Cisco Announces $2.9bn Acquisition of Starent

Cisco is really going for it when it comes to these multi-billion dollar acquisitions. Hot on the heels of its $3 billion acquisition of Tandberg, Cisco has announced plans to acquire Starent Networks for $2.9 billion.

For those of you not quite sure what to think when you hear 'Starent Networks,' let's take a second to get you up to speed. Put simply, Starent creates routing and management systems to enable wireless providers to carry IP packets over cellular networks.

Cisco announced this morning that it had agreed to purchase the company for a whopping thirty-five bucks a share as well as assume outstanding equity awards. All told, it amounts to a purchase price of approximately $2.9 billion. Everything is expected to be all stitched up by the first half of 2010.

What does this mean for all us little people? Well, hopefully Cisco and Starent can help out beleaguered cell phone companies who are struggling to cope with the amount of data being sent and received over their networks.

Read the full story on the New York Times.