Packeteer on Thursday announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Workfire Technologies, which develops software for accelerating the performance of Web applications and content over networks.
Packeteer will exchange two million shares of its common stock for all of Workfire's outstanding common stock and options. Packeteer's Thursday closing price of 36-1/2 values the transaction at $73 million.
The transaction is expected to close in the quarter ending Sept. 30. After the acquisition, Workfire will continue to operate out of its facility in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, as Packeteer's Internet Acceleration Products group.
"Workfire brings to Packeteer key Internet caching and acceleration technologies that complement and extend Packeteer's existing application bandwidth, traffic and subscriber management solutions," Packeteer President and CEO Craig Elliott said in a prepared statement.
Workfire's software technology accelerates the transmission of Internet applications by compressing traffic and increasing the throughput of low- and medium-speed connections, Packeteer says. The software doubles the performance of application transmission, Packeteer claims.
The Workfire software determines the type of content, speed of access, and type of browser, and optimizes the speed of delivery and rendering of information.