Cisco to acquire SightPath for $800 million

With its latest buy, networking giant Cisco Systems is setting its sights on Net video.

The company today said it would buy Waltham, Mass.-based SightPath, which makes systems that deliver television-quality video to the Internet, for $800 million in stock. It is the fourth buy the company has announced this month.

Cisco will use the purchase to expand its network management offerings, continuing its push to provide integrated data, voice and video networks. The networking giant has been strengthening its support of voice and video networking, aiming to better compete with rivals Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks.

SightPath also builds technology that lets people develop content delivery networks (CDNs), which stream applications such as real-time video and online training to employees throughout an organization.

The acquisition is the latest in Cisco's ongoing buying spree. The company recently said it is buying Atlantech to help round out its network management offerings and aid its efforts to provide integrated data, voice and video networks.

Also earlier this month, Cisco said it agreed to purchase two companies--JetCell, a wireless technology maker, and InfoGear Technology, a maker of software management tools.

Rivals Nortel Networks and Lucent also have been making acquisitions to boost their voice and video lineups. Just this week, Lucent Technologies announced a new venture, GeoVideo Networks, aimed at making video easier to send over high-speed networks.

SightPath's 76 employees will be led by SightPath chief executive Jim Ricotta and will join Cisco's content services business unit in the enterprise line of business led by senior vice president James Richardson.

Today's deal is expected to close in July.