Cisco to buy Parstream for IoT analytics at the edge

Cisco Systems is to buy California based ParStream, whose systems can analyse and filter billions of IoT records in sub-second time.

If the acquisition proceeds Cisco will gain ParStream DB, a columnar database that can be scrutinised by distributed massively parallel processing. Owning this technology puts Cisco in direct contention with Hewlett-Packard’s Vertica analytics system.

ParStream gives instant analysis of masses of IoT data at the edge of networks with minimal infrastructure and operating costs, said Cisco VP for Corporate Business Development Rob Salvagno in his Cisco IoT  blog.

The IoT problem that needs to be addressed is that data is increasingly being generated in huge volumes at the edge of networks, and it needs to be addressed there, he argued. “Analytics are at the heart of Cisco’s strategy for a hyper-distributed intelligent infrastructure,” said Salvagno.

ParStream was part of the Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence start up programme. Its team will be integrated into Cisco’s Analytics and Automation portfolio, joining the Data and Analytics Group. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of fiscal year 2016.

CEO Peter Jensen said in a statement that although the company’s day-to-day business operations will continue as usual, ParStream will ‘shift into overdrive’ in the coming weeks.

“We’ll be empowered by Cisco to innovate in new ways,” said Jensen. “We see a bright future ahead and look forward to working with Cisco to continue to deliver industry-leading IoT analytics solutions.”

In October Cisco CEO Chuck Robbin told a conference of US journalists that the IoT would overshadow even the first wave of the Internet, on which Cisco grew to become a multi billion dollar corporation. Cisco, he said, plans to win the IoT market by creating intelligent and secure data platforms through a framework of partners who will create the next wave of apps and services for the IoT.

“Speed is critical for helping companies to generate value from data in IoT environments,” said Salvagno.