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VMware acquisition of Nyansa combines LAN, WAN analytics
The VMware acquisition of Nyansa is expected to provide network traffic analytics that cover the SD-WAN and the wired and wireless LAN.
VMware has acquired Nyansa to integrate its network traffic analytics into the virtualization vendor's VeloCloud software-defined WAN. The acquisition makes good on VMware's promise to build VeloCloud into a broader platform equipped with analytics and security tools.
VMware announced the acquisition this week, saying it expects to close the transaction by the end of April. Financial details of the VMware acquisition were not disclosed.
Last March, Sanjay Uppal, VP and GM of the VeloCloud business unit at VMware, said in an interview that he planned to beef up VeloCloud with capabilities focused on detecting traffic patterns that could indicate a network problem. Nyansa's Voyance anomaly detection system would fit into that strategy.
Nyansa today
Today, Nyansa technology analyzes wire data to detect anomalies in device connectivity to the Wi-Fi system and its supporting wired network. The abnormal activity can indicate a problem affecting the performance of end-user devices on the wireless network.
Over the last 18 months, Nyansa has expanded the capabilities of Voyance by introducing insights into IoT and WAN connectivity.
"All of these capabilities are extremely useful to NetOps," said Shamus McGillicuddy, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates.
Combining Voyance's features with VeloCloud will provide users of the latter with analytics that can help identify the root cause of problems in the WAN and LAN.
"Very few SD-WAN vendors offer this kind of LAN-side insight," McGillicuddy said. "It gives VMware an end-to-end visibility story."
During an analyst briefing before the acquisition announcement, VMware said it also planned to incorporate Nyansa technology into vRealize Network Insight, said McGillicuddy. VRealize provides a holistic view of the virtual and physical sides of the data center.
"It's unclear how that integration will proceed," McGillicuddy said. "But it makes sense to position [Nyansa] next to the rest of [VMware's] network operations tool products."
VMware also told analysts it would sell Voyance as a standalone product for non-VeloCloud customers, said McGillicuddy. That's important because the acquisition would likely raise concerns among companies using Voyance to manage only local area networks (LANs).
"I hope VMware ensures that all network managers, regardless of their choice of SD-WAN vendor, have equal opportunity to look at Nyansa as a network monitoring solution," McGillicuddy said.
Nyansa is the first significant VMware acquisition of 2020. Last year, the company acquired Aetherpal, which provides tools that IT staff uses to support mobile devices remotely. Aetherpal customers were mostly retail, healthcare, logistics and manufacturing companies.
Cisco Systems' Viptela SD-WAN is VeloCloud's most significant competitor. The two companies, along with dozens of other vendors, compete in a market that will grow at an annual rate of nearly 31% from 2018 to 2023, when it will reach $5.25 billion, according to IDC.
