Cisco this week announced its intent to acquire privately held Cariden Technologies, a Sunnyvale, Calif., developer of network planning, design and traffic management software for service providers.
Under terms of the deal, Cisco will pay approximately $141 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Cariden.
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Cariden develops capacity planning and management tools for IP/MPLS networks. Cisco says it will integrate these products with its own nLight technology for IP and optical convergence so service providers can enhance the visibility and programmability of their converged IP/optical networks.
The combination of these products will enable multilayer modeling and optimization of optical transport and IP/MPLS networks, Cisco says.
The Cariden acquisition also supports Cisco's Open Network Environment network programmability strategy by providing WAN orchestration capabilities across the IP and optical transport layers.
Cariden has partnerships with Cisco rivals Juniper Networks and Big Switch Networks.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2013. Cariden employees will be added to Cisco's Service Provider Networking Group, reporting to Shailesh Shukla, vice president and general manager of the company's Software and Applications Group.
Jim Duffy has been covering technology for over 25 years, 21 at Network World. He also writes The Cisco Connection blog and can be reached on Twitter @Jim_Duffy.
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