Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) sold its remaining Telco Solutions assets to systems integrator HCLTech in a deal that completes a circle that started last year and is a took a big step toward its post-Juniper Networks acquisition

HCLTech is purchasing HPE’s Telco Solutions group for an undisclosed amount. This will include taking on approximately 1,500 HPE employees in product engineering, research and development, and client relationships spread across 39 countries.

HPE’s Telco Solutions group provides operations support systems (OSS), home subscriber server (HSS), and 5G subscriber data management (SDM) to more than 200 deployments globally serving more than 1 billion devices.

HCLTech said it will use those assets to bolster its network transformation platform, network-as-a-service (NaaS) offerings, and “AI-led autonomous networking.”

“Integrating this highly skilled HPE team and their market-proven IP strengthens our product-aligned model and accelerates our shift toward higher-value, IP-led services and non-linear growth,” Anil Ganjoo, chief growth officer and global head of telecom, media, publishing, entertainment, and technology at HCLTech, explained in a statement.

Rami Rahim, EVP of HPE Networking and former CEO at Juniper Networks, threw his support behind the move.

“The specialized expertise of our Telco Solutions business is a great fit for a systems integrator like HCLTech that serves this market specifically and can deliver innovation and impact to communications service providers,” Rahim wrote in a blog post tied to the deal. “This business has delivered substantial value to telecom companies worldwide and is poised for continued success as part of HCLTech.”

India-based HCLTech was recently crowned by IDC as a top security service edge (SSE) vendor and earned recognition from ISG as a top network service provider.

HPE’s telco transformation

The deal also comes 18 months after HCLTech acquired HPE’s Communications Technology Group (CTG). That arrangement, which came just months after HPE announced its $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, included employees and CTG’s systems integration, network applications, video solutions, data intelligence, and business support system (BSS) operations.

“Our priority is to focus on the markets most relevant to customers’ needs across edge, hybrid cloud and [artificial intelligence],” HPE CFO Marie Myers wrote at that time. “Sometimes, this means identifying areas of our business that could be better nurtured and grown through another company or partner.”

Myers at that time also touted HPE’s Telco Solutions group, noting that division “will continue to deliver value for HPE’s telco customers and partners.”

Myers also touted many of HPE’s telecom-related acquisitions. These included OpsRamp, Athonet, and Axis Security “to accelerate our strategy and enhance our capabilities in IT operations, private 5G and security, respectively,” and pointed to comments from CEO Antonio Neri about the vendor’s ongoing focus toward supporting telecommunication providers’ 6G network plans.

“We are accelerating our innovation in the telco market to help our customers modernize their networks,” Myers wrote. “By focusing our efforts around key strategic areas of strength, we are well positioned to help telcos succeed in the 6G era and beyond.”

That focus has obviously changed following close on the Juniper Networks deal. HPE has been slowly working through its Juniper Networks integration process, with Rahim recently gushing about an “embarrass of riches” now under his purview, but competitors have been quick to poke at conquest opportunities.

Juniper Networks’ telecom presence was initially viewed as a big reason behind HPE’s $14 billion bid. Analysts noted that the combined assets would boost both vendors.

“Juniper definitely has an established, proven telecom business. In fact, it could be Juniper helping HPE pulling through more business on the telecom side because of these existing relationships,” Ron Westfall, research director at The Futurum Group, noted in a podcast shortly after that deal was announced. “I think the combination with HPE can help Juniper’s telecom fortunes. And the fact is when you’re looking at the overall 5G space, I think there is simply new opportunities that will give the new HPE-Juniper opportunities that aren’t going to be unique to Cisco or say players like Dell and Lenovo, that is looking at O-RAN specifically.”

Rahim in his latest note pointed more toward HPE playing a support role in front-facing 5G and 6G deployments. The executive specifically pointed to recent work with Ericsson and Red Hat to create a validation lab in Sweden focused on fostering integrated multivendor telecommunication platforms targeted at operators looking for scalable core infrastructure to power their 5G network deployments.

HPE also recently licensed its Juniper Networks-derived radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller (RIC) platform to Nokia. That deal also calls for Nokia to take on the associated development team.

In exchange, HPE will more aggressively tap its work with AI and networking to help communication service providers (CSPs).

“Through AI-native networking and automation technologies, HPE is empowering CSPs to simplify operations, enhance security, and strengthen their defenses against cyberattacks,” Rahim wrote. “We are also looking ahead to 6G, where we expect to be a major player in xHaul networks, in-network AI inference, edge compute, and network security.”