Cisco to buy Airespace

Officials at Cisco Systems said today they will acquire Airespace, Inc., a provider of wireless local area networking systems, for $450 million.

The move, anticipated for weeks, will expand Cisco's WLAN product portfolio, allowing the networking vendor to accelerate delivery of wireless technologies to customers, company officials said.

Airespace offers a range of products including WLAN controllers, Access Points, WLAN management and location software, and security technologies such as an intrusion detection system.

"As part of our global systems approach to networking, we continually look for complementary technology that offers new value to our customers," Luca Cafiero, senior vice president, Data Center, Switching and Wireless Technology Group, Cisco Systems, said in a statement. Both companies will work to accelerate the adoption of intelligent, adaptive WLAN infrastructures, Cafiero said.

Cisco officials will continue to offer and support the existing Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network framework (SWAN) and Airespace product lines. Upon completion of the transaction, Airespace will become part of Cisco' Data Center, Switching and Wireless Technologies Group.