenue of over US$100 million.

REUTERS