Juniper acquires cloud networking startup WiteSand

Juniper Networks has acquired zero trust network access control solutions provider WiteSand for an undisclosed sum.

By identifying which devices may safely connect to a network, network access control (NAC) plays a vital role in most IT environments. Even so, conventional NAC solutions rely on on-premises hardware and monolithic codebases, which can be difficult to administer and exceedingly costly to scale.

Cloud-based NAC operations can address these limitations, leveraging artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) for automated provisioning, monitoring, analysis, and security.

WiteSand's acquisition will bring Juniper a highly proficient team of engineers and a comprehensive technology platform that will enhance the firm’s ability to develop a next-gen NAC solution as part of its AI-based enterprise solution portfolio.

“Both WiteSand and Juniper share a common vision of disrupting the antiquated NAC space with cloud agility and AI-driven intelligence,” said Sujai Hajela, EVP of AI-driven enterprise at Juniper Networks.

“Their premier NAC technology and renowned engineering team are the perfect complement to Juniper’s AI-driven enterprise portfolio, which was recently distinguished as a Leader in the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure with furthest scores for both ability to execute and completeness of vision.”

“When NAC is integrated with wireless assurance, wired assurance, WAN assurance, IoT assurance, and indoor location services under a common Mist cloud and AI umbrella, Juniper customers can deliver amazing experiences to their network users, from the client all the way to the cloud,” added Hajela.

Earlier this month, Juniper released Secure Edge, a firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS) with a single-stack software architecture, powered by the firm’s Security Director Cloud, to help organizations secure their mobile workforce.