Cisco snaps up Altiga, gains VPN edge

Cisco Systems yesterday announced definitive agreements to acquire privately held Altiga Networks of Franklin, Massachusetts and Compatible Systems of Boulder, Colorado, for $US567 million in stock.

Both acquisitions enhance Cisco's Virtual Private Network offerings. Altiga develops VPN systems for remote access applications, and Compatible makes standards-based VPN products for service provider networks.

From Altiga, Cisco will gain an integrated VPN client, remote access gateway and management software for enterprise edge applications, including service provider-managed remote access. Compatible will bring service provider-class IPSec-based VPN service platforms to Cisco.

Altiga was founded in 1998. The 76 employees will be led by Altiga CEO Mark Freitas and will become part of Cisco's Enterprise Line of Business.

Compatible was founded in 1988. The 68 employees will be led by Compatible CEO Matt McConnell and will become part of Cisco's Service Provider Line of Business.

These acquisitions will be accounted for as pooling of interests and are expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2000. Both acquisitions have been approved by the board of directors of each company and are subject to various closing conditions.