Ensoft’s high-performance team would augment Cisco’s ongoing innovation.
Cisco, an American multinational technology conglomerate has announced to acquire British networking software specialist Ensoft for an undisclosed sum. Rob Salvagno, head of Cisco’s M&A and venture investment team, announced the deal in a company blog. The deal to be closed in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal 2019, terms of which were not disclosed.
Ensoft will continue to provide IOS XR to Cisco
Privately held Ensoft, which is headquartered in Harpenden, England, provides software solutions for service provider networks. Ensoft currently develops IOS XR—the distributed carrier-class software that fuels Cisco’s highest end multi-terabit routers—features for Cisco and will continue to support networking software offered through Cisco. Ensoft has about 70 software engineers specializing in networking software.
Together the companies to simplify the service provider networks
Post closure, Ensoft’s employees will join Cisco’s Service Provider Networking Group, which is led by Sumeet Arora, Senior Vice President, and General Manager. In a blog post, Cisco stated, the acquisition will “further our commitment to simplify service provider networks through automation and programmability.”
Rob Salvagno, Cisco, stated, “Cisco’s networking software strategy is centered on enabling simplified, scalable, trusted, and automatable IP network infrastructure,” he added, “Acquiring the Ensoft team accelerates this strategy and strengthens our commitment to our service provider customers.”
He further added, “Cisco has developed the Cisco IOS XR operating system for service provider routing systems, which offers rich IP networking innovation across a variety of devices and form factors from a single code base. Ensoft brings a strong talent pipeline to Cisco, adding a high-performance team to augment Cisco’s ongoing innovation in networking software.”
The deal would help Cisco to move from hardware-based revenues to software and subscription-based revenues. Buying a company that is chock-full of software engineers that work on service provider solutions seems to be a good move for the tech giant.
