Cisco to acquire grid-computing experts TopSpin

It is being seen as the entry of the networking giant in the grid-computing market. Cisco, a company specializes in making hardware that drives the traffic over the Internet is acquiring TopSpin, a company dealing in manufacturing of server-networking equipment. Cisco as a result would now have an in-house expertise of grid computing and clustered applications technology. The deal is worth around USD 250 million which Cisco would be paying in cash and options.

TopSpin as a privately owned company makes switches designed to knit servers into a grid. These appends to the network and storage in the process becoming a base for utility computing, server virtualization and clustered applications. They have an impressive client list comprising of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun.

They also help Cisco gain technology know-how on the InfiniBand technology. TopSpin uses this to transfer data across vast networks. Cisco’s Senior Vice President Luca Cafiero is quite ecstatic about this deal and spoke to the press: “The widespread adoption of server architectures such as blades, grid computing, and clustered applications is driving an emerging market opportunity within the data center. As our customers build out these new computing environments, it is important that we deliver server networking technologies to fit their needs.”

The deal is expected to be completed by end of July with all the employees of TopSpin joining Cisco’s own Data Center, Switching, and Wireless Technology Group.