Giant network company Cisco paid $2.9 billion to buy IP mobile firm Starent Networks.
Starent specializes in mobile internet applications and infrastructure.
Starent provides core network functions and services to manage access from 2.5G, 3G and 4G radio networks to mobile operators’ packet core networks, It’s applicable to CMDA 2000, UMTS/HSPA and WiMAX networks – in other words it’s agnostic.
John Chambers, the CEO and chairman of Cisco, said he believed that Starent’s products and engineers will be complementary and benefit his own company’s Service Provider customers.
Cisco’s acquisition is based on the premise that IP smartphones and other devices will become all pervasive. Cisco estimates that global mobile data traffic will double every year to 2013.
