Cisco to Acquire Cloud Software Firm Cloupia for $125 Million

Networking giant Cisco Systems just said it has closed a deal to acquire Cloupia, a privately held software company, for $125 million.

Based in Santa Clara, Calif., Cloupia’s software is aimed at making data centers easier to run by automating a lot of routine processes it takes to get the job done. Its speciality appears to be in helping enterprises run mixed public and private cloud situations.

In a quick note to clients issued just a few minutes ago, ISI analyst Brian Marshall said Cloupia has about 30 customers and about 50 employees. It has partnerships with a handful of companies, including VMware, Amazon, Rackspace and Microsoft.

The deal can’t help but evoke comparisons to Dell’s acquisition of Quest Software over the summer. In that case, Dell paid $2.4 billion for a company whose software automates a lot of tasks in the data center. One key Quest product is Toad, which automates certain maintenance tasks required for Oracle databases.

Cloupia’s products include something called a Unified Infrastructure Controller, which lets companies build their own private cloud installations and manage them alongside whatever public cloud infrastructure they happen to be using, whether Amazon Web Services, HP Cloud, Rackspace, and so on.

Another is Cloud Genie, a data center management tool for the iPad. There’s a demo video below, if you’re interested in seeing it in action.

After the deal closes, Cloupia’s employees will be mixed into the Cisco Data Center Group. Cisco expects to complete the acquisition by the close of its current quarter.

Here’s the original announcement:

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Cloupia
Acquisition Extends Cisco’s Data Center Portfolio With Software That Enables Management of Converged Infrastructure Solutions

SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – Nov 15, 2012) – With cloud computing driving the transition to converged infrastructure, the need for simplified management systems across compute, storage, network and virtualization functions is increasing. To help address this need, Cisco ( NASDAQ : CSCO ) today announced its intent to acquire privately held Cloupia, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software company that automates converged data center infrastructure — allowing enterprises and service providers to simplify the deployment and configuration of physical and virtual resources from a single management console.
Cloupia’s infrastructure management software enhances Cisco’s Unified Computing System® (UCS) and Nexus® switching portfolio with a single “pane-of-glass” view into the automation of compute, network, storage, virtual machine, and operating system resources. When combined with leading data center management solutions like Cisco UCS Manager, Cloupia allows enterprises and service providers to seamlessly manage pools of computing power, network services, storage and virtual machines as a unified whole in order to deploy and deliver IT services more rapidly and at lower costs.
“Cisco’s data center strategy is based on the premise of making it easier for customers to deploy a unified and integrated infrastructure that is efficient, fast, and flexible,” said David Yen, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Data Center Business Group. “This strategy involves the delivery of the industry’s most comprehensive data center networking portfolio, which includes physical and virtual products that support multiple hypervisors and storage stacks. The addition of Cloupia’s automation software enhances the efficiency of such unified data center infrastructures, helping to accelerate the transition from physical to cloud environments more quickly and effectively.”
Mergers, acquisitions and investments are a key part of Cisco’s build, buy, and partner innovation framework and support our strategy of providing best-in-class solutions for customers. The Cloupia acquisition aligns to Cisco’s strategic goals to develop innovative data center, virtualization and cloud technologies, while also cultivating top talent.
Upon the close of the acquisition, Cloupia employees will be integrated into Cisco’s Data Center Group. Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $125 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Cloupia. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to be complete in the second quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.