Continuing its acquisitions in video surveillance, Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif., announced a definitive agreement to acquire BroadWare Technologies, Santa Clara, Calif.

Steve Collen, director of product management for Cisco’s physical security business unit, referred to the company’s acquisition in March 2006 of SyPixx Networks Inc., Waterbury, Conn., in explaining how BroadWare fits into Cisco’s video surveillance portfolio.

“With BroadWare, what we’re really doing is extending the video surveillance offering, and doing it in a way that is very complementary to what we already have on the table,” Collen pointed out. “SyPixx is a hardware-oriented approach, whereas BroadWare is software-oriented and more of an orientation toward integration. That’s why we made the acquisition — it’s very complementary in terms of the product set.”

The acquisition is also complementary from a channel point of view. “With SyPixx, we’re focused on resellers and the casino and retail market, whereas with the BroadWare acquisition, we are very much focused on using system integrators like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and very successful integrators in the public sector environment,” Collen declared.

The acquisition is designed to speed investigation response and event resolution by improving Cisco’s customers’ access to live and recorded surveillance. Cisco’s existing video surveillance product offerings aim to provide a smooth migration path from analog surveillance video to a digital network solution.

BroadWare’s software enables Web-based monitoring, management, recording and storage of audio and video that can be accessed anywhere by authorized users.

The way in which BroadWare implements its software was explained by Vikas Butaney, director of product management for Cisco’s access routing business unit.

“They take off-the-shelf server hardware and load up their software on that platform for ease of packaging,” Butaney maintained. “The jewel of the company is really the software and the platform that they have that we plan to integrate with our key technologies here at Cisco.”

Founded in 1995, BroadWare has 38 employees and offices in Santa Clara, Calif., and McLean, Va. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year ending July 27, 2007. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

BroadWare will become part of Cisco’s emerging market technologies group and be integrated into Cisco as SyPixx was, Collen announced.