HP Acquires Technology To Boost ProCurve Networking Line

In a $28 million deal that closed on Monday, HP acquired networking technology it will use to develop the ProCurve Edge Fabric, a family of Ethernet LAN devices that will provide intelligence at the network edge, said Louise Bishop, Americas marketing manager for the ProCurve business unit of HP, Palo Alto, Calif.

"When you are attempting authentication or authorization of access roles or rights for security, you want to be able to do that quickly at the edge," Bishop said. "The more you can do at the edge, the safer and more secure your network is," she said.

The vendor picked up hardware and software technology as well as a group of former engineers from Riverstone. Bishop did not disclose how many former Riverstone employees are joining HP.

HP plans to unveil details of products that will result from the new technology later this year. The products will be sold through HP channel partners.