SAN JOSE, CA., December 2, 2010 --  Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced its intent to acquire privately held LineSider Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of network management software that helps customers build the network services necessary to securely create and deploy cloud computing infrastructure. Based in Danvers, Mass., LineSider will enhance Cisco's ability to rapidly provision network services.

"Cloud computing represents a significant opportunity for Cisco customers to create more effective business models and increase the operating efficiency of the network," said Jesper Andersen, senior vice president of Cisco's Network Management Technology Group (NMTG). "With the acquisition of LineSider, Cisco will gain a key component to helping customers make this shift. LineSider's advanced network management software integrates both physical and virtual network services with a policy-based approach and makes networks more flexible and responsive to change."

LineSider's software is designed to enable customers to organize their network resources into a flexible cloud infrastructure that integrates the network with customers' existing IT operational tools and processes. This network abstraction layer allows customers to provision and deploy numerous individual network components much more quickly than previously possible, dramatically reducing network operations costs and accelerating service delivery. LineSider's unique policy-based approach automatically responds to pre-determined business scenarios and provides maximum performance across networking products and service delivery platforms. A partner-centric approach remains a cornerstone of Cisco's strategy in the cloud computing space, and LineSider's technology will strengthen Cisco's ability to work with a broad community of software partners, particularly within the service management space.

In addition to providing Cisco with advanced technology, the acquisition of LineSider will bring an industry-leading team of engineers to the company. Upon the close of the acquisition, the LineSider team will become part of Cisco's NMTG. Financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be complete in the second quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2011.

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Source: Cisco Systems