Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is acquiring energy management company JouleX in a deal valued at $107 million cash.
The acquisition of privately held JouleX is expected to be completed in Cisco’s fiscal fourth quarter, the company said today.
Cisco, the biggest provider of networking equipment, said that Atlanta-based JouleX is a complementary to Cisco’s offerings. JouleX manages energy use for enterprise customers and data centers. JouleX’s software accesses these business customers by accessing their networks.
Cisco said that as the need for improved energy management grows, global companies face new energy-related challenges. These companies are seeking solutions that a company like JouleX can offer. It’s a capability Cisco says its own customers are seeking.
“With network-enabled devices increasing exponentially, our partners and customers are asking for this solution today to operationalize their energy management capabilities in the network and reduce cost,” Faiyaz Shahpurwala, senior vice president, Industry Solutions, said in a statement.“JouleX’s cloud-enabled, agent-less architecture will allow our partners and customers to quickly deploy this solution at scale in addressing their IT energy management needs.”
JouleX is just the latest in a series of Cisco acquisitions. The company recently announced plans for a $310 million acquisition of U.K. mobile networking company Ubiquisys. Michael Genovese, an analyst at MKM Partners, told Bloomberg News that the deals are part of Cisco’s diversification strategy.
“They want to lessen their reliance on things that they can sell just one time, like hardware, and things where margins are going down, like hardware,” Genovese said. “They want to increase their reliance on things that they can charge customers on a recurring basis for, and this is right in line with that.”
San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco operates its largest East Coast facility in Research Triangle Park, where the company employs about 5,000.
