Top 10 Internet Acquisitions of 2020

Even in the global economic downturn, the network market has not stagnated. In the first half of this year, the world's largest network suppliers have taken action and launched acquisitions.

Networking heavyweight Cisco also made some moves this year, including acquiring network monitoring company ThousandEyes and wireless IoT company Fluidmesh Networks; Arista Networks confirmed industry rumors and acquired Big Switch Networks; chip maker Nvidia spent heavily to bring network hardware and software providers Mellanox and Cumulus Networks under its wing; meanwhile, IBM, F5 Networks and Rapid7 also made acquisitions in the cloud security field.

Here are the top 10 dot-com acquisitions of 2020 so far, ranging from larger, multibillion-dollar deals to smaller, strategic acquisitions.

10. Samsung acquires TeleWorld Solutions

Samsung, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, said it reached an acquisition agreement with network service provider TeleWorld Solutions in January this year to enhance its innovation capabilities in 5G, 4G LTE and networks in the U.S. market.

Chantilly, Va.-based TeleWorld Solutions specializes in network design, testing and optimization as well as mobile services. Samsung said the deal will help it better deliver next-generation network services to its cable operator customers.

Samsung did not disclose financial terms of the deal, which the companies said would make TeleWorld Solutions a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung.

9. IBM acquires cloud security startup Spanugo

IBM agreed in June to acquire cybersecurity vendor Spanugo to improve the compliance and protection needs of industry clients.

IBM, based in Ammon, New York, said the acquisition of Spanugo will enable clients to define compliance profiles, manage controls and continuously monitor organizational compliance in real time, all within a single Security Control Center. IBM said the Security Control Center will soon be available to clients thanks to the assets it acquired from Spanugo. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

8. Microsoft acquires Affirmed Networks

In March, tech giant Microsoft agreed to acquire 5G networking company Affirmed Networks.

Affirmed Networks, founded in 2010, is known for its cloud-native, network function virtualization products and has attracted telecom customers like AT&T. Microsoft said the deal will help it provide wireless network virtualization software that enables telecom operators to deploy 5G networks.

The transaction amount was not disclosed.

7. Microsoft acquires Metaswitch Networks

Microsoft said in May it would acquire Metaswitch Networks, a leading provider of virtualized network software, voice, data and communications services to British operators, to help build its Azure cloud platform for future telecom-related use cases.

Microsoft said Metaswitch's complementary portfolio of ultra-high-performance, cloud-native communications software will help expand its available offerings in the telecommunications industry.

Neither company disclosed the financial terms of the transaction.

6. Arista Networks officially acquires Big Switch Networks

Data center and large campus networking specialist Arista Networks said in February it had formally acquired Big Switch Networks.

SDN company Big Switch Networks is known for its Big Cloud Fabric, a next-generation data center switching fabric that provides network automation and visibility, hybrid cloud visibility and security for software-defined data centers and cloud-native applications, and its Big Monitoring Fabric. Arista said the acquisition of Big Switch Networks will strengthen the company's network monitoring capabilities provided through its software platforms CloudVision and DANZ (or Data ANalyZer).

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

5. Cisco acquires wireless IoT maker Fluidmesh Networks

Cisco started 2020 by announcing plans to acquire wireless backhaul systems maker Fluidmesh Networks.

Fluidmesh Networks, which makes hardware and software for wireless point-to-point and mesh networks, said it will build on Cisco's industrial IoT strategy by adding Fluidmesh's wireless technology to enable key mobile IoT applications.

The two companies did not share the specific transaction amount.

4. Rapid7 acquires cloud security startup for $145 million

Cybersecurity company Rapid7 said in April it would acquire cloud security posture management startup DivvyCloud for $145 million in cash and stock to help enterprises integrate security and DevOps teams.

Rapid7 said DivvyCloud, which has 70 employees and 54 customers, can help customers protect cloud and container environments from misconfigurations, policy violations, external and internal threats, and identity and access management challenges.

This is Rapid7's third acquisition in the past 18 months.

3. Cisco acquires ThousandEyes

In May, Cisco revealed its intention to acquire network monitoring company ThousandEyes, which focuses on providing actionable intelligence software to help enterprises improve their digital experience, especially the cloud migration of applications and workloads.

Cisco currently focuses on software and services, and the deal will complement Cisco's application performance and monitoring business AppDynamics.

While the two companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, Bloomberg News reported that the price of the transaction was close to $1 billion.

2. F5 Networks acquires Shape Security

F5 Networks first announced its intention to acquire Shape Security, an emerging application security company to protect customers from automated attacks, botnets, and targeted fraud, in late 2019. In January, the company completed the acquisition for approximately $1 billion.

F5 Networks said the combination of F5 and Shape creates an end-to-end application security offering that reduces infrastructure complexity and protects customers from online fraud, reputational damage and disruptions to critical online services.

1. Nvidia spends billions to acquire Mellanox, Cumulus Networks

Chipmaker Nvidia completed two different deals in April and May. The company acquired cloud network switch and adapter vendor Mellanox Technologies for $6.9 billion in April and then acquired Cumulus Networks for an undisclosed amount in May.

Mellanox specializes in providing network hardware and software for large cloud and enterprise data centers, while Cumulus specializes in providing Linux-based network operating systems for large data center, cloud and enterprise network environments.

Nvidia said that through the acquisition of Mellanox, customers will be able to get higher performance, better computing resource utilization and lower operating costs. On the other hand, Cumulus will enable Nvidia to innovate and optimize the entire network stack from chips, systems to software.