Cisco to buy Tandberg for US$3B

Cisco has agreed to purchase Norwegian video-conferencing provider Tandberg for about US$3 billion, the companies announced on Thursday.

Tandberg's video and network infrastructure products will be integrated into Cisco's collaboration architecture, subject to regulatory approval of the deal. A new TelePresence Technology Group will be created, headed by Fredrik Halvorsen, Tandberg's chief executive.

"Cisco and Tandberg have remarkably similar cultures and a shared vision to change the way the world works through collaboration and video-communications technologies," said Cisco chief executive John Chambers in a joint statement. "Collaboration is a US$34 billion market and is growing rapidly--enabled by networked Web 2.0 technologies."

As a result of the deal, Cisco will add to its lineup of collaboration products, according to the statement.

Cisco will make a cash offer of 153.5 Norwegian Kroner (US$26.50) per share to acquire the Norwegian teleconferencing vendor, a premium of 11 percent on Tandberg's stock market closing price on Wednesday. The companies expect the purchase to close during the first half of 2010.

Tandberg competitor Polycom said the deal shows the teleconferencing market is increasing. "Today's news reinforces the growing interest in visual communication as a...business tool," said Steve Leyland, Polycom's EMEA managing director, in a statement.

In July, Cisco announced its intention to move its WebEx unified-communications product to the cloud. The move followed Cisco's launch in 2006 of its Unified Communications system, which brings together voice, data, video and mobile communications.