InfoVista Buys WAN Optimization Visionary Ipanema Technologies

InfoVista, a network performance management and service company, on Wednesday acquired WAN optimization specialist Ipanema Technologies for an undisclosed amount.

"The enterprise industry is changing, and with this acquisition we're enhancing the value proposition to enterprises by providing the full solution offering and even more capabilities and technologies," said InfoVista CEO Philippe Ozanian in an interview with CRN. "Both Ipanema and InfoVista strongly share the conviction that [communications service providers] must play the leading role in helping enterprises make the most of the new hybrid network and hybrid cloud paradigm."

InfoVista's acquisition of Ipanema -- both based in Paris -- is part of a strategy to orchestrate network and application performance, as well as expand its software-defined WAN capabilities, in order to benefit both CSP partners, according to Ozanian. InfoVista is targeting the enterprise market with plans to grow both companies due to greater opportunities in areas such as Software-as-a-Service, WAN optimization and managing hybrid networking.

[Related: Executive Q&A: How Ipanema Technologies Is Moving Into The U.S. Market]

"We want to leverage our dominant position within CSPs in order to help them provide those next-generation business services to their corporate users. That's what this acquisition is all about," said Ozanian. "We are really dedicated to that mission to help our CSPs to have the best network and to monetize that network."

Vince Arden, founder and CFO of Preferred Communications Systems, a Tinley Park, Ill.-based solution provider and Ipanema partner, said the acquisition is a win-win situation because InfoVista will retain Ipanema's staff.

"As long as the people at Ipanema are able to continue to deliver services and achieve greater potential, that's truly a win-win in my book," said Arden. "I believe any time a company can make an acquisition to accomplish its goals sooner, it’s always something I believe is worth the investment versus slower development, as time to market is a competitive advantage that is a key to success."

Ozanian said InfoVista has purchased about one company each year since it was acquired by the equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2011.

"We have decided to accelerate our strategy through acquisitions," said Ozanian.

Ipanema was recently considered a visionary in the WAN optimization field by Gartner's Magic Quadrant for WAN optimization for 2014. Ipanema said the acquisition will accelerate its vision of business-centric application performance management through all-in-one, fully automated solutions, which is an increasing demand in the market.

Ipanema's solutions are used by more than 700 global enterprises and are being used by Tier-1 CSPs to enable the digital transformation of their corporate customers, according to a release. In addition, the acquisition enables customers of both companies to automatically manage, control and guarantee application performance over hybrid WAN.

Over the past 18 months, Ipanema has pushed to build out its presence in the U.S. market while also forming partnerships with leading service providers like AT&T and Link America.

"We're going to really help Ipanema be stronger, especially in America," said Arden. "We want to do everything to retain and keep the energy, motivation and talent of Ipanema today."

PUBLISHED APRIL 8, 2015