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Cisco announced Oct. 26 that it has purchased Orative, a privately held company that produces applications that will integrate Ciscos software with various mobile devices.
The two San Jose, Calif.-based companies announced that Cisco would pay $31 million in cash for Orative. The deal is expected to close sometime in the Ciscos second fiscal quarter in 2007.
The acquisition will help Cisco strengthen its United Communications system, which provides enterprise customers with a single platform for voice, data and video. This company-wide platform is then integrated with the enterprises IT infrastructure.
This new platform will allow Ciscos customers and partners to create communications applications and integrate these applications across the IT infrastructure.
Cisco launched its United Communications system in the spring of 2006. In June, the company announced that it had purchased Metreos of Austin, Texas, for $19.8 million, and Audium of New York for $28 million.
Metreos is expected to bring a network-based application development environment and run-time platform for IP telephony to Ciscos United Communications portfolio. Audium adds similar technology for IP Contact Centers.
With its purchase of Orative, Cisco will now be able to integrate its communications software with devices such as cell phones and smart phones.
“The Orative acquisition will allow Cisco to further deliver on its promise of extending the Unified Communications experience from the network services to mobile devices,” said Don Proctor, the senior vice president of Ciscos Voice Technology Group, in a statement.
Once the deal is complete, Oratives 33 employees will join Ciscos Voice Technology Group.