Cisco to aims to propel hybrid work offering with fresh acquisition

This marks the second buy in a week for the networking vendor

Cisco has announced its intent to acquire UK-based privately held broadband network monitoring company SamKnows to extend Cisco ThousandEyes' hybrid workforce experience.

In the last few years, hybrid work has dramatically expanded the role of broadband networks, and companies are increasingly dependent on these networks to connect customers and employees to applications and services, Cisco said.

Therefore the vendor claims ensuring end-to-end connectivity from home environments is now essential for enterprises supporting remote employees, application providers reaching users, and broadband providers maintaining customer satisfaction.

SamKnows offers visibility and insight into consumer broadband networks, enabling network operators to see and improve network performance and application experience for their customers.

Cisco's acquisition of SamKnows will expand ThousandEyes' visibility of broadband networks and last-mile performance through SamKnows's fleet of millions of vantage points on home routers and mobile devices connected to Internet service providers around the globe.

It will also bring ThousandEyes' end-to-end network assurance to more broadband service providers, enabling them to isolate and troubleshoot issues faster to assure a differentiated customer experience that reduces churn, attracts users, and enables them to better compete in today's market.

This is the second deal in a week for Cisco after it snapped up network performance monitoring partner Accedian on Friday.

"This acquisition will enhance Cisco's datacentre and provider connectivity portfolio, providing granular service insights that complement ThousandEyes' end-to-end network and user experience visibility," Cisco said in a statement.

"We look forward to welcoming SamKnows to the Cisco ThousandEyes team when the acquisition closes, which we expect to happen in the first quarter of FY24."

ThousandEyes is a network intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Dublin, London, New York, Tokyo, and Texas. It produces software that analyses the performance of local and wide area networks. Cisco acquired the group in May 2020.