Cisco has announced it has completed its acquisition of privately held LineSider Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of network management software that helps customers build the network services necessary to securely create and deploy cloud computing infrastructure. Based in Danvers, MA, LineSider enhances Cisco's ability to rapidly provision network services.

LineSider's software is designed to enable customers to organize their network resources into a flexible cloud infrastructure that integrates the network with customers' existing IT operational tools and processes. This network abstraction layer allows customers to provision and deploy numerous individual network components much more quickly than previously possible, dramatically reducing network operations costs and accelerating service delivery. LineSider's unique policy-based approach automatically responds to pre-determined business scenarios and provides maximum performance across networking products and service delivery platforms.A partner-centric approach remains a cornerstone of Cisco's strategy in the cloud computing space, and LineSider's technology strengthens Cisco's ability to work with a broad community of software partners, particularly within the service management space.

In addition to providing Cisco with advanced technology, the acquisition of LineSider brings an industry-leading team of engineers to the company. With the close of the acquisition, the LineSider team becomes part of Cisco's Network Management Technology Group (NMTG).