Networking technology and services provider Cisco has acquired privately held Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, a Santa Barbara, California-based provider of intelligent middleware to integrate building infrastructure and IT applications over a common Internet Protocol network.
Post-acquisition, the Richards-Zeta team will become part of Cisco’s Emerging Technologies Group located at its Globalisation Centre East in Bangalore, and will report to senior vice president Marthin De Beer. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The company said Richards-Zeta’s technologies will support products including its Cisco Connected Real Estate and Cisco EnergyWise, which was recently launched in Spain. EnergyWise technology in Cisco Catalyst Switches measures, reports, and reduces the energy consumption of phones, laptops, and access points.
The acquisition is part of the company’s build, buy, and partner strategy to move into new markets and capture key market transitions. Last year it acquired open-source instant-messaging start-up Jabber for an undisclosed sum, email and calendaring software provider PostPath for $215m, and software and services firm Pure Networks for $120m.
De Beer senior vice president of Cisco’s Emerging Technologies Group, said: Energy consumption is a global issue, and customers are increasingly demanding that energy management services are delivered over a converged IP architecture. Richards-Zeta’s intelligent middleware, building-systems expertise of our partners and our networking technologies, will deliver complete solutions to maximize operational and energy efficiencies and provide cost and carbon savings for customers.