Cisco to Buy Meetinghouse

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cisco Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ:CSCO) -- Cisco Systems(R) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire the privately-held Meetinghouse Data Communications, Inc. of Portsmouth, NH.

Meetinghouse provides a client-side 802.1X supplicant security software that allows enterprise customers to restrict network access to only authorized users and/or host devices attempting to gain access to networked resources through both wired and wireless media. When integrated with Cisco's existing security portfolio, Meetinghouse's AEGIS SecureConnect products will enable Cisco to provide a single unified wired and wireless client to enterprise customers that will help them reduce operational costs by simplifying the security management of a broad array of host devices and operating systems.

"The growth in the number of cases of unauthorized access to sensitive and confidential information in enterprise networks has increased the need for securing connectivity through robust, easy-to-manage client-based security solutions," said Brett Galloway, vice president and general manager, Wireless Networking Business Unit (WNBU). "The Meetinghouse software supplicant is a natural extension to existing Cisco initiatives such as the Cisco Self Defending Network via Network Admission Control (NAC) and the Cisco Compatible Extensions (CCX) program."

Under the terms of this agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $43.7 million in cash and assumed options for Meetinghouse. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the first quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007, ending October 28, 2006.

Meetinghouse was founded in 1988 and has 77 employees in Portsmouth, NH.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)