Juniper Networks Inc. is to expand its stake in the software-defined networking space by acquiring Massachusetts-based BTI Systems Inc., which specializes in building cloud and metro networking gear.

Juniper announced its intentions yesterday via a blog post from Jonathon Davidson, its executive vice president and general manager of development and innovation. Davidson said the “combination of BTI Systems’ accomplished team, innovative and open solutions with Juniper’s longstanding switching and IP routing expertise positions the company well to take advantage of the fast growing DCI [data center interconnect] and Metro markets.”

According to him, the plan is to integrate BTI’s offerings with Juniper’s NorthStar Controller, a traffic optimization WAN SDN controller that seeks out the best path for network traffic, thereby helping to boost network utilization and dodge any over-provisioning. BTI’s technology would effectively blur the line between the metro networks and the data center.

Juniper refused to say how much it’s paying to gobble up BTI, though it did say the transaction will move fast, with the deal expected to be done before summer.

For his part, Colin Doherty, president and CEO of BTI, said the company is looking forward to expanding its reach and stronger growth once the deal is completed.

“We plan to build upon BTI Systems’ roadmap to deliver customers best-of-breed, open and automated packet optical solutions,” Doherty wrote in his own blog post. “Together with Juniper, we believe we will bring to the market outstanding synergies in technology, portfolio, expertise, skills, channel partners and a customer focused culture.”

BTI’s website states that it has more than 380 customers in over 40 countries, including a variety of carriers, content providers, collocation companies, cloud infrastructure firms and service providers.

Juniper’s first foray into SDN dates back to 2012, when it snapped up Contrail Systems for $176 million. One year after that acquisition, Juniper launched its Contrail SDN controller together with its OpenContrail open-source project.

Juniper is pushing an “open-networking” vision that forsees a world where switches can run third-party software, with a disaggregated Juniper networking operating system that can run on third-party vendor’s hardware so long as it’s compliant with the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE).

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