Cisco Snags Pari Networks, Network Security Risk Management Provider

Cisco Systems Inc. said late last week that it will buy Pari Networks Inc., a privately-held provider of solutions to assess network security risks and compliance management for businesses and managed security service providers.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and officials said that the acquisition should be completed by the end of April, 2011. Pari’s employees, including those based in Hyderabad, India, will be folded into Cisco's Technical Services unit.

With the acquisition, Cisco gains network services engineers and ups its ability to help customers manage network health.

"Pari Networks will help Cisco and our partners to deliver smarter, more proactive services that help our customers to identify potential network problems before they occur and optimize the performance, management and efficiency of their networks," said Joe Pinto, Cisco senior vice president, Technical Services.

Kishore Kumar, Pari founder and chief executive, is a former Cisco senior product line manager in router-based security.