Cisco to Shell Out $3 Billion for TANDBERG

Cisco Systems wants a bigger chunk of the video equipment market by shelling out $3 billion for TANDBERG.

Cisco wants to integrate TANDBERG’s video and telepresence technology into its current offerings. Over the past few years, Cisco has acquired Scientific-Atlanta and Arroyo, but this would be the company’s biggest step forward in the video communications business.

But as video becomes increasingly important to enterprise customers, the network giant wants to carve off a greater piece of the multibillion teleconferencing market by integrating Tandberg's technology with its own. In a statement, Cisco called TANDBERG’s 1,500 employees “extremely important” to the future of the company.

TANDBERG’s board has already given the offer a thumbs-up. If approved by regulators, the deal should close sometime in the first half of next year.