Cisco CFO mocks HPE’s Juniper acquisition, says the 14 billion dollar deal is creating customer confusion

Cisco

Corporate rivalry took a sharper tone this week after Cisco’s chief financial officer, Mark Patterson, used an investor conference to take aim at Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s acquisition of Juniper Networks. Speaking at the Barclays Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Patterson claimed the merger has introduced fresh uncertainty into the networking market, particularly for customers who rely on wireless infrastructure. He argued that the overlap between HPE and Juniper’s product portfolios is causing hesitation among buyers trying to understand how the combined business will evolve. According to him, Cisco has already begun benefiting from this uncertainty as customers reassess their long term vendor strategies.

Patterson described the wireless segment as the strongest area for both HPE and Juniper, which he believes has intensified customer confusion as the two companies integrate. His remarks mirror earlier comments from former Cisco CFO Scott Herren, who said last year that news of the then pending acquisition had prompted many enterprise buyers to reconsider their relationships with both vendors. Herren told investors at the time that Cisco saw strong momentum in its wireless business, with orders above one million dollars rising more than twenty percent in the fourth quarter.

The rivalry is long standing. Cisco remains the world’s largest networking company, while Juniper has spent decades competing against it in switching, routing, and security. HPE’s interest in Juniper stems from a push to strengthen its position in enterprise networking. The company acquired Aruba Networks in 2015 and later split into two separate entities, HPE and HP Inc. HPE has since focused on servers, storage, and data centre equipment, with networking emerging as one of its key growth areas.

HPE announced its agreement to acquire Juniper Networks in January 2024 in an all cash deal valued at roughly 14 billion dollars, or forty dollars per share. The company said the acquisition would effectively double its networking business and accelerate revenue growth after years of competing with Cisco. HPE argued that integrating Juniper’s software driven capabilities would broaden its product range and increase margins across the combined portfolio.

The acquisition faced scrutiny from regulators, with the United States Department of Justice initially challenging the merger on antitrust grounds. In June 2025, HPE reached a conditional agreement with the DoJ, clearing the way for the deal to move forward. As integration efforts continue, Cisco executives appear confident that the resulting market uncertainty will work in their favour. Both Patterson and Herren have portrayed the situation as a moment where customers may be more open to switching suppliers, giving Cisco a chance to strengthen its position in key enterprise accounts.