Cisco buys XML specialist

Cisco has agreed to acquire Reactivity for US$135m in cash and assured options.

The privately held company develops XML gateways, devices that help enterprise IT departments to deploy, secure and accelerate XML and web services, including service oriented architectures (SOAs).

The appliance enables the network to identify XML network traffic, allowing it to provide service provisioning and versioning as well as standards mediation. Such tasks normally are performed on a server, which can lead to increased network traffic and network latency. By providing automatic translations between standards, the device also makes it easier to roll out new services.

XML is a key technology in building network based services such as service oriented architectures. It provides metadata, or data about data, that offers applications and services a standard way to identify a signal without having to look at the actual message.

Cisco touted the acquisition as a confirmation of its commitment to its Application Networking Services strategy. The networking giant seeks to make network traffic more aware of the application that it servers, allowing it to offer data different degrees of security and priority.

Reactivity was founded in 1998. The Silicon Valley area company has a staff of 56 employees.

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