VMware to acquire Nicira

VMware has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nicira. VMware will acquire Nicira for approximately $1.05 billion in cash plus approximately $210 million of assumed unvested equity awards. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The parties expect the acquisition to close during the second half of 2012. The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of both VMware and Nicira and the stockholders of Nicira.

“VMware has led the server virtualization revolution, and we have the opportunity to do the same in data center and cloud networking. The acquisition of Nicira adds to our portfolio of networking assets and positions VMware to be the industry leader in software-defined networking,” said Paul Maritz, Chief Executive Officer, VMware.

“Nicira helps customers dramatically improve business velocity and efficiency by transforming how networking works in the Cloud era. I am thrilled to be joining forces with VMware to help build the software-defined datacenter,” said Steve Mullaney, Chief Executive Officer, Nicira.