Cisco Systems is shoring up its cloud platform by putting up $260 million for CliQr, a privately held company that has developed a cloud orchestration platform for virtualized environments.

Cisco said it has already integrated CliQr with a number of its data center switching and cloud platforms, including Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure and its Unified Computing System.

Cisco believes  the acquisition of the San Jose-based company and its CloudCenter platform will help its customers simplify and accelerate their private, public and hybrid cloud deployments.

CliQr’s platform, Cisco added, will help its customers create a single application profile across data centers and public or private clouds.

Cisco said the CliQr team will join its Insieme Business Unit, reporting to Prem Jain, the unit’s senior vice president and general manager. Cisco expects to close the deal in its fiscal third quarter.

"Customers today have to manage a massive number of complex and different applications across many clouds," said Rob Salvagno, vice president, Cisco Corporate Development, in a statement. "With CliQr, Cisco will be able to help our customers realize the promise of the cloud and easily manage the lifecycle of their applications on any hybrid cloud environment."

Wave Broadband said it has purchased Layer42 Networks, a Silicon Valley provider of business-to-business Internet connectivity, colocation, and data transport services. The transaction, terms of which were not disclosed, is effective immediately.

The deal expands Kirkland, Wash.-based Wave Broadband’s reach in Northern California and the San Francisco Bay area. Founded in 1999, Layer42 delivers three primary services to enterprise-level clients and other business customers: Internet access; Ethernet transport; and wave transport, with speed offerings ranging from 10 megabytes to 100 gigabits.  The company’s colocation facilities are based in two network operation centers, in Santa Clara and Mountain View, Calif., with a total of about 70,000 square feet.

Wave plans to invest in additional hiring and technology to accelerate growth. Layer42 will now be known as "Layer42 by Wave." Layer42 has about 150 customers, including Barracuda Networks, Dropbox and Square.

“Layer42 strengthens Wave’s physical presence in Silicon Valley and fits perfectly with our accelerated network expansion, while offering business customers best-in-class Internet connectivity and data transport services,” said Wave Broadband CEO Steve Weed in a statement. “We look forward to investing further in the network infrastructure, people, and technology to further the growth of our business services in the Bay Area and ultimately throughout Wave’s network.” 

Wave now connects more than 50 data centers on its fiber network in California, Oregon and Washington. The company recently raised $130 million to accelerate the expansion of its network and related services in California, Oregon, and Washington. 

“We are excited to join forces with Wave, as that company has a unique track record of successfully integrating new companies and technologies to deliver great products and services to business customers throughout the West Coast,” said Layer42 Networks CEO Derek Garnier in a statement. “When it comes to network and collocation services, we believe that partnering with Wave gives us the best opportunity to effectively address growing needs in the San Francisco Bay Area marketplace and beyond.”

Garnier will remain with Wave as SVP of Data Center Services.

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