Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held LineSider Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of network management software that helps customers build the network services necessary to securely create and deploy cloud computing infrastructure. Based in Danvers, Mass., LineSider will enhance Cisco’s ability to rapidly provision network services.
LineSider Technologies is leading the evolution of communications networks to meet the requirements of cloud computing. With next-generation network services virtualization, the Company helps service providers and enterprise organizations, transform their networks into dynamic and fluid infrastructures that can respond rapidly to changes in dynamic cloud computing environments.
“Cloud computing represents a significant opportunity for Cisco customers to create more effective business models and increase the operating efficiency of the network,” said Jesper Andersen, senior vice president of Cisco’s Network Management Technology Group (NMTG). “With the acquisition of LineSider, Cisco will gain a key component to helping customers make this shift. LineSider’s advanced network management software integrates both physical and virtual network services with a policy-based approach and makes networks more flexible and responsive to change.”
LineSider’s software is designed to enable customers to organize their network resources into a flexible cloud infrastructure that integrates the network with customers’ existing IT operational tools and processes. This network abstraction layer allows customers to provision and deploy numerous individual network components much more quickly than previously possible, dramatically reducing network operations costs and accelerating service delivery. LineSider’s unique policy-based approach automatically responds to pre-determined business scenarios and provides maximum performance across networking products and service delivery platforms.  A partner-centric approach remains a cornerstone of Cisco’s strategy in the cloud computing space, and LineSider’s technology will strengthen Cisco’s ability to work with a broad community of software partners, particularly within the service management space.