Dive Brief:
- Virtualization vendor Scale Computing plans to purchase managed network services provider Adaptiv Networks for an undisclosed sum, the company said in a Thursday announcement.
- The acquisition will give the hypervisor provider proprietary software-defined wide area networking and secure access service edge products to be offered separately or in a bundled managed network service, Scale Computing said.
- “By combining Adaptiv’s SD-WAN and SASE capabilities with Scale Computing’s managed network services and edge computing platforms, partners gain an expanded portfolio to deliver simpler, more resilient networking and businesses benefit from secure connectivity that scales across distributed environments,” Adaptiv CEO Bernard Breton said in the announcement.
Dive Insight:
The deal, funded by Oaktree Capital Management L.P., deepens the technology portfolio of a rising VMware challenger. Scale, acquired by Acumera last year, has positioned itself as a safe haven for disgruntled VMware customers after Broadcom’s takeover of the company triggered price hikes and partner cuts. By acquiring an SD-WAN and SASE provider, Scale Computing builds on its thesis of bringing edge computing and network services together.
“This will enable our partners and customers to experience secure, agile network connections which will be seamlessly integrated with our managed networking and edge computing software and services,” Scale Computing CEO Bill Morrow said in the announcement.
Scale already offered a managed network architecture, but its SD-WAN and SASE plays focused on aggregating circuits from telcos.
“Adaptiv's robust SD-WAN and SASE solution expands these capabilities in ways that make it very easy to deliver a now expanded portfolio of services to our customers using the SC//AcuVigil architecture,” Scale Computing VP of marketing Marlena Fernández told Channel Dive in an email.
Adaptiv in 2020 bought Elfiq Networks, the SD-WAN division at Martello Technologies’ for $800,000. Martello purchased Elfiq in 2018. The deal added intellectual property to Adaptiv’s established SD-WAN as-a-service practice.
Scale gains new customers in the institutional and public service sectors through the acquisition. The company otherwise tends to target the same types of customers as Adaptiv.
“Adaptiv is very much poised for growth in the same types of market segments served by Adaptiv, Scale Computing and our managed network service provider partners,” Fernández said.
Both companies sell through channel partners. Scale Computing leans on managed service providers, while Adaptiv contracts with tech services distributors to sell in an agency model.
“At this time there are no plans to change any of the go-to-market strategies that Adaptiv has in motion,” Fernández said.
