Cisco Systems this week announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held NeoPath Networks, the leading provider of high performance and highly scalable file storage management solutions.

NeoPath's patented SMART virtualization technology and its File Director family of products simplify the management of network attached storage (NAS) and other file servers.

"Enterprise customers are asking Cisco how they can make better use of their existing IT infrastructure, and NeoPath is part of the answer," said Jayshree Ullal, Senior Vice President, Datacenter Switching and Security Technology Group (DSSTG). "NeoPath's technology will enhance Cisco's Services Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) direction and vision by establishing tighter linkages between file based data and network accelerated services."

The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007, ending April 28, 2007. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

NeoPath was founded in 2002 and has 55 employees based primarily in Santa Clara, Calif.