Chris DePuy

Technology Analyst and co-founder of 650 Group

Nokia’s Bid To Acquire Infinera May Drive Further Industry Changes

On June 27, Nokia announced plans to acquire Optical Transport rival Infinera. The indicative bid was for $2.3B, representing a 37% premium to a six-month volume-weighted price. Additionally, Nokia plans to spin off its Submarine Networks business (which even today uses the historically French-domiciled Alcatel in its name) to a… Read More »Nokia’s Bid To Acquire Infinera May Drive Further Industry Changes

HPE Discover Atmosphere 2024: AI Networking Emerges

We attended primarily the Atmosphere Track of the Discover partner conference in Las Vegas, where HPE Aruba Networking announced significant new developments.  Among the new technology announcements were Private 5G radios, Observability-related integrations, IoT Gateway enhancements, and SASE.  Of course, we attended HPE CEO Antonio Neri’s keynote at the Las… Read More »HPE Discover Atmosphere 2024: AI Networking Emerges

Fortinet’s Planned Acquisition of Lacework Expands its Opportunities Significantly

Fortinet announced plans to acquire Lacework, a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) company. For those who have kept up with the cybersecurity industry news, in April of this year, Lacework was an acquisition target by privately held Wiz. However, that deal, reportedly valued between $150-200M, never materialized. Lacework opens up… Read More »Fortinet’s Planned Acquisition of Lacework Expands its Opportunities Significantly

Telecom Disruption in Optical and RAN Showing Growing Importance

Internet Services and Satellite Services will clash with Telecom Services in the coming years, causing changes to equipment demand. Hyperscalers and Satellite services companies are more vertically integrated (they make more of their own equipment) and, in the future, will deliver more services that compete with Telecom services. Our forecasts,… Read More »Telecom Disruption in Optical and RAN Showing Growing Importance

Fortinet Accelerate 2024 Emphasizes the “Platform”

We attended Fortinet’s annual Accelerate conference, joining a record-setting 4,000+ attendees to learn more about the company’s latest advancements. The main message we took from Accelerate was Fortinet’s emphasis on its “platform” capabilities across its broad portfolio. Security Fabric Platform: Fortinet showcased its expansive product line. The company’s platform strategy,… Read More »Fortinet Accelerate 2024 Emphasizes the “Platform”

Cisco Closes Splunk Acquisition and Closes the Gap with Palo Alto Networks, too

Today, Cisco completed its acquisition of Splunk, many months ahead of its initial estimates at the time of the deal announcement. Over the years, we have tracked Splunk’s exposure to Observability, SIEM, SOAR, and other reportable segments. What’s interesting is that on a pro-forma basis, when we add up Cisco… Read More »Cisco Closes Splunk Acquisition and Closes the Gap with Palo Alto Networks, too

Starlink and Peplink Partner To Offer Maritime SD-WAN

SD-WAN router company Peplink became an Authorized Technology Provider for Starlink. The initial application of Peplink routers is on cruise ships, where its advanced hardware accepts links from multiple Starlink satellite terminals on large cruise ships, enabling over 1 Gbps capacity. Peplink had been working with Starlink hardware and made… Read More »Starlink and Peplink Partner To Offer Maritime SD-WAN