Hewlett-Packard on Monday said it plans to acquire corporate WiFi device maker Colubris Networks for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition gives Colubris a much longer market reach, according to Forrester Research analyst Chris Silva, and it could help revive HP's networking business which has relegated the Palo Alto, California-based firm to a perennial networking also-ran to Cisco.

“HP is attempting to break away from its heritage of being just a cheaper version of what Cisco offers, and instead using its switches as a platform for more intelligent services and market leadership,” Mr. Silva said.

As part of that effort, HP in June transferred Marius Haas, its senior vice president of strategy and corporate development to head ProCurve, its networking group. The move gave ProCurve added credibility within HP.

“This acquisition reinforces HP's continued investment in ProCurve as an important area of the company,” Mr. Haas said. “We are the number two player and we're excited about the prospects we have in the market.”

Once a tough sell in the business market because of security and performance concerns, WiFi, boosted by a new standard, 802.11n, which addresses those shortcomings, is rapidly emerging as both a corporate technology and a public WiFi business opportunity.

“By 2012 half of the handsets shipped will be WiFi-enabled so this acquisition not only gives HP 802.11n technology, it allows HP to approach its customers with organic WiFi technology rather than technology it resells from Cisco and others,” said Moe Tanabian, a principal with IBB Consulting.

Eight year old Colubris, which has taken $50 million in funding from Prism Venture Works and Doll Capital Management among others, has been courting an acquisition since rival Aruba Networks went public in March 2007.

In April 2007, Colubris hired exit specialist Rob Scott as its CEO and began seeking acquisition opportunities.

While the company was one of the earliest to develop 802.11n-capable products, it has been hampered by its small size and reach in a market dominated one very large player, Cisco and one public company Aruba Networks.

The company also considered going the IPO route like Aruba but decided it will do better as a unit of a large networking firm such as business partners Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent, or HP.