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Cisco Systems Inc. plans to buy Tewksbury-based Starent Networks for $2.9 Billion

By Irina Waqar for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 14, 2009

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) plans to buy advanced wireless equipment maker Starent Networks Corp (NASDAQ:STAR) for $2.9 billion to boost its product offerings as phone carriers build out next generation networks.

Cisco agreed on Tuesday to acquire Starent for about $2.9 billion, paying $35 a share in cash for the maker of software and networking gear for wireless carriers.

With $35 billion in cash and investments at the end of its last quarter, Cisco has one of the largest war chests in the tech sector, and it has recently been using it.

The Starent deal comes just weeks after Cisco’s $3 billion, all-cash purchase of Norway-based Tandberg ASA, touted as an important move to expand the market for its video-conferencing technology.

Meanwhile, Pankaj Patel, who will oversee Starent as head of Cisco’s service-provider business, said the acquisition expands Cisco’s product offerings into the important mobile sector.

“The mobile Internet is a top-level priority,” Patel said. The acquisition will expand Cisco’s product offerings in mobile infrastructure, which Hooper called “a key and growing technological asset.”

By acquiring Starent, Cisco gains a larger foothold in the business of moving data from traditional Internet networks onto mobile networks, run by wireless carriers, that connect smartphones and other devices to the Web.

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