F5 Networks is said to be lining up to acquire Brocade's virtual Application Delivery Controller (ADC) business, the latest hunk of Brocade's IP suite to be sold off to meet the terms of Brocade's $5.5 billion acquisition by Broadcom, a deal announced last November. Brocade sold its Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch business to Arris International in February for $800 million.
The latest divestiture -- reported by companies contacted by the private equity firm shopping the ADC asset -- is said to involve Brocade's Virtual Traffic Manager, formerly known as the SteelApp Traffic Manager. Brocade had acquired the technology from Riverbed in 2015 for an undisclosed fee, and Riverbed itself had acquired the tech from Zeus Technologies in 2011 for $140 million.
Sources say Brocade has "20-30 good size customers" for the Virtual Traffic Manager, driving a run rate of round $30 million.
Although F5 offers software versions of its ADC which can be spun up as virtual machines, the bulk of the company's business – fiscal first quarter revenue of $516 million reported in January – stems from the sale of its Big-IP ADC hardware, so this software-only product would be a departure, and a good one according to Zeus Kerravala, founder and Principal Analyst with ZK Research.
Others question how much it would benefit F5.
Brocade and F5 refused to comment on the rumor.