Cisco will expand its roster of office collaboration tools, after snapping up privately-held Versly in a deal on Monday. The deal comes days after Cisco announced that it would purchase Axiom systems for $31 million in cash.
Historically, the San Jose-based networking heavyweight is known for a steady stream of corporate acquisitions. From 1993 until the end of 1999, it made 48 different purchases. In 2007 alone, it made 11, including WebEx. In the first quarter of this year, it purchased PariNetworks, Inlet Technologies, and newScale Inc. But in the second quarter, for the first time since Q1 of 2010, its M&A department went silent.
"There is a view in the industry that Cisco is diluting its 'gene pool'," said senior Gartner analyst Andy Butler.
"Acquiring companies is a disruptive business and we won't know until 2012 whether Cisco can really find a strategic home for all these acquisitions."
Versly integrates workflow, commenting, and document management tools directly into Microsoft Office applications. A sales team with members in different parts of the country can create a new product presentation as they monitor one another’s edits and feedback. Microsoft offers the browser-based Office 365, which provides similar capabilities, but with the acquisition of the small San Francisco-based start-up, Cisco can now provide its own solution to anyone running the desktop version of Office.
While Chris Berry, Microsoft's Director for Office, wouldn't comment directly on the deal, he did reiterate "the collaborative capabilities of Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Lync."
Prior to the acquiring Versly, Cisco had been without a true document collaboration tool. The WebEx online presentation software, the peer-to-peer chat client Jabber, and the Quad document sharing tool all facilitated communication between coworkers, but they did not work within Office.
The move to purchase Versly is in line with Cisco CEO John Chambers's announcement in May that tools fostering enterprise collaboration are now one of the company’s five focuses.
The terms of the deal were been disclosed, but according to the press release, all Versly employees will be incorporated into Cisco. The San Francisco-based start-up was founded in 2009 and only has ten employees.
