Cisco to acquire P-Cube for $200m

Cisco Systems has agreed to buy software developer P-Cube in a cash-and-options deal Cisco valued at $200m (£110m). 

P-Cube makes software to help service providers analyse and control network traffic.

Cisco plans to continue selling P-Cube's software as stand-alone products for the foreseeable future. It will also work on incorporating the technology into its hardware and software, said Pankaj Patel, general manager of Cisco's broadband edge and mid-range routing business unit.

Patel estimates it will be at least nine months before Cisco completes its software integration, and a year before its hardware is integrated with P-Cube's technology.

Cisco hopes to use the technology to encourage providers to offer more advanced services, such as voice over IP, gaming, video on demand and peer-to-peer offerings. Such services can be monitored and metered with P-Cube's software.

Five-year-old P-Cube has 118 employees, the majority of whom will be offered positions at Cisco, according to a Cisco spokesman.

Stacy Cowley writes for IDG News Service