Dell To Acquire Force10 Networks

Looking to add networking punch to its datacenter and cloud solutions portfolio, Dell on Wednesday said it has agreed to acquire Force10 Networks.

Terms of the deal, set to close later this summer, were not disclosed, though the San Jose, Calif.-based company posted $200 million in revenues over the past 12 months.

Dell said Force10 lets customers "transform their network infrastructures into an open, reliable and scalable datacenter and cloud computing fabric" via its Open Networking framework, which Dell said is based on open standards, automation and virtualization.

Though it doesn't have the installed base of some of its larger networking rivals, Force10 counts as its customers Web 2.0 and Fortune 100 companies, telecommunications carriers, research laboratories and government organizations. The company sells its networking gear in 60 countries but 80 percent of its business comes from North America.

Dell said it intends to maintain and expand Force10's existing channel partner program just as it did with its acquisitions of Compellent and EqualLogic.

Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on July 20, 2011 at 11:58 AM