Cisco buys IoT platform vendor Jasper Technologies for $1.4 billion
Cisco said Wednesday it plans to acquire Internet of Things startup Jasper Technologies Inc. for $1.4 billion in cash.
Featured
Jasper operates a cloud-based Internet of Things platform to manage services and endpoints for Web-connected embedded devices. Jasper has a sizable amount of companies on its platform as well as connections to mobile network operators.
With this acquisition, Cisco is doubling down on the IoT segment in a big way. Last year Cisco made it clear that it wanted to move deeper into the Internet of Things with a bevy of announcements focused on the manufacturing, transportation, utilities, and oil and gas industries, amongst others.
In October, Cisco snapped up Cologne-based startup ParStream, which provides a database for analyzing large amounts of IoT data in near real time anywhere on the network.
"Cisco views Jasper as a unique IoT service platform that is disrupting a massive market with strong strategic alignment with Cisco," Cisco VP Rob Salvagno wrote in a blog post.
"Jasper understands that enterprises making connected products need a simple, scalable and interoperable IoT service platform that can support the billions of connected devices estimated to be connected to the network in the next five years. Together, Cisco and Jasper will deliver exactly that to our customers."
On top of its IoT expertise, Jasper also gives Cisco more than 3,500 enterprise customers and 27 service providers across 100 countries. Jasper also has existing IoT partnerships with legacy IT vendors SAP and IBM.
Going forward, Jasper CEO Jahangir Mohammed will oversee Cisco's new IoT Software Business Unit, reporting to SVP Rowan Trollope. Cisco said it plans to bolster Jasper's IoT service platform with more services such as enterprise Wi-Fi, security for connected devices, and analytics.
The deal, which includes assumed equity awards and retention-based incentives, is expected to close in the current fiscal quarter, Cisco said.