Design, development and networking company, Extreme Networks, has announced they will be acquiring wi-fi rivals, Aerohive Networks for $272 million (£215 million).

The hope of the purchase is to build on Extreme Network’s cloud management, edge capabilities and network access control (NAC).

The computer networking equipment company, Aerohive, currently has around 30,000 customers, making them the second-largest providers in Local Area Network (LAN). Their customer base consists of clients such as schools, governments, retail and health care providers.

This also gives Extreme Networks the opportunity to develop their foothold in the key verticals that Aerohive has.

Ed Meyercord, Extreme Networks’ CEO and President said, “The acquisition of Aerohive establishes our leadership in cloud, AI, and ML, adding a proven and mature cloud services platform and subscription service model for Extreme’s customers and partners,”

He continued, “Extreme continues to invest in software and AI to expand the automation capabilities across our portfolio of edge-to-cloud networking solutions. The ability to improve user experiences, lower operating expenses, and deliver cloud-managed networks is key to our strategy.”

Extreme Networks hope that acquiring Aerohive will increase their own revenue by 30%.