Networking vendor Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced its intention Thursday to acquire Cloupia, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based data centre and cloud automation and management software vendor.
Cisco will pay appx. $125 million in cash and retention-based incentives to acquire all of the shares of the privately-held company, and its employees will be integrated into Cosco’s data centre group once the deal is closed, which is expected to be in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal 2013. In a statement, Cisco said Cloupia’s infrastructure management software will enhance the Cisco Unified Computing System and Nexus switching portfolio with a single pane-of-glass view into the automation of compute, network, storage, virtual machine, and operating system resources.
“Cisco’s data centre strategy is based on the premise of making it easier for customers to deploy a unified and integrated infrastructure that is efficient, fast, and flexible,” said David Yen, senior vice-president and general manager, Cisco data centre business group. “This strategy involves the delivery of the industry’s most comprehensive data center networking portfolio, which includes physical and virtual products that support multiple hypervisors and storage stacks. The addition of Cloupia’s automation software enhances the efficiency of such unified data center infrastructures, helping to accelerate the transition from physical to cloud environments more quickly and effectively.”