Cisco buys cloud network company Meraki for sky-high amount of $1.2B

Cisco just announced its intent to buy Meraki Inc. for $1.2 billion. Meraki provides cloud controlled wireless networks for medium-sized businesses. The technology provides customers with solutions for Wi-Fi, routing, switching, security and mobile device management. In a statement, Cisco stated that this marks another move in the company’s evolution towards software-centered solutions.

“The acquisition of Meraki enables Cisco to make simple, secure, cloud managed networks available to our global customer base of mid-sized businesses and enterprises,” said Rob Soderbery, senior vice president of the Cisco Enterprise Networking Group. “These companies have the same IT needs as larger organizations, but without the resources to integrate complex IT solutions.”

Meraki was founded by participants in MIT’s Laboratory for Computer Science in 2006 and has raised $60 million in venture capital, with Sequoia Capital as the primary investor. It is based in San Francisco. With this acquisition, Meraki will form Cisco’s new Cloud Networking Group.

Read the FAQ and letter to employees from CEO Sanjit Biswas.