Cisco Systems to Acquire Metreos and Audium
Cisco Systems,entered a definitive agreement to acquire the privately-held companies Metreos Corp of Austin, Texas, and Audium Corp of New York in two separate deals.
Metreos and Audium provide network based application development environments and run-time platforms for two different market segments, IP Communications and IP Contact Center respectively. Over time the Metreos and Audium product portfolios will be integrated with each other to provide one unified common application development interface for all Cisco Unified Communications, enabling customers and partners to build customized communications applications that are integrated across the enterprise IT infrastructure, enterprise applications, and enterprise contact centers.
Metreos is a provider of IP communication application development and management environments. The acquisition will help Cisco's ecosystem of third party technology partners, systems integrators, value-added resellers, and customers build and deliver applications on Cisco's Unified Communications System. The technology is consistent with and builds on Cisco's Services Oriented Network Architecture (SONA), and is a platform for integrating Cisco's Unified Communications System with enterprise business applications.
Audium is a provider of VoiceXML speech self-service application development and management environments. The acquisition will allow enterprises to build automated voice response applications that are integrated with not only their converged IP network but also work well within their Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). The technology is consistent with and builds on Cisco's Services Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) and provides a platform for enterprises to integrate their business process workflow with their speech self-service applications.
Under the terms of these agreements, Cisco will pay approximately $28 million in cash for Metreos and $19.8 million in cash for Audium. The acquisitions are subject to various standard closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and are expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2006, ending July 29.
Metreos was founded in 2001 and has 19 employees in Austin, Texas. Audium was founded in 1999 and has 26 employees based in New York.
Upon close of the transaction, Metreos and Audium products will be integrated into the Voice Technology Group, reporting into Proctor.