Brocade Continues To Shed Assets And Staff, Sells Virtual Packet Core Business To Mavenir

Brocade Communications continues to shed more of its business assets and staff ahead of its $5.9 billion pending acquiition by Broadcom, disclosing Tuesday the sale of its Virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) product family to Mavenir Systems.

Mavenir, a Richardson, Tex.-based networking software provider to telecommunications companies, says it will leverage Brocade's vEPC technology to enhance its next-generation core network and advanced capabilities around 5G architectures.

"We aim to be a key provider of next-generation network services, with a path to 5G and edge computing for our customers," said Mavenir President and CEO Pardeep Kohli, in a statement. "As the industry transitions towards LTE and 5G, there is a critical and growing requirement for a new, more distributed network architecture and that includes a flexible, microservices-based EPC that allows for the independent scaling of control, data and users in response to different workloads."

[Related: 8 Things Partners Need To Know About Broadcom's Stalled Acquisition Of Brocade]

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Mavenir will combine Brocade's vEPC to its existing network functions, virtualization and software-defined networking offerings as a key part of the company's mobile edge computing and Internet of Things strategy.

Mavenir is also hiring certain Brocade employees associated with its vEPC businesses.

As Broadcom nears the final stages of its acquisition of Brocade, the vendor has announced deals to sell numerous business operations and assets to various vendors. In June, Brocade sold its Vyatta Software Platform to AT&T as well as its virtual application delivery controller business to Pulse Secure.

The company is also planning to sell its network-edge portfolio, which includes the Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch product families, for $800 million to Arris International. It also agreed to sell its data center networking business to Extreme Networks for $55 million.

However, Broadcom's acquisition of Brocade hit a major hurdle in July when the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) halted the process with the potential of dissolving the deal altogether. CFIUS is currently reviewing the deal, which is tentatively expected to close sometime in September or October depending on the review process.