HPE signals major networking overhaul with AI-driven ambitions after Juniper acquisition

Hewlett Packard Enterprise unveils its integrated, AI-enabled networking strategy following its July 2025 acquisition of Juniper Networks, aiming to create autonomous, self-driving networks and expand its AI and cloud offerings across Europe.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise used its annual European customer gathering in Barcelona in early December 2025 to signal that networking will be a central plank of its strategy following the acquisition of Juniper Networks earlier that year. According to HPE, the purchase, which closed in July 2025, was intended to create a more complete, cloud-native and AI-driven portfolio and to accelerate the company’s push into AI and hybrid cloud markets.

HPE has reorganised its networking businesses under a single HPE Networking umbrella, combining Aruba and Juniper into two subbrands and placing Rami Rahim, the former Juniper chief executive, at the helm. Industry briefings at the conference stressed a rapid integration effort that HPE says has gathered thousands of engineers, product managers and services staff to form a larger, unified networking organisation.

The company presented a strategic ambition to move networking from a manually managed task to an autonomous, AI-driven model it describes as self-driving operations. HPE has said it will blend Juniper’s Mist AI capabilities and Aruba Central intelligence so that models and action engines operate across both platforms, with initial interoperability slated for the first quarter of 2026. HPE executives argued that networks purpose-built for AI are essential to handle increasing operational complexity.

HPE also unveiled a set of product and software advances intended to support that vision. New Juniper-derived hardware was shown as part of an AI data-centre and edge portfolio, and Apstra-based intent analytics is being married to Aruba’s observability tooling to deliver full-stack visibility and automated intent verification. The company further announced plans to ship Wi‑Fi 7 access points compatible with both Aruba and Juniper platforms early in 2026 and outlined collaborations with chip and systems partners to accelerate AI workloads.

The deal itself has not been uncontroversial. The U.S. Justice Department filed suit to block the combination earlier in 2025, citing competition concerns, and the companies subsequently reached a settlement that required HPE to divest certain campus and branch products and to grant limited access to some Mist AIOps capabilities to resolve regulators’ objections prior to closing. HPE has said the acquisition will still roughly double the size of its networking business.

Beyond product announcements, HPE is pushing a regional strategy for enterprise AI infrastructure in Europe. The company and Nvidia have established an EU-based AI factory lab in Grenoble to let customers test AI workloads in a sovereign environment, and HPE characterised Barcelona’s event as the start of an accelerated innovation phase as it enters fiscal 2026 with enhanced integrations across networking, AI and cloud software. Customers at the conference were reported to be upbeat about the pace of technical unification.

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Source: Fuse Wire Services