Cisco acquires collaboration software firm Versly

Networking technology giant Cisco has acquired San Francisco-based collaboration software company Versly for an undisclosed sum. Versly enables more effective collaboration through Microsoft Office applications.

“Collaboration is a top priority at Cisco,” said Murali Sitaram, vice president and general manager, Collaboration Software Group (CSG), Cisco.

“With this acquisition we’re enhancing our collaboration offerings and improving the user experience by integrating social technologies within the business applications individuals and teams use at work.

“Furthermore, the integration with Versly will drive productivity improvements for organizations and their knowledge workers, many of whom are among the 600 million Microsoft Office users.”

The US$45bn unified comms opportunity

Cisco, said that collaboration is one its five company priorities and represents what it believes to be a total addressable market of US$45bn.

The acquisition will provide more opportunity for Cisco partners to provide enhanced collaboration solutions to customers.

Versly’s software will be integrated into a variety of Cisco’s collaboration offerings including Cisco Quad, Cisco Jabber and Cisco WebEx. For example, users will be able to receive automatic notifications within Cisco Quad when the content of a document has changed, escalate from simply reviewing a document to an instant messaging session through Cisco Jabber, or initiate a web conferencing session from a presentation through Cisco WebEx.

“With this acquisition we are gaining strong talent and innovative technology that builds on Cisco’s successful collaboration platform,” said Ned Hooper, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Cisco.

“We continue to expand our collaboration architecture to change the way businesses work,” Hooper said.