Cisco Enters Conferencing Fray With Latitude Acquisition

Cisco plans to use Latitude's conferencing technology to bolster its converged communications portfolio, said Don Proctor, vice president and general manager of the Voice Technology Group at Cisco.

"This acquisition will enable Cisco to accelerate delivery of intelligent multimedia conferencing solutions which take advantage of dynamic network information, such as presence and location data about network users, to improve workplace productivity," he said in a statement.

Latitude, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based publicly traded company, is the maker of the MeetingPlace audio and Web conferencing products and services.

San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco said it will pay $3.95 in cash for each outstanding share of Latitude. The deal is expected to close in Cisco's second fiscal quarter, which ends in January.

Shares of Latitude Tuesday closed at $3.05 per share prior to the announcement and traded at $3.90 Wednesday morning.

Shares of Cisco traded up 27 cents at $22.62 Wednesday.