Cisco has announced its plans to acquire Lightwire, Inc. for the purpose of delivering faster and more cost-effective networks via optical connectivity.
The San Jose-based enterprise has proposed to pay approximately $271 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Lightwire.
Should the deal close as expected during the third quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2012, all Lightware employees based nearby in Santa Clara will be moved over to Cisco’s Transceiver Modules Group Business Unit and Supply Chain Operations Group.
Lightwire comes to the table with its smaller-sized and scalable CMOS-based technology for enabling switches, routers and optical transport systems to have higher-density optical connectivity at a lower cost.
Surya Panditi, senior vice president of Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group, explained in prepared remarks how Lightwire’s resources will figure in at Cisco:
The acquisition of Lightwire will support our data center and service provider customers as they manage the continuing deluge of network traffic alongside tight capital and operating budgets. With the combined know-how from Cisco in silicon design and Lightwire in CMOS photonics, we will transform Cisco’s optical connectivity business to an integrated technology platform that supports our customers’ burgeoning need for cost-effective high-speed networks.
Some of the products calling for a faster network running on this technology are based around video, data, voice, mobility and cloud services.
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