AirWave Wireless, a privately-held multi-vendor wireless network management firm, said on Wednesday it has agreed to be acquired by WiFi gear maker Aruba Networks for $37 million.

The merger of the two firms would give Aruba a leg-up on rivals such as Meru Networks and Trapeze Networks. But at least one analyst believes that the merger could ultimately hurt AirWave, which post-merger will operate as a business unit of Aruba.

"Once news of this acquisition makes the rounds, customers could begin seeing the AirWave solution as partisan and the continued use or AirWave could unfairly favor Aruba," said Chris Silva, an analyst with Forrester Research.

In many cases centralized, multi-vendor network management products and services are delivered by firms independent of the companies whose equipment is being managed.

Users could be concerned that in multi-vendor installations, AirWave's network management gear could cast blame on other vendors devices in cases where Aruba's equipment may not be working up to its full potential, Mr. Silva said.

"But the upside of the acquisition is this makes Aruba more of a trusted network solution provider versus a pure play wireless LAN vendor," he said.

The deal gives Sunnyvale, California-based Aruba, which went public in March, entree to AirWave's business customers that use WiFi gear from vendors such as Cisco, H-P, Tropos, Colubris, and Avaya, he said.

But very little will change competitively, according to Greg Murphy, AirWave’s chief operating officer, when AirWave begins calling on clients as a newly-minted division of Aruba.

"We actually compete with in-house management products developed by Aruba's rivals," Mr. Murphy said. "We provide support for multiple vendors' hardware whether we get cooperation from them or not."

San Mateo, California-based  AirWave would not reveal its total funding. Ignition Partners, IdeaLab, and Westbury Partners are the firm's primary investors.