Computerworld

Juniper jettisons mobile security business

Sells Junos Pulse to private equity firm for $250 million
  • Jim Duffy (Network World)
  • 23 July, 2014 08:07

Juniper Networks has divested its mobile security product line, selling the assets to a private equity firm for $US250 million.

As some expected, Juniper sold off its Junos Pulse mobile security unit to Siris Capital, the company announced today. Junos Pulse products were designed to bring integrated connectivity, security and application acceleration to Android, Apple's iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile operating systems.

The key ingredient of Junos Pulse was SMobile, a mobile security software company Juniper acquired in 2010 for $US70 million. SMobile developed products to protect smartphones, tablets, netbooks and notebooks from viruses, spyware and identity theft.

Junos Pulse was reported back in April to be on the block. Other Juniper assets expected to be divested under the company's Integrated Operating Plan for streamlining operations are wireless LAN and access routing.

Juniper disclosed the Junos Pulse sale during its Q2 earnings announcement this week. For the quarter, Juniper beat Wall Street revenue and earnings estimates, with sales hitting $US1.23 billion and earnings per share $0.02 better than expectations.

Juniper's guidance for Q3, however, is low: revenue of $US1.15 billion to $US1.2 billion, and earnings per share $US0.04 to $US0.09 lower than consensus estimates. Juniper says it is dealing with "some customer-specific dynamics" that are impacting results.