Open Letter to Brocade Partners and Customers on Acquisition Update

Dear Brocade Customers and Partners,

On July 17, 2017, in 8-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Broadcom and Brocade announced they have agreed to withdraw and re-file their joint voluntary notice to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to allow more time for review and discussion with CFIUS in connection with Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Brocade. As a result of the withdrawal and re-filing, the companies now expect to close their proposed acquisition during their fourth fiscal quarters (ending October 28, 2017 in the case of Brocade and October 29, 2017 in the case of Broadcom). As we communicated in our press release, we believe this will impact our planned closing date for the acquisition of Brocade’s data center business from Broadcom.

Firstly, I wanted to provide you with an update on timing, as I know this delay may have an impact on your business. We have been in regular communication with Brocade and Broadcom management to ensure we have the latest information and we anticipate we will close our transaction with Broadcom within 2-3 business days of Broadcom completing their acquisition of Brocade. At Extreme, we are working hard to ensure our readiness to integrate the Brocade team and business as seamlessly as possible post-close and to limit any impact to the data center networking customer and partner communities.

Secondly, our commitment to the Brocade business remains unchanged. In fact, as we learn more about the teams and technology our excitement level has only increased. With that, our guiding principle to protect and support your existing investments and execute the current Brocade data center networking technology roadmap post-close remains unchanged. We initiated a webinar series in June with our PLM leaders talking about our roadmap plans for Extreme and Avaya. This roadmap series has now attracted over 4,000 customers, partners and prospects – and has become a forum for open communications and Q&A. Going forward, this series will include the Brocade data center networking technology and how we intend, following the acquisition, to engage with all customers and partners that utilize this technology.

Lastly, I wanted to take this time to reassure you our acquisition of Brocade’s data center networking business, once finalized, will support our long-term strategy to strengthen our position in the expanding high-end data center market. Nothing has changed from an integration planning standpoint other than the new expected close date, and the teams continue to work closely together on post-close product roadmaps and other preparations in advance of the closing.

I look forward to working with each of you closely in the near future and I encourage you to visit our acquisition landing page for the latest updates.

Sincerely,

Norman Rice
Chief Marketing, Development and Product Officer
Extreme Networks