Cisco buys social networking vendor
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(InfoWorld) - Cisco Systems, the biggest vendor in IP (Internet Protocol) networking, is diversifying into social networking. The router pioneer has agreed to acquire Five Across, a social-networking software company in San Francisco. Terms of the acquisition, which was announced late Thursday in California, were not disclosed. Cisco expects the deal to close in its fiscal third quarter, which ends April 28. Cisco doesn't plan to set up its own social-networking site to compete against News Corp.'s MySpace or Facebook. Instead, it will use Five Across technology to create software that will help enterprises better connect with their customers. In addition, service providers may be able to build services with the technology and sell them to their business customers, Cisco said. Five Across sells a software platform called Connect Community Builder. It includes a variety of features that enterprises can build into their Web presence for their customers, such as individual profile pages, friend lists, discussions, and posting of blogs, videos and podcasts. The company, founded in 2003, has just 11 employees, according to Cisco. Last year NHL Enterprises L.P.'s National Hockey League launched a site for hockey fans, called NHL Connect, using Five Across software. The acquisition is the first by Cisco's recently formed Media Solutions Group and part of Cisco's expansion into both the consumer and media categories. One target market for the Five Across technology will be entertainment and broadcasting companies such as The Walt Disney Co. and Comcast. But Cisco also expects social networking, like other consumer tools such as instant messaging, to be embraced by general enterprises. Consumers are now demanding social networking capabilities and want to see them on companies' Web sites, according to Cisco. Traditional media providers are ripe for using social networking, said IDC consumer analyst Danielle Levitas. "There's quite a bit of need for experimentation from [traditional] media companies to show their stockholders they can take advantage of the Web and they're not going to cede it to new media companies," Levitas said. A good social-networking component to a media company's Web site could help foster viewer loyalty or even be a place to test new shows among core viewers, she said. Consumer electronics and PC companies could also take advantage of social networking, hosting communities of consumers to share tips and advice, augmenting their technical support offerings, Levitas said. Meanwhile, social networking, with its constant conversations and user-generated content, is also good for Cisco's core business of selling network infrastructure, Levitas said. "Web-based content is incredibly bit-heavy," Levitas said. Social networking brings end users into the game so there is a lot of data coming upstream from the edge of the network as well as downstream from the company.
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TechWeb - Two small enterprise WLAN vendors release significant upgrades following last week's announcement that Cisco Systems is acquiring a third competitor, Airespace.
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Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO - message board) announced late Thursday that it is buying routing software startup BCN Systems Inc.
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LONDON - The shopping spree continues at Cisco Systems Inc., which said Monday (Aug. 23) it would buy privately-held P-Cube Inc., a developer of IP service platforms.
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The networking gear maker buys privately held network security software developer Perfigo.
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Cisco Systems said it agreed to acquire privately held Airespace Inc. for around 450 million dollars in stock and assumed options in a move to strengthen its offerings of wireless, local area networking products.
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Cisco Systems is making an acquisition designed to reinforce its security lineup, the company said Thursday. The networking giant announced it will pay $74 million in cash for San Francisco start-up Perfigo, a developer of network access control products.
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Cisco Systems Inc.  said on Wednesday it would buy privately held Reactivity Inc., a maker of equipment used in computer networks, for $135 million as part of an effort to diversify from its core business of making routers and switches.
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Cisco has bought IP service control vendor P-Cube of Sunnyvale, California, in a cash deal worth about $200m. The company says the deal should allow its customers to run advanced IP services such as voice
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Cisco Systems has announced that it will acquire privately held startup Protego Networks for $65 million. The move brings many possibilities to Cisco.
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Cisco Systems has agreed to buy software developer P-Cube in a cash-and-options deal Cisco valued at $200m (Â£110m). P-Cube makes software to help service providers analyse and control network traffic.
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Cisco Systems Inc., whose core business is selling the routers and switches that direct data traffic over computer networks, said it has acquired a small social networking company that allows businesses to create MySpace-like communities on their Web sites.
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Cisco has completed its 3.2 billion acquisition of WebEx online collaboration services.
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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK - Cisco Systems is acquiring a California-based network management appliance developer for approximately $16 million in cash.
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Social networking site Facebook Inc. has bought Parakey Inc., a tiny startup that had been developing software it bills as a Web-based operating system.
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Cisco Systems today confirmed that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held BCN Systems, a Californian networking software design firm.
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Cisco Systems signed an agreement on Thursday to acquire NetSolve, which manages information technology systems, for $128.7 million in cash.