SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Siris Capital today announced that it has completed its acquisition of the Junos Pulse business from Juniper Networks, the industry leader in network innovation, and incorporated that business under the name Pulse Secure, LLC. Siris Capital will continue to operate Pulse Secure as an independent company with the mission to empower business productivity through secure and seamless mobility.
Pulse Secure, which has more than 200 patents related to the portfolio in secure access and mobile security, will continue to innovate across its market-leading product portfolio, including the Pulse VPN solution, the Pulse network access control (NAC) gateway, Pulse’s mobile security solutions and branded endpoint clients that run on Windows, Windows Phone, Mac OS X, iOS, Linux and Android. Industry veterans and Siris Executive Partners Alfred Zollar and Andrew Monshaw will lead Pulse Secure, serving in the roles of Chairman and CEO, respectively.
“We are excited to launch Pulse Secure as an independent company. It begins operations with a unique combination of assets, from network infrastructure to mobile technologies,” Zollar said. “Most importantly, we’re building upon this business with more than 200 employees who are leading security experts in VPN, NAC and mobile.”
With the successful closure of the sale and formation of Pulse Secure, Rami Rahim, executive vice president and general manager, Juniper Development and Innovation, said, “This is an exciting day for Pulse Secure and we look forward to our partnership moving forward. Juniper remains committed to ensuring customers and partners experience a seamless transition and see no interruptions in sales or support.”
Pulse Secure and Juniper Networks are implementing a comprehensive transition plan designed to provide seamless sales support and customer service for all Pulse customers. “Our number one priority is to ensure that our more than 20,000 customers and 1,800 channel partners continue to receive support without interruption throughout our transition to a stand-alone company,” Monshaw said. “However, we also believe they will notice the fruits of Pulse Secure’s ongoing investments in engineering, marketing, customer support and sales to sharpen our focus on the customer experience through innovation.”
Pulse Secure will focus on two strategic priorities. First, extending its products’ best-in-class market leadership in the VPN and NAC markets, and second, investing in capturing the emerging market opportunity to enable enterprise network mobility via unified management that includes cloud-based delivery of policies to appliances and mobile devices.
“The marriage of Pulse Secure’s network and cutting-edge mobile technologies provides a unique opportunity to shake up the enterprise mobility market,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of engineering and product development at Pulse Secure. “Both enterprises and managed service providers are looking for new ways to deliver service offerings for mobility that empower, rather than restrict, end users.”
“Customers want a consolidated offering for access control, SSL VPN, and mobile device security,” said Jeff Wilson, principal security analyst at Infonetics Research. “Pulse Secure has a long history in all three areas, and is in a great position to provide a unique solution."
Pulse Secure will also focus on improving channel operations, sales execution and marketing. The new company has hired former Juniper executives Doug Erickson, former vice president of worldwide partner programs and development, and Chris Stoddard, former senior director of security sales, to head channel and direct-touch sales efforts, respectively, as well as Jeff Green, former vice president and general manager of Pulse, and Rick Barr, former corporate vice president of operations. Chris Roeckl, a former executive at NetScreen, Fortinet and, most recently, Danaher, has also joined Pulse Secure to lead its marketing efforts.
“Our partner program is critical to make it easy for our partners to do business with Pulse Secure and service their customers with best-in-class mobility solutions,” Erickson, vice president of channel sales, said. “We are putting a heavy investment in channel programs and tools to accelerate our partners’ growth using our solutions.”
Added Stoddard, vice president of direct sales: “We see an ongoing and increasing growth opportunity to help customers securely connect and manage their networked devices, either wired or wireless. This opportunity is broad, existing not just in core markets, such as federal and financial services, but every vertical, regardless of size, and also a strong opportunity for managed service providers."
Pulse Secure is based in San Jose, Calif., and also has development offices in Westford, Mass. and Bangalore, India.
More information on the company, its solutions and management team, can be found at www.pulsesecure.net.
About Pulse Secure
Pulse Secure, LLC is a leading provider of access and mobile security solutions to both enterprises and service providers. Enterprises from every vertical and of all sizes utilize the company’s Pulse virtual private network (VPN), network access control and mobile security products to enable end user mobility securely and seamlessly in their organizations. Pulse Secure’s mission is to enable open, integrated enterprise system solutions that empower business productivity through seamless mobility.
About Siris Capital Group
Siris is a leading private equity firm focused on making control investments in data, telecommunications, technology and technology-enabled business service companies in North America. Integral to Siris' investment approach is its partnership with exceptional senior operating executives, or Executive Partners, who work exclusively with Siris to identify, validate and operate investment opportunities. Their significant involvement allows Siris to partner with management to add value both operationally and strategically. www.siriscapital.com
