Cisco acquires British video firm Acano for $700 million

Cisco has announced it's plans to acquire UK video conferencing firm Acano for $700 million. The London based company provides conferencing and collaboration software that makes group communication simple and accessible within a single environment.

Founded in 2012, Acano's communication tools include video and audio bridging, gateways and outstanding interoperability that allow customers to connect video systems from several vendors across cloud and hybrid environments. According to Cisco, less than 10% of conference rooms in the world are connected via video and only 1% have video capabilities on their desktop. Collaboration is quickly becoming more apparent with consumers and businesses wanting the ability to easily connect to people from anywhere on a variety of different systems both securely and efficiently.

Acano has dedicated and virtualised software options that allow customers to to connect thousands of meeting rooms without compromising the video and audio quality. Together, Cisco and Acano's technology and expertise will aim to capture the collaboration market and deliver open and interopable solutions in the cloud or via a hybrid model.

“People, companies and organizations are more geographically dispersed than ever before, and collaboration is essential to helping teams increase productivity and drive growth,” said Rob Salvagno, Vice President of Cisco Corporate Development. “Acano’s innovations make it easier for customers to collaborate when, where and how they want. Together, we will help our customers to extend collaboration to every room, every screen and every user.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 with staff from Acano expected to join Cisco. Acano's headquarters are based in Uxbridge, just outside of London and have offices in New York, Sydney, Silicon Valley and Norway.