Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has completed the acquisition San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm MindMeld.
The networking giant paid $125 million in cash and assumed equity awards to acquire MindMeld.
MindMeld’s AI and machine learning technology enables customers to build intelligent and human-like conversational interfaces for any application or device. The technology allows users to interact with voice and chat assistants “in a more natural way.”
According to Cisco, MindMeld’s technology can power new conversational interfaces for its collaboration products and revolutionize how users will interact with its technology. For example, customers would be able to interact with Cisco Spark through natural language commands.
Cisco said that “AI and machine learning will play an increasingly vital role across all parts of our business.
“We are uniquely positioned to take advantage of AI and machine learning and embed it across the network and the cloud,” the networking giant said.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) intends to use MindMeld’s technology to bring voice AI to meeting rooms throughout the world.
MindMeld’s team joins Cisco’s Cloud Collaboration Group as the Cognitive Collaboration team. The Cloud Collaboration Group is led by Senior Vice President and General Manager Jens Meggers.
Meanwhile, shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) closed up 0.19% on Friday. The stock is up over 4% so far this year.