Cisco to acquire Acacia for $2.6B, boosting coherent optical and interconnect solutions

July 10, 2019
Cisco says that innovation across software, silicon, and optics is fueling its initiative to make networks smarter, simpler, and more secure.
Cisco
Cisco plans to acquire Acacia Communications to expand its optical networking portfolio.
Cisco plans to acquire Acacia Communications to expand its optical networking portfolio.
Cisco plans to acquire Acacia Communications to expand its optical networking portfolio.
Cisco plans to acquire Acacia Communications to expand its optical networking portfolio.
Cisco plans to acquire Acacia Communications to expand its optical networking portfolio.
Cisco plans to acquire Acacia Communications to expand its optical networking portfolio.

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO; Sunnyvale, CA) and Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA; Maynard, MA) have entered into a definitive agreement under which Cisco has agreed to acquire Acacia. An existing Cisco supplier, Acacia designs and manufactures high-speed, optical interconnect technologies that allow webscale companies, service providers, and datacenter operators to meet the fast-growing consumer demands for data.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco has agreed to acquire Acacia for $70.00 per share in cash, or for approximately $2.6 billion on a fully diluted basis, net of cash and marketable securities. As Cisco and Acacia come together, Cisco plans to support Acacia’s existing customers and new customers that want industry-leading coherent optics, digital signal processing / photonic integrated circuit modules, and transceivers for use in networking products and datacenters.

“By innovating across software, silicon and optics, Cisco is reinventing every domain of the network with our intent-based architectures,” said David Goeckeler, executive vice president and general manager of Cisco’s networking and security business. “With the explosion of bandwidth in the multi-cloud era, optical interconnect technologies are becoming increasingly strategic. The acquisition of Acacia will allow us to build on the strength of our switching, routing and optical networking portfolio to address our customers’ most demanding requirements.”

Cisco offers a full portfolio of optical systems to support webscale, service provider, enterprise, and public sector customer segments. These optical systems address performance, power, and cost requirements. Acacia’s technology will enrich Cisco’s optical systems portfolio. It will also allow the growing number of customers transitioning from chassis-based systems to pluggable technology to simplify operations and reduce network complexities. 

Coherent technology has been a game-changer for optical networking and continues to evolve with the deployment of pluggable coherent optics,” said Raj Shanmugaraj, president and chief executive officer, Acacia. “Upon close, Cisco and Acacia will continue to serve and support existing Acacia customers. By integrating Acaciatechnology into Cisco’s networking portfolio, we believe we can accelerate the trend toward coherent technology and pluggable solutions while accommodating a larger footprint of customers worldwide.”

The acquisition is expected to close during the second half of Cisco’s FY2020, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals. Upon completion of this transaction, Acacia employees will join Cisco’s Optical Systems and Optics business within the networking and security business under David Goeckeler. 

SOURCE: Cisco; https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2000889

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.

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