Cisco Systems has made a second acquisition in 10 months in the machine learning/application monitoring spaces.
The huge networking company said Oct. 19 it will acquire 3-year-old San Jose, Calif.-based startup Perspica, which actively monitors, analyzes and optimizes complex application environments at scale. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by Cisco.
Cisco said it will integrate Perspica’s engineers and intellectual property with its new AppDynamics team, which it acquired in January for $3.7 billion. The two acquisitions number 199 and 200, according to a Cisco spokesperson, in Cisco’s 33-year history. Crunchbase has these as acquisitions 204 and 205, so some recount coordination may be needed there.
With the addition of Perspica, AppDynamics will have more complete capabilities in machine learning, which is the type of foundation engine that powers most artificial intelligence applications taking up residence just about everywhere in IT.
From a technology perspective, Perspica brings important IP to the Cisco table. The company is known for its stream-based processing with the unique ability to apply machine learning to data as it comes in instead of waiting until it’s “neatly stored,” a Cisco spokesperson said.
Perspica also has expertise in domain-specific machine learning at scale, which means it can ingest and process enormous volumes of data. Combine these characteristics with AppDynamics’ core data model for business transactions, and it opens up new possibilities for the scale and speed of Cisco’s products, the company said.
AppDynamics will add capabilities in application intelligence through:
- Collaboration with Perspica’s engineering talent who specialize in data science and highly scalable data platforms. The teams will work side by side.
- Stream-based processing that can derive inferences from data and find anomalies without needing to wait until data is stored, which will enable customers to accelerate their paths to useful business insights; and
- Domain-specific machine learning that will strengthen root cause analysis capabilities and core APM solutions by allowing nodes to increase the amount of data points that can be ingested.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2018.
Dr. J.F. Huard, founder and CTO of Perspica, is known as a hands-on leader in analytics, platform integration and enterprise system management software. He will stay with Perspica as it enters Cisco’s domain.
Huard’s work and research interests have focused on the application of data science within complex IT environments. For the last 20 years, he has managed technical organizations of various sizes and developed new products incorporating real-time data analysis and detection.
Under Huard’s technical leadership at Netuitive, the company was recognized by Red Herring magazine as one of the 100 most innovative private technology companies, and its products won awards such as the Morgan Stanley CTO Innovation Award, CODiE Best Systems Management and Best of VMworld.