Cisco completes its acquisition of Lightwire

The vendor will integrate Lightwire's CMOS technology into its line of switches, routers and optical transport products to provide what it says will be higher-density optical connectivity at a lower cost.

As previously announced, Cisco paid about $271 million in cash and retention-based incentives in exchange for all shares of Lightwire. Lightwire's existing employees will now join Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group Business Unit and Supply Chain Operations Group.

Following a company-wide reorganization where it sold off less profitable business units, including its Flip camera unit, Lightwire is part of a new acquisition trend at Cisco targeting new new video, data, voice, mobility and cloud service opportunities. In addition to Lightwire, the vendor recently made a move to acquire NDS for $5 billion to enhance its video software capabilities.