Cisco reveals exciting acquisitions
- Date: 06 October, 2020
Cisco is on the acquisition trail again, with the addition to its portfolio of BabbleLabs, which providing noise removal and speech enhancement technology, and the ThousandEyes’ internet and cloud intelligence platform.
BabbleLabs uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect human speech and reduce unwanted background noises and will bolster Cisco’s collaboration offerings, reinforcing the company’s commitment to enhancing video meeting experiences from anywhere and on any device through the Webex application.
A recent Cisco global survey looked at the future of work and revealed that 98% of respondents were frustrated by distractions during video meetings when working from home. Two of the top five frustrations focused on background noise - either from other participants or their own side of the call.
BabbleLabs goes beyond other noise suppression technology solutions available by:
- Distinguishing speech from background noise
- Removing background noise in real-time
- Enhancing the voice to elevate communication, regardless of language
“BabbleLabs is excited to become part of Cisco and the Collaboration Group,” said Chris Rowen, CEO and co-founder of BabbleLabs. “The Cisco team shares our passion about speech as the core of collaboration and communication. Cisco’s collaboration platform will enable us to quickly scale our exceptional speech enhancement technology for the hundreds of millions of Webex users.”
Cisco has also confirmed the completed acquisition of the ThousandEyes’ internet and cloud intelligence platform, that will help expand visibility and insights into the digital delivery of applications and services over the internet and the cloud.
ThousandEyes’ technology warns administrators when a user’s experience is less than ideal, and can pinpoint where those failures are caused. It utilises thousands of agents deployed throughout the internet to gain “an unprecedented understanding of the internet and grows more intelligent with every deployment”.
A Cisco spokesperson confirmed that “the ThousandEyes acquisition will enable deeper and broader visibility to pin-point deficiencies and improve the network and application performance across all networks your business relies on by enabling end-to-end visibility when accessing cloud applications”.
The initial indications are that Cisco intends to incorporate the ThousandEyes capabilities into its AppDynamics application intelligence portfolio, as well as SD-WAN, WebEx and Meraki families.
These latest acquisitions follow hot on the heels of Cisco’s purchase of Fluidmesh Networks, in a move clearly designed to bolster its industrial IoT business. Fluidmesh Networks is a leader in wireless backhaul systems, with its technology delivering reliable and resilient wireless solutions for mission critical applications in areas such as high-speed rail, mass transit or large-scale distributed sites such as ports and urban settings.