Networking equipment maker Cisco will be adding new virtualisation and data storage tools to its arsenal upon its acquisition of memory systems provider Whiptail for some US$415m.
Cisco’s acquisition of the privately held firm based in Whippany, New Jersey, is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.
Under the deal, Whiptail is to strengthen Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) strategy and enhance application performance by integrating Whiptail’s scalable solid state memory into the UCS computing architecture.
Using Whiptail’s memory systems will simplify customers’ data centre environments by providing the required performance in a fraction of the floor space, Cisco added.
“We are focused on providing a converged infrastructure including compute, network and high-performance solid state that will help address our customers’ requirements for next-generation computing environments,” said Paul Perez, vice-president and general manager, Cisco Computing Systems Product Group.
When the acquisition is complete, Whiptail’s employees will be integrated into the Cisco Computing Systems Product Group.