Juniper Networks has allied with Aerohive Networks to offer cloud-managed Wi-Fi with it switches, an alternative to Cisco’s Meraki cloud-based WLAN product.

The Aerohive arrangement follows a recent partnership Juniper struck with Ruckus Wireless to deliver a unified wired and wireless system to mid-size and large enterprise customers, including education and hospitality. The Ruckus arrangement was reached after a few unsuccessful attempts by Juniper to offer WLANs through various sources, including Aruba Networks, which was purchased by switch rival HP.

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The Aerohive union will be targeted at distributed enterprises, including retail, K-12 education, and state and local governments. And it will be cloud-managed where the Ruckus offering apparently is not – this is optimized for enterprises with a large number of remote locations and limited IT resources. But customers will also have a choice of deployment in the cloud or on-premises, depending on their need, Juniper says.

The companies will combine Juniper’s EX series Ethernet switches, Junos Space Network Director and SRX series Services Gateways with Aerohive’s 802.11ac Wi-Fi access points and HiveManager WLAN planning, management, troubleshooting, and analytics system. The products are available now.

Cisco acquired Meraki almost three years ago for $1.2 billion. Meraki specializes in cloud-based management of wireless LAN, security appliances, and mobile devices for midmarket companies.

But Cisco’s plans for Meraki are expected to go beyond that. As Cisco’s Cloud Networking Group, Meraki’s infrastructure is expected to be the foundation for different delivery and management of a broader product set.

This story, "Juniper lines up Aerohive for cloud WLANs" was originally published by Network World .