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News >> Technology >>
Cisco eyes more Indian companies
By agencies
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Monday, 17 October 2005, 19:30 IST
Bangalore: Cisco Systems, the worldÂ’s top networking vendor has acquired over half a dozen technology companies in less than a year. The company, which was co-founded by techies of Indian origin, has paid about $780 million to buy these firms.
In January 2005, the company had acquired a San Jose-based Airespace, an enterprise wireless LAN product provider for $450 million in stock and assumed options.
Acquiring companies is nothing new to Cisco, the company has used acquisition as a growth strategy. “It is well known that Cisco is the most prolific acquirer of start-ups of Indian entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley,” said Arun Natarajan of Venture Intelligence India.
The company acquired FineGround Networks in June 2005, a Campbell, CA-based firm for about $70 million. In July, it took over NetSift, a San Diego, CA-based developer of content processing technology for high-speed networking and security, for about $30 million.
So far the company has acquired over 100 companies. The biggest ever acquisition for the company was Cerent in 1999 at $6.9 billion. The company’s President and CEO, John T Chambers said: “Cisco will continue to acquire companies in India. We will continue to acquire in India. We acquire areas where we already have a major R&D presence.”
He said that outside U.S., the companyÂ’s largest R&D center is in Bangalore, which shows not only of our commitment but also our openness to partnership within India.