Cisco dives further into IoT with latest buy

German-based ParStream was part of Cisco startup project before it got snapped up today

Cisco has swallowed up a German analytics firm as it looks to further bolster its Internet of Things (IoT) offering.

Cologne-based ParStream is a privately held firm which provides an analytics database which allows customers to analyse large data sets and store it anywhere in its network.

It will join Cisco's Analytics and Automation portfolio - part of the Data and Analytics Group - when the deal closes, which is expected to happen in the second quarter of FY16.

ParStream was part of Cisco's Entrepreneurs in Residence start-up programme which is an incubation project tasked with building relationships between Cisco and early-stage start-ups it expects to "reshape our industry's future through truly disruptive technologies".

Cisco claims a massive 50 billion devices and objects will be connected to the internet by 2020, meaning demand for IoT tech such as ParStream's is extremely important.

"Using innovative compression and indexing capabilities, ParStream's technology helps customers access data faster and at scale, rapidly analysing and filtering billions of records and getting information to the business in near real time," said Cisco's vice president for corporate business development Rob Salvagno.

"This acquisition complements Cisco's current data and analytics portfolio, improving our ability to provide analytics at the edge of the network, where data is increasingly being generated and in huge volume. The value of IT has always been derived from the intelligence contained in data. Analytics are at the heart of Cisco's strategy for a hyper distributed intelligent infrastructure."