HP ProCurve acquires Colubris

HP ProCurve has made its first acquisition of a company, with the purchase of wireless-networking provider Colubris Networks for an undisclosed sum, HP announced on Monday.

As part of HP, ProCurve has been involved in many acquisitions before, but this is its first to be undertaken in its own name. Colubris is a specialist in networking products and, especially, the 802.11n wireless-networking standard. In May, Colubris revealed what it claimed was the industry's first "intelligent, enterprise-class" 802.11n wireless LAN access point.

According to ProCurve's new chief executive, Marius Haas, the purchase was a natural one. "Colubris has software we were not offering," he told ZDNet.co.uk. "It is synergistic." If all goes well with the purchase, Haas said, he expects the deal to close "around 1 October".

The company said in a statement that it sees the purchase as one that will "expand HP ProCurve's reach into vertical markets, such as hospitality, transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, service provider and education".

"The acquisition of Colubris Networks will strengthen ProCurve's hardware-management platform and services, significantly improving the overall performance capabilities of both wired and wireless networks, and will deliver even more best-in-class choices for our customers worldwide," Haas added.

According to market-research firm Dell'Oro, HP is the number-two player in the worldwide market for Ethernet switches and ports, after Cisco, which is the clear number one.

Haas was appointed chief executive of ProCurve in June, after the previous chief executive of the networking group left earlier that month. At the time, HP would offer no comment as to why John McHugh, widely seen as instrumental in consolidating the company's second-place position in the networking business, had left the company suddenly and without comment.

When asked again about this question, Haas said the company was "not making comment about [McHugh's] departure".