Cisco acquires LTE solutions provider Starent networks

Cisco today announced a definitive agreement to acquire the Long Term Evolution (LTE)/ Evolved Packet Core (EPC) solutions vendor Starent networks. Starent’s platforms can serve as the Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW), and Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG). Starent won the Verizon deal last year, competing against Ericsson. Starent has foot in UMTS, WiMax, WiFi, & Femto Cell technologies too. It is very clear that the products and technologies of Starent are going to complement Cisco's networking gear. Considering Starent's size of 1000 employees, it is going to be very easy for Cisco to absorb them. This is Cisco's second acquisition in a week. Last week, Cisco announced that it is going to acquire video infrastructure provider Tandberg for $3 billion.

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Acquisition of Starent Networks Expands Cisco's Mobile Internet Offerings for Service Providers