Cisco is to buy data backup firm Actona Technologies for $82m cash. Privately-owned Actona makes software which makes it easier to back-up corporate data across wide area networks.

Actona's technology will expand the functionality of Cisco's branch office access router kit with features that enable WAN-optimized file transfer and access. Cisco said the Actona acquisition will also allow it to extend its Data Center Storage Consolidation products and services to branch office environments and remote workers.

The acquisition, subject to various standard closing conditions, is expected to close in Cisco's Q1 2005. Actona was founded in 2000 and has 48 employees in the United States and Haifa, Israel. ®

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