Cisco to acquire Broadsoft for collaboration software

Cisco agreed to acquire BroadSoft $55 per share, in cash, for an aggregate price of $1.9 billion. The companies said the deal is driven by the opportunities presented for business collaboration tools, especially integrated experiences across meetings, calling and contact centers, both on-premise and in the cloud.

Broadsoft, which is based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is a leading provider of unified communications (UC) software and services. It Broadsoft Business product is an open communication suite with mobility and security features for enterprises. Its flagship BroadWorks application software lets service providers deploy an extensive portfolio of business communications and collaboration services from a common network platform. BroadWorks operates in IMS and next-generation network configurations, delivering services over traditional wireline, mobile (2G, 3G, VoLTE, WiFi), wireless and cable networks. In cloud UC call control new line shipments, Broadsoft claims the largest market share (followed by Cisco), with UC installations by 25 of the world's top service providers, for over 3 million lines installed.

As of the end of 2016, BroadSoft had 1,597 employees in 23 countries, including 732 in the U.S.

Broadsoft total revenues:

2012 - $165 million
2013 - $178 million
2014 - $217 million
2015 - $279 million
2016 - $341 million

"We are excited about this transaction, which represents the culmination of a robust process undertaken by BroadSoft's Board of Directors to maximize shareholder value," said Michael Tessler, president and CEO, BroadSoft. "As businesses continue to move toward the cloud in search of simplicity and speed, joining Cisco will allow us to deliver best-in-class collaboration tools and services. BroadSoft's hosted offerings, sold through the Service Providers and aimed at small and medium businesses, are highly complementary to Cisco's on-premises and enterprise-centric HCS offerings. Together, we can inspire teams to create, collaborate and perform in ways never before imagined."

"Cisco recently marked a significant milestone with our 200th acquisition. Acquisitions continue to be a core part of our innovation strategy and over the past two years have helped Cisco accelerate or enter areas such as IoT, application intelligence, AI, hyperconvergence and SD-WAN," said Rob Salvagno, vice president of Cisco Corporate Development. "With the addition of BroadSoft, we expect to accelerate the pace of innovation across our entire collaboration portfolio."