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Jasper CEO Jahangir Mohammed to lead networking giant’s new IoT software division; deal expected to close in third quarter.
Cisco ramped up its Internet of Things (IoT) strategy on Thursday with the US$1.4 billion (€1.26 billion) acquisition of IoT platform provider Jasper.
Headquartered in California, Jasper boasts 3,500 enterprise customers and 27 operator partners, and reaches 100 countries. It provides IoT connectivity and related services to a number of verticals, such as logistics, retail, and home automation, among others.
Jasper also has a big presence in the automotive sector, underpinning AT&T’s connected car service, and providing IoT services to Tesla’s range of electric vehicles, for example.
"I am excited about the opportunity for Cisco and Jasper to accelerate how customers recognise the value of the Internet of Things," said Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO, in a statement. "Together, we can enable service providers, enterprises and the broader ecosystem to connect, automate, manage, and analyse billions of connected things, across any network, creating new revenue streams and opportunities."
Cisco said it intends to add new capabilities to Jasper’s IoT service platform, such as enterprise WiFi, security for connected devices, and advanced analytics to better manage device usage.
Jasper will form a new division within Cisco called the IoT software business, and will continue to be led by Jasper CEO Jahangir Mohammed. He will report to Rowan Trollope, SVP and general manager of Cisco’s IoT and collaboration technology group. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
"IoT has become a business imperative across the globe. Enterprises in every industry need integrated solutions that give them complete visibility and control over their connected services, while also being simple to implement, manage and scale," Mohammed said. "By coming together, Jasper and Cisco will help mobile operators and enterprises accelerate their IoT success."
It is worth speculating about whether this acquisition will affect Ericsson’s go-to-market strategy for IoT.
In November, the Swedish kit maker established a wide-ranging strategic partnership with Cisco that will see the companies offer a combined, end-to-end product and services portfolio that spans mobile, enterprise, data centre, and IP network infrastructure, as well as network control and management, and global services.
Ericsson and Cisco also agreed to conduct joint R&D in a number of areas, one of which is IoT.
Ericsson offers network software designed to optimise the performance of IoT devices. It is also active in several IoT industry groups, such as the NB-IoT Forum and the GSMA’s Mobile IoT Initiative.
Ericsson is also developing a technology called network slicing, which partitions a single physical network in multiple virtual networks with capacity and coverage tailored to meet the individual requirements of various industry verticals.
The initial focus for Ericsson and Cisco’s partnership is on service providers; however, they plan to extend it to enterprises, and specifically refer to accelerating IoT uptake.
It will be interesting to see whose IoT services take centre stage when the time comes.
