Cisco on Wednesday said it will be buying Jasper Technologies for $1.4 billion.
That includes a cash payment for the company, assumed equity awards, and additional retention incentives for Jasper employees who join Cisco.
Jasper makes a cloud-based network service for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
It has raised $205.3 million in venture funds.
New CEO Chuck Robbins has been saying that Cisco's next big bet will be in IoT (or as Cisco calls it, the Internet of Everything). That's when everyday objects get sensors and apps and join the Internet from your automobile to your toothbrush. Cisco has predicted that IoT will become a $19 trillion market in the next decade.
Jasper has been doing well in this young IoT network market. It has more than 3,500 enterprises customers, Cisco says.
Its claim to fame is that it allows IoT devices to connect to the internet over cell networks offered by global service providers. Jasper's customers can then manage the devices through Jasper’s software-as-a-service cloud platform.
Jasper CEO Jahangir Mohammed will join Cisco to run a new IoT Software Business Unit and will report to Rowan Trollope, Cisco senior vice president and general manager, IoT and Collaboration Technology Group.
There's been a lot of speculation that Cisco was gearing up to do another big acquisition. People have been gossiping about Cisco buying storage vendor NetApp, or security company FireEye, though sources close to Cisco have been denying that Cisco wasn't interested in either of those companies.
