Cisco has announced its intent to acquire Viptela, a privately held software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) company based in San Jose, California, for $610 million in cash and assumed equity awards.
Managing the network is becoming more complex, says Cisco, as applications move to the cloud, employees become more mobile and billions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices are added to the network – and this means businesses must improve connections between their branch offices. Customers are turning to SD-WAN to help manage their WAN deployments, to improve access to both the cloud and their corporate network.
Founded in 2012, Viptela provides SD-WAN technologies that reduce the costs of interconnecting dispersed enterprise networks. Its network management, orchestration and overlay technologies make it easy to deploy and manage SD-WAN, the company claims.
“Viptela's technology is cloud-first, with a focus on simplicity and ease of deployment while simultaneously providing a rich set of capabilities and scale. These principles are what today's customers demand,” said Scott Harrell, senior vice president of product management for the Cisco Enterprise Networking Group. “With Viptela and Cisco, we will be able to deliver a comprehensive portfolio of comprehensive on-premises, hybrid, and cloud-based SD-WAN solutions.”
Cisco says Viptel’s approach also aligns with its Digital Network Architecture (DNA) transition to software-driven, automated networks that are more flexible, responsive and dynamic.
With this announcement, Cisco will be able to develop next-generation SD-WAN solutions more quickly, by combining Viptela's cloud-first network management, orchestration and overlay technologies with its own routing platforms, services, and SD-WAN capabilities. Cisco is committed to Viptela's product offering and architecture as well as existing Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN) and Meraki SD-WAN solutions.
The Viptela employees will join the Enterprise Routing team within the Networking and Security Business led by senior vice president David Goeckeler. After the acquisition closes, Viptela and Cisco engineering teams will be working closely together to enhance Cisco's SD-WAN offering and ensure continued support for customers.
The acquisition of Viptela also supports Cisco's strategic transition toward software-centric solutions that deliver predictable, recurring revenue.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of calendar 2017, subject to the customary closing conditions and regulatory review.
