Aironet Wireless Communications is Latest Cisco Acquisition

<%=company1%> (San Jose, CA) is not shy about buying technology it needs but would rather not develop in-house. Today the deep-pocketed king of networking gear announced it will acquire publicly-held Aironet Wireless Communications of Akron, OH, a major developer of high-speed wireless LAN products. The company's products fit nicely into Cisco's plans to develop open standards-based wireless products for mobile business users.

Under the terms of the all-stock deal, the transaction has an aggregate value of approximately $799 million, based on yesterday's closing price of Cisco common stock. Aironet Wireless CEO Roger Murphy and Aironet's 130 employees will join the Desktop Switching Business Unit within Cisco's small/medium line of business.

Aironet's product line includes wireless adapter cards and "access points" that interface with wired infrastructures and manage wireless LAN traffic. The company also develops wireless bridge products that provide point-to-point or point-to-multipoint connections among buildings. Aironet 's customer base includes Dell Computer Corp. (Round Rock, TX), Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, MI), Hewlett-Packard Co. (Palo Alto, CA), IBM Corp. (Armonk, NY), Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, WA), and Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Hoffman Estates, IL).