Cisco To Buy Network Analytics Provider Singularity Networks

Cisco Systems is boosting its network analytics chops for its service provider customers and MSP partners.

The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant Thursday said it plans to acquire Singularity Networks, a privately held provider that offers real-time infrastructure and traffic analytics across cloud and premises-based environments.

Singularity Networks' customer base includes enterprises as well as service providers and managed service providers with a security practice. Together with Cisco, Singularity Networks' technology will give service providers actionable information across their entire network 24/7, the two companies said.

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Cisco and Singularity Networks are not disclosing the financial terms of the deal.

Englewood, Colo.-based Singularity Networks will join the automation group within Cisco’s Service Provider Business Unit. Specifically, Cisco said it will integrate Singularity Networks’ analytics capabilities into its Crosswork Network Automation portfolio. Cisco's Crosswork Network Automation software portfolio helps service providers automate their networks.

"Service providers today are challenged to meet intense demands for always-on connectivity powered by reliable, high-speed bandwidth. They need a holistic view of network performance to anticipate and proactively manage their traffic patterns," said Rob Salvagno, vice president of corporate development and Cisco investments, in a blog post on the news. "With network automation software and innovative data collection techniques, we are helping our service provider customers transform how they operate their infrastructure."

The integration of Singularity Networks’ networks analytics software into Cisco's network automation portfolio will let MSPs and service providers extract and manage large volumes of data to identify threats ahead of time, and to help avoid downtime or outages, according to Cisco.

Cisco in August acquired Duo Security for $2.35 billion for its unified access security and multifactor authentication technology. Cisco is working to integrate Duo's products into its own cloud security portfolio.

The two companies expect the acquisition to close during Cisco's 2019 third quarter.