Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Antonio Neri and Juniper Networks' CEO Rami Rahim have nearly committed to Juniper Networks’ full product and service offering as part of HPE’s pending $14 billion acquisition of the networking firm. But they left themselves just enough wiggle room to back out of that if needed, which could cause concern for current enterprise customers.

Neri in a blog post this week maintained high enthusiasm for the deal, reiterating the complementary nature and operational benefits it will gain by acquiring Juniper. This includes potential networking overlap and the ability for Juniper to boost HPE’s artificial intelligence (AI), data center, service provider and cloud businesses.

However, the executive added that decisions will eventually have to be made.

“We are pursuing this acquisition because we believe the combination of HPE and Juniper Networks will radically change the networking industry — not by eliminating products from either portfolio — but by creating greater choice in this sector,” Neri wrote. “The incredible thing about a combination like this one is that there are strong offerings on both sides and by bringing them together, we will be accelerating value and flexibility for all of our customers.”

“While it is too early for us to make any decisions or announcements regarding future product roadmaps,” he continued, “my commitment is that all HPE portfolio decisions will continue to be made carefully and thoughtfully.”

Rahim nudged that commitment just slightly further, though also maintaining the necessary room for possible adjustments.

“And on that point, let me be clear: our goal in embarking on this acquisition is not to eliminate products, but to offer enhanced choice and more innovation for all of our service provider, cloud provider and enterprise customers,” Rahim wrote.

The one concerning point for HPE and Juniper customers might be that Neri’s comments eerily echo those made by Broadcom CEO Hock Tan last year as he attempted to assuage skeptical VMware customers on the benefit of Broadcom’s acquisition. Many of those customers are now scrambling for potential alternatives.

Forrester Research Principal Analyst Andre Kindness wrote in a research note when the deal was announced that “the journey ahead will be rife with obstacles for Juniper and HPE/Aruba customers alike.” Kindness explained that one important move for HPE would be to “rationalize/optimize the portfolio, the products and the solutions.”

“HPE will try to reassure you that nothing will change; it doesn’t make sense to keep everything, especially the multiple AP [access point] product lines (Instant On, Mist and Aruba Aps), all the routing and switching operating systems (Juno, AOS-CX and ArubaOS) and both management systems (Central and Mist),” Kindness wrote. “Though not immediately, products will need to go and the hardware that stays will need to be changed to accommodate cloud-based management, monitoring and AI.”

“This happened at Cisco with its routing, switching and wireless product lines after the company acquired Viptela and Meraki. My bet? I believe that Aruba Central will be phased out for Mist. This will take a few years to happen. If HPE stops adding features to Aruba Central, then take that as a sign that Mist is taking over here.”

Others have noted these changes could cause concern for current Juniper customers.

“Customer concerns are also prominent, particularly regarding the integration of Juniper’s services into HPE GreenLake and the fate of Juniper’s ASIC foundry,” Ron Westfall and Steven Dickens from the Futurum Group wrote. “Customers can be apprehensive about potential changes in service quality and technological continuity. HPE’s ability to maintain Juniper’s high standards in customer support and product innovation will be critical to the enduring success of this merger.”

Company management maintained that they expect the deal to close by early 2025.