Cisco to acquire Composite Software for $180M
Cisco stated on Thursday its intention to acquire data virtualization software and services company Composite Software.
The networking giant said it hopes to include its Smart Services portfolio and extend its services platform by connecting data and infrastructure. It said that its recent acquisition of SolveDirect will help forge the path into a unified software services platform.
Under the proposed deal, Cisco will pay around $180 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares in Composite.
Composite employees will join Cisco's services team once the deal closes.
Composite provides software that connects different kinds of data on a network, including cloud and big data sources, and consolidates it as if it were in one place. In doing so, it allows companies to better visualize their data in order to make more accurate realtime decisions.
Cisco wants its customers to better leverage network knowledge through virtualization. Current trends show that servers are being replaced by virtualized servers, and the networking firm wants to accelerate the shift from physical data integration to virtualized data.
Cisco president and chief operating officer Gary Moore said in prepared remarks, "Cisco's strategy is to create a next-generation IT model that provides highly differentiated solutions to help solve our customers' most challenging business problems."
"By combining our network expertise with the performance of Cisco's Unified Computing System and Composite's software, we will provide customers with instant access to data analysis for greater business intelligence," he added.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.