Earlier this week, it was reported that storage giant EMC is looking to acquire Juniper Networks. The networking firm is currently in a poor state, having just laid off 5 percent (around 500) of its employees, as part of its aims to cut expenses by $150 million.

EMC was previously deemed as the perfect fit to acquire Juniper Networks, as the acquisition would boost the company towards converged infrastructure.

Rumors about the acquisition died when Joe Tucci, EMC’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer, clearly stated during the company’s earnings call that they are not looking to acquire the networking firm.

“The reality is that Software Defined Networking complements the network infrastructure, and EMC has no plans to drive deeper into networking by acquiring a network hardware company,” Tucci stated.

Research firm ISI Group had earlier named EMC as the most likely and capable of acquiring the troubled company, as Juniper Networks currently has a $10 billion valuation. And it’s no secret that EMC and Cisco’s partnership is on shaky ground – Juniper Networks can very well fill the void that Cisco will be leaving behind.

“With EMC/VMware and Cisco fracturing, picking up Juniper for data center switching and cloud service provider routing could credibly replace Cisco and fill out EMC’s one-stop storage/server/switching/virtualization IT and cloud fabric offering,” reads one report.

Aside from clarifying that EMC will not be buying Juniper Networks or any other networking company, Tucci reiterated that they have a strong relationship with Cisco.

“For the record, EMC and Cisco have benefited from a decade-long partnership,” Tucci said. “My close personal relationship with John Chambers goes back over 20 years, and we enjoy our friendship of trust and confidence in each other that is reflected in the way our teams work together.”

Tucci’s announcement seems to have clarified two issues surrounding EMC at the moment: the rumored Juniper buyout, and their supposedly troubled partnership with Cisco.