The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Saturday it has reached a settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), clearing HPE's $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. As part of the DOJ-HPE Juniper Deal, HPE is required to divest its "Instant On" WiFi network business geared toward small businesses.

The settlement, reached just days before trial, requires HPE to sell its global Instant On campus and branch WLAN business—including assets, intellectual property, R&D personnel, and customer relationships—to a DOJ-approved buyer within 180 days. In addition, the agreement mandates that the combined firm license key Juniper software to independent competitors, including an auction of Juniper's AIOps for Mist source code.

"This settlement ensures that small businesses and critical industries will continue to have competitive choices in secure, enterprise-grade networking," said DOJ Antitrust Division head Gail Slater. The DOJ emphasized the deal preserves competition that litigation could not otherwise guarantee.

HPE and Juniper issued a joint statement welcoming the settlement. "Our agreement with the DOJ preserves the benefits of this combination for our customers while creating greater competition in the global networking market," said Antonio Neri, HPE President and CEO.

Rami Rahim, Juniper Networks CEO, added, "This agreement clears the path to deliver modern, AI-native networking solutions essential for our customers' hybrid cloud and AI-driven needs."

The DOJ filed suit in January, arguing the merger would reduce competition for enterprise-grade wireless local area network technology vital to hospitals, schools, and small businesses nationwide. HPE countered that the deal already had regulatory approval in the EU, UK, and elsewhere, and would expand competition against market giants like Cisco and Huawei.

The settlement must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after a public comment period. The case is U.S. v. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. et al., case number 5:25-cv-00951.