Arista Networks has closed its acquisition of the VeloCloud SD-WAN portfolio from Broadcom, turning a once-rumoured transaction into a move that reshapes both companies’ positions in the enterprise SASE/SD-WAN arena.
Mauricio Sanchez, Sr. Research Director at Dell’Oro Group, unpacks the significance of this deal—tracing VeloCloud’s rise as a cloud SD-WAN pioneer, the challenges faced under Broadcom, and the new growth opportunities and risks now on Arista’s horizon.
Sanchez summarises the bottom line of the deal as, “VeloCloud’s core technology remains well-regarded, and demand for high-performance SD-WAN remains intact. However, the platform languished under Broadcom’s cost-driven stewardship. Broadcom’s loss of VeloCloud—its only native SD-WAN pillar—means its Symantec/Carbon Black security unit can no longer claim single-vendor SASE. Still, because integration between the two portfolios was minimal, the security division can pivot to partnerships with other networking leaders without significant disruption.
The bigger story, however, is Arista’s gain: a culturally aligned, engineering-driven home that can reignite VeloCloud innovation, restore channel confidence, and extend Arista’s influence from the data-centre spine to the branch edge. If Arista executes on integration and closes its marketing and enablement gap, the acquisition could transform a challenged asset into the catalyst for Arista’s next phase of growth and position the company for a broader SASE play.”
