Cisco Adds Cloud Management Provider SolveDirect

Cisco Systems (NSDQ: CSCO) is buying SolveDirect, a provider of cloud-based solutions for IT service management integration. The 13-year-old company, based in Vienna, Austria, offers ServiceGrid. The solution enables organizations to run IT services smarter and more efficiently by automating workflows, data exchange and governance with a single point of collaboration for all service activities.

The networking giant disclosed the deal on a blog post but did not provide any details of the transaction, which is expected to close in late July, 2013, other than it will acquire all shares of SolveDirect.

With Cisco looking to boost its position in enterprise IT solutions, this deal is one that partners should know about.

“SolveDirect’s cloud-based solutions offer enterprises and service providers a flexible way to integrate with service partners, and automate sharing of processes, data, and workflows in real-time by eliminating manual practices and bottlenecks, driving significant operational efficiencies,” wrote Hilton Romanski, Cisco corporate business development head. “SolveDirect’s capabilities will enable Cisco to extend our portfolio of smart and connected IT services to our global ecosystem of customers, partners and resellers,” he said.

Romanski said that the acquisition maps to Cisco’s strategy to supply solutions that “streamline data and workflows across a unified network.”

SolveDirect, including its management team headed by CEO Martin Bittner and CTO Marcus Oppitz, will be folded into Cisco’s services unit, headed by Mala Anand, Cisco services platforms group senior vice president. 

“The move towards multi-sourcing and cloud services is accelerating the development of large ecosystems of companies–from enterprise IT and manufacturing, to SaaS providers–that need to share data in a secure and scalable way,” wrote Romanski. “Most of the interactions between these service partners today require manual effort, growing cost and complexity for an organization as their number of service partners grows.” 

What’s the benefit to partners? The capability to provide faster, more effective services through automating processes and communication to improve collaboration, which SolveDirect says bumps a partner’s ability to win new business by up to 10 percent.