Press Release Detail 5.23

Record Revenue of $188.8 Million Grew 28 Percent Year-Over-Year and 7 Percent Quarter-Over-Quarter

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) today released financial results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2014 ended April 30, 2014.

Record revenue of $188.8 million grew 28 percent from the $147.1 million reported in Q3’13. GAAP net loss for Q3’14 was $6.4 million, a loss of $0.06 per share, compared with GAAP net loss of $20.2 million, or $0.18 per share, in Q3’13.

Non-GAAP net income for Q3’14 was $22.8 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, compared with non-GAAP net income of $14.0 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in Q3’13. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP information is contained in the tables below and can also be found in the supplementary tables located in the investor section of the company’s website at www.arubanetworks.com.

“We delivered record revenue driven by strong demand across our product portfolio,” said Dominic Orr, Aruba’s president and chief executive officer. “We believe our exceptional topline performance this quarter reflects the investment we made in extending our sales and channel capacity, coupled with the strength of our differentiated architecture and product portfolio. The need for simple, smart, secure and stable Wi-Fi, particularly for cutting edge organizations moving toward all-wireless environments and 802.11ac, is driving interest for Aruba’s broad product platform.”

Commenting on the company’s financial results, Michael Galvin, Aruba’s chief financial officer, added, “I am pleased with our financial results in the quarter. We delivered strong 7 percent sequential revenue growth and continued to improve our non-GAAP operating margins. Looking forward, we remain confident in our 71%-73% gross margin target range as we introduce new 802.11ac products and see a more balanced product mix. We ended the quarter with $300 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, while continuing our stock repurchase plan.”

Recent Highlights

• Unveiled Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™, a new architecture for IT departments to build an all-wireless workplace designed for improved #GenMobile job satisfaction and productivity. Supporting the new architecture, Aruba also introduced five new software innovations that deliver IT granular visibility, performance optimizations and security automation to support the networking needs of highly mobile employees.
• Launched Aruba Mobility Academy, a global program designed to educate the IT leaders of tomorrow with the world’s first mobility-specific education program for colleges and universities. The new Aruba Mobility Academy provides students with the fundamentals required to build, maintain and advance wireless LAN networks.

Conference Call Information

Aruba will host a conference call for analysts and investors to discuss its third quarter of fiscal year 2014 results today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific time). Open to the public, parties in the United States and Canada may access the call by dialing +1-844-858-9856. International parties my access the call by dialing +1-760-666-3811. A live webcast of the conference call will also be accessible from the “Investor Relations” section of the company’s website at www.arubanetworks.com. Following the webcast, an archived version will be available on the website for at least 90 days. To hear an audio replay of the call, parties in the United States and Canada should call +1-855-859-2056 and enter passcode 41865297. International parties can access the replay by calling +1-404-537-3406 and should enter passcode 41865297.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the growth in demand for all-wireless networks, 802.11ac and the interest in and benefits of our architecture, products and features; our product mix; and our target gross margins. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions, which if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause Aruba’s results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include: (1) business, economic and competitive conditions and growth trends in the wireless networking industry, our vertical markets and various geographic regions; (2) changes in overall information technology spending; (3) our sales leadership transition; and (4) those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors" and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in our most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ,or SEC, on September 24, 2013 and March 6, 2014, respectively, and available on Aruba’s investor relations website at www.arubanetworks.com and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to disclosing financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this press release and the accompanying tables contain the following non-GAAP financial measures: non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS). The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Non-GAAP net income and EPS. Aruba defines non-GAAP net income as net income plus stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes, amortization expense of acquired intangible assets and other acquisition-related expense, and the change in the valuation of the contingent rights liability. In addition, Aruba provides for non-GAAP income tax expense by applying generally accepted accounting principles to non-GAAP income, including direct and indirect tax effects of the pre-tax non-GAAP adjustments described above, excluding tax related to the internal transfer of intellectual property, and accounting for non-GAAP taxes according to the annual method compared to accounting for GAAP taxes according to the discrete method. Aruba defines non-GAAP EPS as non-GAAP net income divided by the weighted average diluted shares outstanding. Aruba’s management regularly uses these non-GAAP financial measures to understand and manage its business and believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding the company’s performance by excluding certain expenses that may not be indicative of Aruba’s “recurring operating results,” meaning its operating performance excluding not only stock-based compensation expenses and related payroll taxes, but also discrete charges that are infrequent in nature. Further, Aruba’s management excludes from non-GAAP net income the tax effects of these non-GAAP financial measures, as without excluding these tax effects, investors would only see the gross effect that excluding these expenses had on the company’s operating results. Because of varying available valuation methodologies, subjective assumptions and the variety of award types that companies can use, Aruba’s management believes that providing non-GAAP financial measures that exclude stock-based compensation expense allows investors to compare these results with those of other companies, as well as provides management with an important tool for financial and operational decision making and for evaluating the company’s operating results over different periods of time. Similarly, by excluding amortization expense of acquired intangible assets and other acquisition-related expenses, and the change in the valuation of the contingent rights liability, less the related tax effects, Aruba’s management believes that investors can better understand and measure the company’s recurring operating results.

There are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP net income and EPS versus net income and EPS calculated in accordance with GAAP. First, these non-GAAP financial measures exclude some costs, namely stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes, that are recurring. Stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes have been and will continue to be, for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring expense in Aruba’s business. Second, stock-based compensation awards are an important part of Aruba’s employees’ compensation and impact their performance. Third, the components of the costs that Aruba excludes in its calculation of non-GAAP net income may differ from the components that its peer companies exclude when they report their results of operations. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures and evaluates these non-GAAP financial measures together with their most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. The accompanying tables, as well as the supplementary materials located in the investor relations section of Aruba’s website, provide reconciliations between these financial measures and their most directly comparable GAAP equivalents.

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company designs and delivers Mobility-Defined Networks that empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a new generation of tech-savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for every aspect of work and personal communication. To create a mobility experience that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™ automate infrastructure-wide performance optimization and trigger security actions that used to require manual IT intervention. The results are dramatically improved productivity and lower operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.

© 2014 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks’ trademarks include Aruba Networks®, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company® (stylized), Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™, Aruba Mobility Management System®, People Move Networks Must Follow®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, RFProtect®, Green Island®, ETips®, ClientMatchTM, Virtual Intranet AccessTM, ClearPass Access Management SystemsTM, Aruba InstantTM, ArubaOSTM, xSecTM, ServiceEdgeTM, Aruba ClearPass Access Management SystemTM, AirmeshTM, AirWaveTM, Aruba CentralTM, and “ARUBA@WORKTM. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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