Arris to acquire Ruckus Wireless

Arris is to acquire Ruckus Wireless from Broadcom, along with the latter’s ICX Switch business, for US$800 million, adding a strong set of wireless and wired networking products ad technologies to its assets.

Both Ruckus and ICX Switch were part of Brocade Communications, which Broadcom is in the process of acquiring, and Arris’s acquisition is contingent on completion of that deal.

The acquisition broadens Arris’s portfolio of networking products beyond the home into the education, public venue, enterprise, hospitality, and MDU segments. Arris plans to establish a dedicated business unit within the company focused on wireless networking and wired switching technology. The business unit will be led by current Ruckus COO, Dan Rabinovitsj.

The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in various jurisdictions and other customary closing conditions but does not require shareholder approval by either company, is not subject to any financing conditions, and is presently expected to close approximately one month following the closing of Broadcom’s acquisition of Brocade.  Broadcom presently expects to close the Brocade acquisition in its third fiscal quarter ending July 30, 2017.

“We’ve set an aggressive growth strategy for ARRIS that includes expanding our technology breadth and depth with a focus on wireless broadband. This strategy will also take us beyond the home – and into new, adjacent markets. The acquisition accomplishes all of these goals, expanding our focus into the enterprise networking and wireless spaces, as well as augmenting our portfolio of products serving our existing and emerging customers,” said Arris CEO Bruce McClelland in a blog posting.

“Arris is a leader powering today’s digital world, and this combination signifies a win-win for Ruckus Wireless and ICX switching employees, partners and customers. Joining the ARRIS team will allow us to accelerate the pace of innovation and expand our industry-leading networking portfolio, leveraging ARRIS resources and scale,” said Dan Rabinovitsj, Ruckus COO.

“We are pleased to announce this transaction with ARRIS, which will allow us to focus our energy on quickly integrating Brocade’s Fibre Channel SAN business once we close the Brocade acquisition,” said Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.

The move came as Arris announced fourth quarter revenues of US$1.759 billion, up 60% year-on-year.