Cisco Moves to Europe with Pirelli Buy Cisco Moves to Europe with Pirelli Buy Paul Jones
Networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. continued its torrid acquisition pace, snapping up Italy's Pirelli S.p.A., a maker of optical component systems, for $2.15 billion in stock.
With the buy, Cisco plans to enter the dense wave division multiplexing market. The technology uses light waves of different colors to increase the capacity of broadband networks carrying voice, video and Internet traffic.
Cisco expects to record a one-time charge between 3 and 9 cents a share in the third quarter of fiscal year 2000 to pay for the Pirelli buy. The deal has already been approved by both company boards.
