Cisco has closed its $4.5 billion Acacia Communications purchase in a deal that will reinforce the tech giant’s commitment to the ‘Internet for the Future. Optical interconnect technologies that let data center operators, webscale companies and service providers offer ever-faster service access to widely distributed resources. It also reinforces Cisco’s commitment to optics as a critical building block for networks of the future.
Maynard, Mass.-based Acacia offers a complete portfolio of long-distance data-transmission solutions that address the full range of applications in the data-center-interconnect , optical interconnect technologies for hyper-scale cloud and wide-area network segments for metro, regional, long haul, and subsea links.
Cisco first announced plans to buy Acacia Communications for $70 per share in cash in a $2.6 billion deal on a fully diluted basis in July 2019. However, the newer deal for $4.5 Billion with Acacia’s technology will be now part of Cisco. It will help CISCO to continue to make networks smarter, simpler and more secure.
Cisco sees the Acacia technology helping it lead customer transition to the 400G-plus market “with a disruptive technology that collapses the IP and optical layers in the form of pluggable coherent technology.
The Acacia acquisition also addresses another trend we’re seeing-the move from chassis-based optical line systems to pluggable technology-for customers who want to simplify operations and reduce the complexity of managing multiple layers in the network. These pluggable modules would be plugged directly into a router or switch, as per Gartner.
With this acquisition, Acacia won’t be a publicly traded company per its acquisition by Cisco and all the Acacia employees will join Cisco’s optics business as part of its Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group.
