Cisco to Buy Jasper in $1.4 Billion ‘Things’ Push

Cisco today announced plans to acquire Jasper Technologies, a company that offers a cloud service for managing Internet-connected devices, for a total of $1.4 billion.

Jasper, based in Santa Clara, California, has more than 3,500 customers in 100 countries.

Jasper is essentially the glue of IoT, and places Cisco in a unique position in the burgeoning Internet of Things, or connected device, market. TEKsystems defines the IoT as “any Internet-like network of physical objects and infrastructure, containing embedded technology with the objective of communicating, sensing or interacting with their internal states or the external environment”. Cisco officials said the company will build upon Jasper’s IoT service platform by adding new services, such s enterprise WiFi, security for connected devices and advanced analytics.

Steve Hilton, an analyst with MachNation, a firm that tracks the IoT industry, said the move will make it easier for companies contemplating IoT deployments to work with a single player.

The acquisition is expected to close within the next few months.

The $1.4 billion is an unspecified combination of “cash and assumed equity awards”, leaving some wriggle room about what the final price will be.

Jasper CEO Jahangir Mohammed will join Cisco to run a new IoT Software Business Unit and will report to Rowan Trollope, Cisco senior vice president and general manager, IoT and Collaboration Technology Group. Mohammed sees the IoT opportunity more in terms of the way it changes process than in terms of the things that can connect.

Jasper’s software is already in use by Ford Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., enabling users to remotely unlock doors, start the engine or call emergency roadside assistance.

On an investment conference call on Wednesday, Cisco asserted its commitment and investment to IoT and called Jasper Technologies the essential ingredient. “IoT connectivity management and IoT network management will hopefully become more simple”. Investors included Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Benchmark and KPN Ventures.