All eyes on Cisco's latest acquisition which was done 'completely online'

Cisco is set to acquire network intelligence start-up ThousandEyes in a deal reportedly worth nearly $1bn.

The networking giant said the move will provide its customers with "an end-to-end view into the digital delivery of applications and services".

ThousandEyes says its software-as-a-service platform monitors network infrastructure, troubleshoots application delivery and maps internet performance.

Todd Nightingale, SVP of Cisco's enterprise networking and cloud division, said: "I'm excited to welcome the ThousandEyes team to Cisco.

"The combination of Cisco and ThousandEyes will enable deeper and broader visibility to pin-point deficiencies and improve the network and application performance across all networks.

"This will give customers end-to-end visibility when accessing cloud applications, and Internet Intelligence will improve networking reliability and the overall application experience."

Nightingale said the acquisition was carried out "completely online".

"It was tough to sign a deal like this without ever walking into the same room to do technology diligence and business diligence," he said, via CNBC.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bloomberg reported that the deal is valued at nearly $1bn.

ThousandEyes was founded in 2010 by Mohit Lad and Ricardo Oliveira, both of whom will stay on as part of Cisco.

Lad said that much of the deal was sorted using Cisco's Webex.

The start-up has raised around $111m in funding, according to Crunchbase.

The acquisition is Cisco's largest since it splashed out over $2bn on Duo Security in 2018.