Cisco spends $1.2bn for cloud computing outfit Meraki

NETWORK EQUIPMENT MAKER Cisco will splash out $1.2bn to buy cloud computing outfit Meraki in a move to boost its cloud service offerings to midsized companies.

With offices in San Francisco, New York, London and Mexico, Meraki offers its customers a variety of technologies including WiFi, switching, security and mobile device management that can all be managed from the cloud.

By focusing on the mid-market Meraki has been able to carve a niche offering such services to companies that might not otherwise be able to afford moving to the cloud from their traditional on-premise systems.

Hilton Romanski, head of corporate business development at Cisco said in a blog post that Cisco made the decision to buy Meraki for its strong customers base of 20,000 organisations using its products aimed at key networking requirements.

"When compared to other opportunities, Meraki built a unique cloud-based business from the ground up that addresses the broader networking shift towards cloud, not just within wireless," he said.

"Meraki created a massively scalable architecture that offers easy to deploy, secure, and manage networks. They didn't obsess about the number of features, but instead focused on those that could be simplified or removed entirely."

Meraki customers include firms like Burger King, retail outlets Next and East, and many education facilities such as the University of Virginia.

When the acquisition is completed Meraki will form Cisco's new Cloud Networking group and be led by Meraki CEO Sanjit Biswas.

This article was originally published on V3.