Cisco Buys Network Design Firm For $34 Million

Cisco has completed its purchase of BCN Systems, a provider of networking software design which Cisco says has developed a unique networking architecture for routing applications. Cisco expects to use BCN's technology and expertise to develop routing platforms that will speed the delivery of next-generation data, voice and video services over a converged network.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $34 million in cash for all outstanding equity interests of BCN. The acquisition price may be increased by as much as $122 million, depending on the meeting of development and product milestones.

BCN's architecture will eventually be incorporated across Cisco's routing portfolio, and be an important part of Cisco's next-generation IP technology. In the future, Cisco says, the architecture will also allow additional hardware acceleration for advanced features such as Quality of Service (QoS) and security.

The BCN team will become a part of Cisco's Routing Technology Group, under senior vice presidents Prem Jain and Mike Volpi. BCN Systems was founded in April 2004 and has 45 employees.

"The addition of BCN's talent to Cisco's world class engineering team will help drive continued innovation for Cisco's portfolio of routing products," Mike Volpi, senior vice president for Cisco's Routing Technology Group, said in a statement. "BCN's network infrastructure design and thinking are truly unique, and that is good news for our customers and the industry at large."