Report: Nokia In Talks To Acquire Juniper Networks

Fresh off its acquisition of telecom power Alcatel-Lucent last year, Nokia is in in talks to buy Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Juniper Networks, according to a CNBC report.

Nokia's offer values Juniper at about $16 billion, CNBC said citing anonymous sources, a total that exceeds Juniper's market capitalization by about $5 billion. The news spurred Juniper shares to climb nearly 20 percent after markets closed Wednesday.

A Juniper spokesperson told CRN the company would not comment on market speculation or rumors.

[Related: CRN Exclusive: Juniper Revamps Partner Program With 'Laser Focus' On Driving Cloud Execution]

Juniper's networking business has been on a tear this year, boosting its revenue nearly 40 percent in the second quarter, according to IDC's most recent statistics. The company, like others in the market, trails Cisco – which controls more than half of the switching market – by a wide margin in that space, however.

Nokia acquired telecom powerhouse Alcatel-Lucent for about $16.6 billion last year.