VMware acquires Nicira

VMware just announced to have signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Nicira, Inc., for approximately $1.05 billion in cash plus $210 million of assumed unvested equity awards.
The parties expect the acquisition to close during the second half of 2012.
The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of both VMware and Nicira and the stockholders of Nicira.

Nicira, Inc. is specialized in software-defined networking (SDN) and a leader in network virtualization for open source initiatives.

VMware, already a market leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions, relies in this acquisition to expand its networking scenery.

We’re curious to see the implications of this acquisition on the relationship between VMware and Cisco.

VMware has led the server virtualization revolution, and we have the opportunity to do the same in datacenter and cloud networking.
The acquisition of Nicira adds to our portfolio of networking assets and positions VMware to be the industry leader in software-defined networking.

said Paul Maritz, outgoing CEO at VMware.