Cisco Snags AXIOSS
Cisco intends to acquire AXIOSS from the UK subsidiary (formerly Axiom Systems) of parent company Comptel Corporation of Helsinki. Why? Because it will enable Cisco to extend network and service management across its platforms and enable service providers to launch new video, mobility, data, and cloud services faster. In other words, Cisco bought this technology to make their products work together.
It’s nice to see the Cisco acquisition engine back on, here we are in August with only three prior Cisco acquisitions in 2011 (Pari Networks in January, Inlet Technologies in February, and newScale Inc in March). After the flip debacle and layoffs, I was wondering if the M&A; folks were still at Cisco.
In May, Cisco said it was going to focus on five core areas driving the business which are: routing, switching, and services; collaboration; data center virtualization and cloud; video; and architectures for business transformation. Gary Moore, COO said “Our five company priorities are for a reason—they are the five drivers of the future of the network, and they define what our customers know Cisco is uniquely able to provide for their business success. The new operating model will enable Cisco to execute on the significant market opportunities of the network and empower our sales, service and engineering organizations.”
Just one problem, these five areas really aren’t connected via Cisco toolsets. The AXIOSS software fixes this, and will specifically strengthen Cisco Prime used mostly by service providers. For Cisco, the price to integrate its five priorities is $31 million in cash. The price for Cisco customers to do the same is yet to be determined.
