Aruba Networks has completed its acquisition of privately-held Azalea Networks, a supplier of outdoor mesh networks. The acquisition includes an operations centre in Beijing which will complement Aruba's existing R&D centres in Bangalore and Silicon Valley.

Azalea Networks develops mesh products for outdoor industrial applications in the oil and gas, logistics, manufacturing, mining, petrochemical, public safety, smart grid and transportation sectors. These products will enable Aruba to deliver secure mobility solutions that span from indoor carpeted spaces to the outdoor industrial enterprise.

In a mesh network, data packets hop wirelessly from radio to radio. Azalea's mesh technology allows it to also carry latency-sensitive video and voice traffic, with full fidelity, over long distances. The value of this capability has been field-proven in demanding applications like the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, in which 600 mesh nodes provided voice, video, and Wi-Fi access over 19 square miles (50 square kilometers) of the city.