In a bid to boost its hybrid cloud strategy, American technology conglomerate Cisco has revealed plans to acquire Mountain View-headquartered Skyport Systems, which offers a secure platform (hyperconverged infrastructure) to run critical IT applications.
"...Cisco announced its intent to acquire Skyport Systems, Inc, a privately-held company providing cloud-managed, hyper-converged systems that run and protect business-critical applications. This acquisition will enable Cisco to use Skyport’s intellectual property, seasoned software and network expertise to accelerate priority areas across multiple Cisco portfolios. Cisco was also an investor in Skyport," said Rob Salvagno, vice president of corporate business development at Cisco.
Cisco will use Skyport to secure hybrid cloud solutions which is becoming the norm. Analysts and experts believe that hybrid cloud poses new management and security challenges as multiple applications or infrastructure merge or talk to each other in the hybrid cloud model. Another direct result of the acquisition could mean that Cisco will not use Skyport's current products and hardware because Cisco already provides its own hyperconverged infrastructure via its HyperFlex product platform.
Nils Swart, Skyport’s head of product, tweeted: “It's been a great ride, lots learned on the path from stealth to product/service growth. Much needed technology, hopefully this will find a good place in @cisco products/services.â€
https://t.co/inWeyq7y5t @skyportsystems < It's been a great ride, lots learned on the path from stealth to product/service growth. Much needed technology, hopefully this will find a good place in @cisco products/services.
— Nils Swart (@NLNils) January 24, 2018
Cisco's plans to acquire Skyport do not come as a surprise because the San Jose-based technology conglomerate is already an investor in Skyport. Cisco pumped in cash after participating in the firm’s $30 million Series C round in 2016. Skyport to date has raised about $67 million. Other notable investors include Alphabet’s GV, Intel and Index Ventures.
Salvagno also said Skyport will join Cisco's Data Center team. "The Skyport Systems team will join the Data Center-Computing Systems Product Group led by senior vice president and general manager Liz Centoni, and the Service Provider-Networking Group led by senior vice president and general manager Jonathan Davidson. The terms and purchase price of the acquisition are confidential," he said.