Cisco acquires Starent Networks

sold

Cisco has continued its latest acquisition spree by acquiring mobile broadband technology company Starent Networks.

A deal was announced today that will see Cisco pay approximately $2.9 billion for the company, equating to $35 a share in cash.

John Chambers, chairman and chief executive of Cisco, said in a statement: "We are very pleased that Starent Networks will be joining the Cisco team, and we believe their products and engineering talent will greatly benefit our Service Provider customers as they build out their mobile internet offerings."

The boards and directors of both companies have approved the deal, which they expect to be completed in the first half of 2010, but it will have to go through regulatory reviews first.

Cisco recently made the headlines with its acquisition of Norwegian firm Tandberg for $3 billion, adding Tandberg's smaller hardware and networking equipment to its own large-scale teleconferencing technology offerings.

Visit IT PRO's sister title Channel Pro for news, in-depth analysis and industry comment aimed at distributors, resellers and anyone else working in the IT channel.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.